Urban management and intra-urban differentials in Sao Paulo

The city of Sao Paulo has huge intra-urban differentials in terms of access to goods and services. This paper analyses how the public agencies responsible for the provision of selected goods and services in that city address such a problem; and explains the relationship between the institutional framework of urban management in Sao Paulo and its performance regarding the issue under scrutiny. The paper uses the theoretical framework of the school of regulation as a tool for analysis of changes in the structure of urban management (from a Fordist to a post-Fordist period). The constraints faced by the public institutions to combat intra-urban differentials are presented, and a number of policy implications are put forward. They relate to decentralisation, inter-agency relations, the role of international organisations, and the three forces which are likely to push the implementation of pro-equalitarian policies.