São Paulo (pronunciation (help·info) pron. IPA: [sãw 'paw.lu]; (see tilda) Portuguese for Saint Paul) is the capital of the state of São Paulo in the South East of Brazil. It is located at 23°32′36″S, 46°37′59″W (Latitude -23.59 Longitude -46.63)
The city has an area of 1,523.0 square kilometres (588 sq mi)
History
See also: List of Mayors of São Paulo
In light of its economic and demographic weight, São Paulo has always played a pivotal role in Brazilian politics. With a constituency larger than that of many Brazilian states, the mayor's office is viewed by politicians as a springboard for state and national-level offices.
São Paulo's most recent mayors were:
Law and government
Geography
São Paulo is located on a plateau that is part of the Serra do Mar (Portuguese for "Sea Range"), part of the vast region known as the Brazilian Highlands, with an average elevation of around 800 metres (2,625 ft) above sea level - though at a distance of only about 70 kilometers (43 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean. This distance is covered by two highways, the Anchieta and the Imigrantes, (see "Transportation" section below) that roll down the range, leading to the portuary city of Santos and the beach resort of Guarujá. Rolling terrain prevails within the urbanized areas of São Paulo but in the North of the city - where the Serra da Cantareira Range boasts higher elevations and a sizable remnant of the Atlantic Rain Forest. The entire region is very stable tectonically, and no significant seismic activity has ever been recorded.
The river Tietê was once a source of freshwater and leisure for São Paulo. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, it became grossly polluted by raw sewage and industrial effluents, much like its tributary river Pinheiros. However, a substantial clean-up program for both rivers are in the pipeline, financed by international development banks such as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Neither river is navigable in the stretch that flows through the city, however water transport becomes increasingly important on the river Tietê further downstream (towards South, near river Paraná), as the river is part of the River Plate basin.
There are no large natural lakes in the region, but the Guarapiranga and Billings reservoirs in the outskirts of São Paulo are used for power generation, water storage, and leisure activities such as sailing.
The original flora consisted mainly of a great variety of broadleaf evergreens. Today, non-native species are common, as the mild climate and abundant rainfall permit a multitude of tropical, subtropical and temperate plants to be cultivated, with eucalyptus being especially ubiquitous.
Physical setting
According the Köppen climate classification São Paulo has a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures seldom reach 30 °C (86 °F) during summer, while frost is rare during winter. All-time record temperatures are 35.3 °C (96.6 °F) in November 15, 1985 and -2.1 °C (28 °F) in August 2, 1955 (both at the Mirante de Santana National Weather Station, in the north region). In the mountains around the city (Horto Florestal), -3.9 °C (25 °F) were registered also in August 2, 1955 (unofficially). Snow flurries were reported officially just on one occasion in June 25, 1918. Rainfall is abundant, especially in the warmer months, but rare between June and August. Neither São Paulo nor the nearby coast has ever been hit by a tropical cyclone, and tornadic activity is uncommon. August is a month which, in the last years, despite of belonging to the winter, is mostly dry and hot, sometimes reaching temperatures of 28°C. This is a phenomenon called "veranico" (in portuguese, "little summer").
Climate
Main article: Greater São Paulo Metropolitan region
The City of São Paulo is divided into 31 boroughs, called subprefectures (subprefeituras in Portuguese):
Each subprefecture is divided into several districts (in most cases, two or three). The subprefectures with the largest number of districts are the boroughs of Sé, in the historical downtown, Butantã, the location of USP, Lapa, Penha and Mooca, all having eleven districts. The district where the headquarters of the subprefecture is located receives the same name of the subprefecture, with exception of M'Boi Mirim. Some important districts which don't own a subprefecture are:
Together with the administrative division, there is also a geographic radial division established in 2007 by the mayor Gilberto Kassab. The city is divided in ten regions (historical downtown, extended downtown, north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest), each one identified with a distinct color in the buses and in the street plaques. These divisions have no relationship with the subprefectures and districts, and, in some cases, the same district may be in two or more geographic regions.
Aricanduva
Butantã
Campo Belo
Campo Limpo
Capela do Socorro
Casa Verde
Cidade Ademar
Cidade Tiradentes
Ermelino Matarazzo
Freguesia do Ó
Guaianases
Ipiranga
Itaim Paulista
Itaquera
Jabaquara
Jaçanã
Lapa
M'Boi Mirim
Mooca
Parelheiros
Penha
Perus
Pinheiros
Pirituba
Santana
Santo Amaro
São Mateus
São Miguel
Sé
Vila Maria
Vila Mariana
Vila Prudente
Morumbi (belongs to Butantã)
Consolação (includes Pacaembu and Higienópolis, belongs to Sé)
Moema (includes Ibirapuera, belongs to Vila Mariana)
Liberdade (belongs to Sé)
Bela Vista (belongs to Sé)
Jardim Paulista (includes the Paulista Avenue, belongs to Pinheiros)
Tatuapé (belongs to Mooca)
Perdizes (belongs to Lapa)
Barra Funda (belongs to Lapa)
Itaim Bibi (includes Vila Olímpia, belongs to Pinheiros) Boroughs
São Paulo is the most important financial center in Latin America. São Paulo's stock exchange is the Bovespa, while its futures exchange is the BM&F. Its financial districts are located on the surroundings of Avenida Paulista and in the Centro Velho (Old Centre). Other important business districts are located in the boroughs of Pinheiros and Santo Amaro, including the large road Faria Lima.
There are a number of highly specialized regions, such as Bom Retiro and Brás (wholesale garment districts), Consolação (lighting equipment), Rua Santa Ifigênia (electrical and electronic parts), Rua Teodoro Sampaio (furniture and musical equipment), the posh Rua Oscar Freire (designer and label stores), Avenida Europa (luxurious automobiles) and the crowded Rua Vinte Cinco de Março.
In the last few years, São Paulo has become a major host to various international events and fairs, visited by the most varied audiences, ranging from scientists and artists to merchants and entrepreneurs, coming from Brazil and also from abroad. Some of the most important events that usually take place in the city are:
There has been a gradual change in the city economic profile since a decade ago - from a strongly industrialized base to service and technology-oriented industries. Intensive manpower-consuming firms have been replaced by a great number of high-technology companies and service providers of a vast range, namely law services, investment banking, IT, consultancy firms, advertising and radio and TV broadcasting companies.
Leather Goods Fair - Couromoda
International Textile Fair - Fenit
International Construction Fair
Shoes, Fashion Accessories and Machines Fair - Francal
Cosmetics and Beauty International Fair - Cosmetica
Lodging-related products, services and equipment Fair - Equipotel
International Automobile Fair - Salão do Automóvel
Book Fair Biennale - Bienal Internacional do Livro Economy
São Paulo is one of the world's more diverse cosmopolitan areas:
Other sizable groups are: Chinese, Armenians, Lithuanian, Greeks, Syrians, Koreans, Polish, Hungarians, and Jamaicans.
5,500,000 are direct or indirect descendants of Italians. The Edifício Itália (Italy Building), the second highest skyscraper of the city (165 m), was named in honor of the Italians.
3,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Portuguese.
2,000,000 are direct or indirect descendants of Spaniards.
1,500,000 people have direct or indirect African ancestry.
1,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Germans.
850,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Lebanese immigrants— by far the largest number of Lebanese outside Lebanon.
More than 1 million people are direct or indirect descendants of Japanese. São Paulo has the largest number of Japanese outside Japan. The Japanese community's historical centre is the Liberdade neighborhood.
São Paulo is home to the largest Jewish community in Brazil with about 130,000 people.
There is a considerable number of immigrants from other countries in Latin America, especially Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile.
Note that many paulistanos have mixed ethnic origins; the numbers above may count individuals belonging to multiple groups. Demographics
As in the rest of Brazil, Portuguese is the official and dominant language of the vast majority of the population. However, many other languages, such as German, Japanese, English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean are still spoken by first and second-generation members of their respective ethnic communities. Italian was once widespread, and though most Italo-Brazilians in the city are no longer fluent in it, typical Paulistano accent usually retains a distinctive Italian cadence.
Languages
São Paulo hosts the University of São Paulo (USP). USP is a state university financially supported by the State of São Paulo. It charges no tuition fees for students who qualify in its very competitive entrance exams. USP is an important research centre, as well as one of the most highly-regarded academic institutions in Brazil. USP's main campus is located in the Cidade Universitária neighbourhood. Several smaller campuses are located throughout the state.
Other respected universities include the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, the Federal University of São Paulo, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) and Mackenzie Presbyterian University, the latter founded by North American missionaries. Also, São Paulo is home to the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Nucleares (IPEN, National Institute of Nuclear ResearchIPEN) and the largest public hospital in the country (Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP).
Education
Culture
Adoniran Barbosa was a famous samba singer and composer that became successful in São Paulo's radio era. Born in 1912 in the town of Valinhos, Barbosa became the composer of the lower classes of São Paulo, particularly the poor Italian immigrants living in the quarters of Bexiga (Bela Vista) and Brás, and the poor who lived in the city's many shanties and cortiços (degraded multifamily row houses). The topics of his songs are drawn from the life of low-wage urban workers, the unemployed and the vagabonds. His first big hit was Saudosa Maloca ("Shanty of Fond Memories", 1951), where three homeless friends recall with nostalgia their improvised shanty, which was torn down by the landowner to make room for a building. In his Trem das Onze ("The 11 PM Train", 1964) record, which has been ranked one of the five best samba songs ever, the protagonist explains to his lover that he cannot stay any longer because he has to catch the last train to the Jaçanã suburb, for his mother will not sleep before he arrives. An old-school samba band called Demônios da Garoa still plays his songs in the traditional Bar Brahma venue in Centro.
In the late 1960s, a psychedelic rock band called Os Mutantes led the way in the national avant garde music scene. Their success is sometimes related to that of other tropicalia musicians, but they also had a musical style and ideas of their own. They were regarded as very paulistanos in their behaviour and clothing. Os Mutantes released five albums together before lead singer Rita Lee departed in 1972 to start a solo career. Although almost exclusively known in Brazil at that time, Os Mutantes became quite successful abroad after the 1990s (a well-spread legend has it that one Brazilian girl in an exchange programme in California, U.S., forgot one Mutantes' vinyl record in her American host family, leading the way to the popularisation of the band in that U.S. state). In 2000, a record sung in English, Tecnicolor, was released with artwork designed by Sean Lennon.
After the two oil price shocks in the 1970s, the country suffered from an economic recession during the 1980s, a phenomenon that was named the lost decade. A late punk and garage scene became strong in the 1980s, perhaps associated with the gloomy scenario of unemployment and few actual prospectives from the viewpoint of the youth. Underground rock bars and clubs in town were full of thriving musicians and artists waiting for their moment to come. Ira!, which translates as anger or ire in Portuguese, was one of the rock bands that came about at that time. They were strongly influenced by the Mod sound of The Who, the hard rock of Led Zeppelin and the punk rock of The Clash. The band still exists, although with sparse records released. Ira!'s guitarist Edgard Scandurra has a solo career of his own.
In the 1990s, a new musical style has come about: drum & bass. DJ Marky, nowadays considered one of the most exciting DJs/producers in the dance music scene, used to work in a record shop in São Paulo in the early 1990s, which allowed him access to the hardcore sounds that were coming from the UK at the time. Although hardcore wasn't immediately well accepted by the clubing scene in Brazil, Marky started playing these records out, almost giving up at some point because of the small audiences interested in that kind of music. As Marky followed the breakbeat evolution to jungle, a local scene began to develop by itself, and his work began to pay off. In August 1997, Marky made the most important move of his career by travelling to the UK with DJ Patife, intending to meet their drum & bass heroes, by invitation of Bristol-born producer Bryan Gee. Other d&b artists include DJ Patife, XRS, Drumagick, and Fernanda Porto.
Music
To be expanded. Please help contributing and explaining the historical roles of these artists.
Mário de Andrade
Oswald de Andrade Literature
São Paulo is a major cultural centre. The city has an ethnically diverse metropolitan area, with heavy Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Arab and Japanese influences.
The city is known for its varied and sophisticated cuisine, ranging from Chinese to French, from fast food chains to five star restaurants. There are approximately 52 different types of cuisines in São Paulo, and more than 12,000 restaurants. Other venues such as bars, pubs, lounges and discos cater to a variety of music tastes.
São Paulo is home to the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) and "Pinacoteca do Estado" art museums, a symphonic orchestra (São Paulo State Symphony (OSESP), and a Formula One Grand Prix racing circuit (Interlagos).
Sites of interest
Praça da Sé (Large square next to the São Paulo Cathedral. Official center of the city)
Edifício Itália (skyscraper with observation deck)
Banespa Building (skyscraper with observation deck and museum)
Pátio do Colégio (founding site of the city)
Catedral da Sé (the metropolitan cathedral, a symbol of the city)
Museu do Ipiranga (a museum built in honor of the proclamation of the independence of Brazil)
Solar da Marquesa (a rare example of 18th century architectural style)
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (designed by Ramos de Azevedo in 1897)
Avenida Paulista (one of the most important thoroughfares of the city and the site of many cultural centers and museums, such as the MASP and Centro Cultural Itaú)
Ibirapuera Park (the second largest park of the city (Parque do Carmo is the biggest), is also home to several museums. It is known for its buildings designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, such as the Oca and the new Ibirapuera Auditorium)
Edifício Copan, also designed by Oscar Niemeyer, in the Centro neighbourhood. Built between 1951 and 1966, its wavy shape gives the building an impression of movement, and the integration of small businesses and residential flats are of innovative urbanism. Rumour has it that Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders lived for 6 months in this building while touring with musician Moreno Veloso in 1994.
Pinacoteca do Estado, an important art gallery, and Museum of the Portuguese Language, in the train station of Luz. Sights
There exist some sites and magazines specialized in the spreading of the events in the city, but we can detach the Agenda Cultural de São Paulo (São Paulo's Cultural Calendar) in http://agendacult.wordpress.com
Events
The São Paulo Art Biennial is a cultural event hosted every two years. Almost 1 million people visited the 26th Bienal in 2004. Its theme was chosen to enable a wide range of artistic positions to feel comfortable. The concept of "Free Territory" involved various dimensions: it had a physical-geographical, a socio-political as well as an aesthetic dimension — the latter, of course, being of greatest interest in the context of this exhibition.
In order to emphasise the thematic unity of the overall exhibition, the invited artists and those representing the countries are mixed together on the 25,000 square metres of the spacious Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion. Despite the complexity of individual voices, the final result was intended to be a unity.
In addition to an intensification of the North-South dialogue inside Brazil, the Bienal's aims include the promoting of links between non-European cultures along a South-South orientation. The next edition of the Biennale will take place in 2008.
Bienal de São Paulo
Brazil first entered the international fashion circuit with the increasing reputation of famous Brazilian top models such as Adriana Lima, Gisele Bündchen, Alessandra Ambrosio, Fernanda Tavares, Ana Beatriz Barros, Izabel Goulart and Ana Hickmann, and the "discovery" of some fresh talents such as Alexandre Herchcovitch by some international fashion magazines. As a consequence of this, SPFW is the place to see and to be seen in Brazilian fashion scene, always attracting a number of international editors and models.
São Paulo Fashion Week is nowadays one of the most relevant fashion events in the country. It takes place twice a year at the building of Bienal de São Paulo.
São Paulo Fashion Week
The largest tourist event in the city, the São Paulo Gay Parade attracted about 2.5 million people to Paulista Avenue in 2006. It is usually opened by the city's mayor. A large carnival runs along the avenue, with several Trio Elétricos. The last parade was held on June 10, 2007, and its organizers claimed a record-breaking 3.5 million attendees, though no official estimate was given by the Polícia Militar.
São Paulo Gay Parade
The March for Jesus is a Protestant parade that takes place every year in Paulista Avenue, now in another downtown avenue. It is organized by the Renascer Church, a Pentecostal denomination created in the 1980s and which has grown significantly in the first decade of the 21st century. In 2007, about three million people took part in the event, according to official estimates.
March for Jesus
The Electronic Language International Festival is a non-profit cultural organization, whose purpose is to disseminate and to develop arts, technologies and scientific research, by means of exhibitions, debates, lectures, and courses. The festival promotes a yearly meeting in Brazil, in the city of São Paulo. The event is open to the public, and intends to expand its educational reach to local and eventually remote audiences, thus sharing the experiences learned with FILE, through technologies of education, communication, registration and memory. The File Festival show in its events web art, net.art, artificial life, hypertext, computer animation, real time teleconferences, virtual reality, panoramas, interactive movie, e- video, electronic art installations and robotics through interactive and immersive rooms.
Festival for Electronic Art
Anima Mundi (an international competitive video and film festival devoted exclusively to animation)
AnimeCon - International Anime Convention
AnimeDreams - International Anime Convention
Anime Friends - International Anime Convention
Comdex
Mercado Mundo Mix
São Paulo International Film Festival
Carnival of São Paulo
Skol Beats
Tim Festival
Nokia Trends
Festa de N. S. Achiropita
Fenasoft (International Computer and Software Trade Fair)
UD Fare (Domestic Utilities Fair)
São Paulo Art Biennial a modern art exposition
Feira Internacional do Livro (Book International Fair) Other events
Sports
As in the rest of Brazil, football is by far the most important sport in the city. The major teams in São Paulo are Corinthians, Palmeiras and São Paulo FC. These teams are all playing in the Brazilian Série A. The fourth most important club of the city is Portuguesa, playing in Brazilian Série B. There are two other small clubs in the city, Juventus and Nacional. Another popular club in São Paulo is Santos FC from the nearby coastal city of the same name, Santos.
Soccer/Football teams
Football
The São Silvestre Race takes place every New Year's Eve (31 December). It was first held in 1925, when the competitors ran about 8,000 metres across the streets. Since then, the distance raced has varied, and it is now fixed at 15 km. Registration takes place from 1 October, with the maximum number of entrants limited to 15,000.
Corrida de Sao Silvestre
The Brazilian Grand Prix (Portuguese: Grande Prêmio do Brasil) is a Formula One championship race which occurs at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos. In 2006 the Grand Prix was the final round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. The Spanish driver Fernando Alonso won the 2006 drivers championship at this circuit by coming second in the race. The race was won by the young Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, driving for the Scuderia Ferrari team.
Brazilian Grand Prix
Volleyball, basketball and tennis are other major sports. There are several traditional sports clubs in São Paulo that are home for teams in many championships. The most important are Esporte Clube Pinheiros (volleyball, swimming, basketball and handball), Clube Atlético Paulistano (basketball), Esporte Clube Banespa (volleyball, handball and futsal), Associação Atlética Hebraica (basketball) and São Paulo Athletic Club (rugby union).
Other sports
The following international sports events have been held in São Paulo:
1950 — FIFA World Cup (football)
1963 — Pan American Games (Multi-sports)
1971 — FIBA World Championship for Women
1977 — Women's U20 Volleyball World Championship
1983 — FIBA World Championship for Women
1993 — Volleyball World League
1994 — Women's Volleyball World Championship
2000 — FIFA Club World Championship (Football)
2005 — World Cup in Artistic Gymnastics
2006 — International Police and Fire Games (Multi-sports)
2006 — FIBA World Championship for Women (Basketball)
2006 — 13th World Cup Final in Artistic Gymnastics
2007 — 3rd International Blind Sports Association World Championships and Games International sports events
Transportation
The city is crossed by many of the most important Brazilian motorways, such as the BR-116, Rodovia Raposo Tavares, Rodovia Anhangüera, Rodovia dos Bandeirantes, Rodovia Anchieta, Rodovia Castelo Branco and Rodovia dos Imigrantes. Automobiles are still the main means to get into the city.
Motorways
São Paulo grew quickly from the 1940s to the 1980s and many roads and buildings were built without major planning. As a result, heavy traffic is common on the city's main avenues, and traffic jams are relatively common on its largest highways. The main means of commuting into the city is by car and by bus. An effective way of avoiding heavy vehicles traffic in the city, such as buses and trucks that crossed the city for other destinations, was planned by ex-governor Mário Covas as a road ring that circles the city, called Rodoanel Mario Covas
Rodoanel
Although poorly served by heavy rail services, there is an infrastructure project to build a high-speed railway service linking Brazil's two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, a milestone in the revitalisation and improvement of the Brazilian passenger railway services.
Railways
São Paulo has three airports. There are two major airports in the São Paulo metropolitan area: São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport (GRU, for domestic and international flights) and Congonhas, (CGH, for domestic flights). There's also a small airport known as Campo de Marte north of the Old Center for small, private aircraft and helicopters. Campo de Marte also hosts the Ventura Goodyear Blimp.
Congonhas Airport operates domestic and regional flights, mainly to Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasília. Campo de Marte airport handles some private and small-sized airplanes. Guarulhos International Airport, also known to São Paulo dwellers as "Cumbica", is located 25 km North East of the city centre, in the neighbouring city of Guarulhos. Guarulhos airport operates both domestic and international flights.
On July 17, 2007, the worst airline accident in Brazil's history occurred at Congonhas airport, blamed on rain and a shortended runway. Nearly 200 people from the plane and on the ground died. Following the accident, pilots refused to land in the rain and the President ordered that ticket sales for flights to the airport be stopped. Aviation throughout the entire country reached a crisis state.
In 2005, about 33 million people went through the city's airports (mainly from Congonhas and Guarulhos International Airport, the only two operating commercial flights). Infraero - Brazil's main aviation authority - estimates that with the remodelling of Guarulhos Airport, São Paulo's airports will be able to handle about 45 million passengers a year within the next five years. There are also plans to expand the Viracopos-Campinas International Airport at Campinas, a city about 90 km North of São Paulo.
São Paulo has allegedly one of the highest per capita helicopter ownership in the world. The owners are an elite wealthy class who take advantage of around one hundred helipads and heliports to conveniently avoid heavy traffic.
Airports
The city has 61 km of underground railway systems (34.6 km fully underground) (the São Paulo Metro.
São Paulo's underground train system is modern, safe, clean and efficient, considered one of the best subway systems in the world, as certified by the NBR ISO 9001. It has four lines (the newest one, the Yellow line, is under construction, thus unavailable at the moment) and links to the metropolitan train network, the CPTM.
The underground rail system (called "metrô", short for "metropolitano"), with three complete lines:
The suburban rail system, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM), has six lines that serve many regions not reached by the underground system, and even some other cities in the metropolitan region. The CPTM network is longer than the underground rail system.
The fast-lane bus system: there are many such bus lines in the city, called "Passa Rápido", which are street-level, placed on large avenues, and connected with the underground or suburban train stations.
Line 1 - Blue: The first Metrô line built connects the North and the South Side of São Paulo. Connections are available for the Green, Red and Yellow lines and also for CPTM trains. Tietê and Jabaquara bus terminals are also reachable through the use of this line.
Line 2 - Green: The Green line transverses the Avenida Paulista ridge, connecting Ipiranga to Vila Madalena, and also integrating the Blue and Yellow lines.
Line 3 - Red: One of São Paulo's busiest lines, it connects the East Side to the West Side. Connections to the Blue and Yellow lines are possible, as are with CPTM trains. The Barra Funda bus terminal is located on this line.
Line 4 - Yellow (under construction): Scheduled to be open in the near future, the Yellow line will connect the central Luz station to the South side in a route constructed immediately below the Consolação and Rebouças avenues. Connections will be available to the Blue, Green and Red lines and to CPTM trains.
Line 5 - Lilac: Built for users who need to reach specific places in São Paulo's South Side. Only a short distance of the line is already available (six complete stations), connecting to CPTM trains at Santo Amaro station. Underground and light rail system
By 2008, a new line, the Line 4 - Yellow, will be ready for use. The state government has built some underground stations in the Line 5 - Lilac, but although operating fully, this line is yet to be integrated with the main subway system. The lilac line serves only the subprefecture of Santo Amaro, but it is planned to be extended and connected with the lines 1 and 2.
On January 12, 2007, at 3:15 p.m. local time, a huge hole in the ground opened by accident in the future line 4 (yellow) Pinheiros station of São Paulo's underground system. Seven people were killed (four of them in a passing shuttle bus which was swallowed and buried by the cave-in). The accident caused serious structural damage to many houses in the surrounding area, forcing their households to move to hotels and the homes of relatives. Prior to the accident, many reports concerning fissures in the walls of these houses had been noticed. Officials of the company hired by the State of São Paulo Government to build the station blamed excessive rain as a primary cause, although outside pundits say what really happened was insufficient soil analysis, since the future Pinheiros underground station is very close to the river Pinheiros. After the accident, another concern was a large crane that threatened to fall over neighboring homes, until it was later dismantled by engineers working in the project.
New underground lines
The bulk of the public transport (government and private companies) is composed of approximately 17,000 buses (including about 210 trolley buses), coloured uniformily according to the non-central region served (ex.: light green for the buses that go South West, dark blue for the Northern area). Until the past few years, there was a strong presence of informal transport vans (dab vans), but the vast majority of such vans are already fully registered with the city council, legalized and operating under the same color scheme of the main system.
Buses
Since the beginning of the 20th century, São Paulo has been the major economic center of Brazil. With the arrival of the two World Wars and the Great Depression, coffee exports to the United States and Europe were critically affected, leading wealthy coffee farmers to invest in industrial activities which eventually turned São Paulo into Brazil's largest industrial hub. The new job positions thereof contributed to attracting a significant number of immigrants from other regions of the country, especially northeastern states. From a population of merely 32,000 inhabitants in 1880, São Paulo increased its population to approximately 250,000 in 1900, 1,800,000 in 1940, 4,750,000 in 1960 and 8,500,000 in 1980. The effects of this population boom have been:
Although urban planning has been implemented in some areas, São Paulo has developed quickly without major planning
Ineffective public transport associated with a high number of cars and other vehicles in circulation lead to consistently congested traffic on many roads of the city.
Due to heavy usage and poor maintenance, the quality of the pavement on certain roads (especially in the outskirts of the city) is problematic, and potholes and other asphalt defects are common.
Crime rates are high, mainly due to the high circulation of automobiles and buses in town.
The two major rivers crossing the city, River Tietê and River Pinheiros, are also highly polluted. A major project intended to clean up these rivers is in the pipeline. Current critical problems
Bob Burnquist
Fabiola da Silva
Marco de Santi
Alex Atala
Ayrton Senna
Rubens Barrichello
Leandro Barbosa
Luciano Burti
Hélio Castroneves
Mário de Andrade
Oswald de Andrade
Emerson Fittipaldi
Eder Jofre
Amyr Klink
Rita Lee
Anita Malfatti
Felipe Massa
Fernando Meirelles
Jair Oliveira
Roberto Rivellino
Robert Scheidt
Alex Barros
Alexandre Herchcovitch
Ruy Ohtake
DJ Marky
DJ Patife Famous Paulistanos
January 25 – São Paulo's Anniversary — city holiday
Between February and March – Carnival (Brazilian national holiday, it starts on the Friday to Tuesday preceding Lent. The holiday ends at noon on Ash Wednesday)
Between May and June – Corpus Christi
July 9 – 1932's Constitutional Revolution
November 20 – Black People Consciousness Day Major holidays
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (1981)
Algiers, Algeria (2005)
Amman, Jordan (1997)
Asunción, Paraguay (1998)
Bamako, Mali (2000)
Barcelona, Spain
Beijing, PR China (1999)
Beirut, Lebanon
Budapest, Hungary (2000)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (1999)
Cairo, Egypt
Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2000)
Coimbra, Portugal (1996)
Córdoba, Spain (2001)
Damascus, Syria (1999)
Funchal, Portugal (1998)
Góis, Portugal (2000)
Havana, Cuba (1997)
Johannesburg, South Africa (1995)
La Paz, Bolivia (1999)
La Plata, Argentina (1988)
Leiria, Portugal (1996)
Lima, Peru
Lisbon, Portugal (1995)
Luanda, Angola (1993)
Macau SAR, China (1999)
Mendoza, Argentina (1998)
Mexico City, Mexico
Miami, USA (1988)
Milan, Italy (1962)
Montevideo, Uruguay (2001)
Naha, Japan (1998)
Osaka, Japan (1985)
Presidente Franco, Paraguay (1994)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1995)
San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain (1990)
San José, Costa Rica
Santiago, Chile (1998)
Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2000)
Seoul, South Korea (1977)
Shanghai, PR China (1988)
Sydney, Australia (1997)
Tel Aviv, Israel (2004)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1999)
Yerevan, Armenia (1999) 
Sister cities
List of municipalities in the state of São Paulo by population
Conservatório Dramático Musical de São Paulo
1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo
Sister cities of São Paulo
São Paulo Turismo S/A - Official Tourism Board of the City of São Paulo
Large Cities Climate Leadership Group See also
Official websites
(Portuguese) Guia Sao Paulo.com
(Portuguese) Agenda Cultural de São Paulo
(English) VisitSP – São Paulo travel guide with hotels, restaurants, bars and news
(English) São Paulo Conventions and Visitors Bureau
(English) Gringoes Website
(English) The New York Times São Paulo´s Travel Guide
(English) Brazil Travel Guide - São Paulo Travel information for foreign visitors Other websites
São Paulo travel guide from Wikitravel Maps
(English) Rich Brazilians Rise Above Rush-Hour Jams
(English) São Paulo mayoral race 2004 pages
(English) Global Cities exhibition at Tate Modern, London
The City of São Paulo is divided into 31 boroughs, called subprefectures (subprefeituras in Portuguese):
Each subprefecture is divided into several districts (in most cases, two or three). The subprefectures with the largest number of districts are the boroughs of Sé, in the historical downtown, Butantã, the location of USP, Lapa, Penha and Mooca, all having eleven districts. The district where the headquarters of the subprefecture is located receives the same name of the subprefecture, with exception of M'Boi Mirim. Some important districts which don't own a subprefecture are:
Together with the administrative division, there is also a geographic radial division established in 2007 by the mayor Gilberto Kassab. The city is divided in ten regions (historical downtown, extended downtown, north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest), each one identified with a distinct color in the buses and in the street plaques. These divisions have no relationship with the subprefectures and districts, and, in some cases, the same district may be in two or more geographic regions.
Aricanduva
Butantã
Campo Belo
Campo Limpo
Capela do Socorro
Casa Verde
Cidade Ademar
Cidade Tiradentes
Ermelino Matarazzo
Freguesia do Ó
Guaianases
Ipiranga
Itaim Paulista
Itaquera
Jabaquara
Jaçanã
Lapa
M'Boi Mirim
Mooca
Parelheiros
Penha
Perus
Pinheiros
Pirituba
Santana
Santo Amaro
São Mateus
São Miguel
Sé
Vila Maria
Vila Mariana
Vila Prudente
Morumbi (belongs to Butantã)
Consolação (includes Pacaembu and Higienópolis, belongs to Sé)
Moema (includes Ibirapuera, belongs to Vila Mariana)
Liberdade (belongs to Sé)
Bela Vista (belongs to Sé)
Jardim Paulista (includes the Paulista Avenue, belongs to Pinheiros)
Tatuapé (belongs to Mooca)
Perdizes (belongs to Lapa)
Barra Funda (belongs to Lapa)
Itaim Bibi (includes Vila Olímpia, belongs to Pinheiros) Boroughs
São Paulo is the most important financial center in Latin America. São Paulo's stock exchange is the Bovespa, while its futures exchange is the BM&F. Its financial districts are located on the surroundings of Avenida Paulista and in the Centro Velho (Old Centre). Other important business districts are located in the boroughs of Pinheiros and Santo Amaro, including the large road Faria Lima.
There are a number of highly specialized regions, such as Bom Retiro and Brás (wholesale garment districts), Consolação (lighting equipment), Rua Santa Ifigênia (electrical and electronic parts), Rua Teodoro Sampaio (furniture and musical equipment), the posh Rua Oscar Freire (designer and label stores), Avenida Europa (luxurious automobiles) and the crowded Rua Vinte Cinco de Março.
In the last few years, São Paulo has become a major host to various international events and fairs, visited by the most varied audiences, ranging from scientists and artists to merchants and entrepreneurs, coming from Brazil and also from abroad. Some of the most important events that usually take place in the city are:
There has been a gradual change in the city economic profile since a decade ago - from a strongly industrialized base to service and technology-oriented industries. Intensive manpower-consuming firms have been replaced by a great number of high-technology companies and service providers of a vast range, namely law services, investment banking, IT, consultancy firms, advertising and radio and TV broadcasting companies.
Leather Goods Fair - Couromoda
International Textile Fair - Fenit
International Construction Fair
Shoes, Fashion Accessories and Machines Fair - Francal
Cosmetics and Beauty International Fair - Cosmetica
Lodging-related products, services and equipment Fair - Equipotel
International Automobile Fair - Salão do Automóvel
Book Fair Biennale - Bienal Internacional do Livro Economy
São Paulo is one of the world's more diverse cosmopolitan areas:
Other sizable groups are: Chinese, Armenians, Lithuanian, Greeks, Syrians, Koreans, Polish, Hungarians, and Jamaicans.
5,500,000 are direct or indirect descendants of Italians. The Edifício Itália (Italy Building), the second highest skyscraper of the city (165 m), was named in honor of the Italians.
3,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Portuguese.
2,000,000 are direct or indirect descendants of Spaniards.
1,500,000 people have direct or indirect African ancestry.
1,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Germans.
850,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Lebanese immigrants— by far the largest number of Lebanese outside Lebanon.
More than 1 million people are direct or indirect descendants of Japanese. São Paulo has the largest number of Japanese outside Japan. The Japanese community's historical centre is the Liberdade neighborhood.
São Paulo is home to the largest Jewish community in Brazil with about 130,000 people.
There is a considerable number of immigrants from other countries in Latin America, especially Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile.
Note that many paulistanos have mixed ethnic origins; the numbers above may count individuals belonging to multiple groups. Demographics
As in the rest of Brazil, Portuguese is the official and dominant language of the vast majority of the population. However, many other languages, such as German, Japanese, English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean are still spoken by first and second-generation members of their respective ethnic communities. Italian was once widespread, and though most Italo-Brazilians in the city are no longer fluent in it, typical Paulistano accent usually retains a distinctive Italian cadence.
Languages
São Paulo hosts the University of São Paulo (USP). USP is a state university financially supported by the State of São Paulo. It charges no tuition fees for students who qualify in its very competitive entrance exams. USP is an important research centre, as well as one of the most highly-regarded academic institutions in Brazil. USP's main campus is located in the Cidade Universitária neighbourhood. Several smaller campuses are located throughout the state.
Other respected universities include the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, the Federal University of São Paulo, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) and Mackenzie Presbyterian University, the latter founded by North American missionaries. Also, São Paulo is home to the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Nucleares (IPEN, National Institute of Nuclear ResearchIPEN) and the largest public hospital in the country (Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP).
Education
Culture
Adoniran Barbosa was a famous samba singer and composer that became successful in São Paulo's radio era. Born in 1912 in the town of Valinhos, Barbosa became the composer of the lower classes of São Paulo, particularly the poor Italian immigrants living in the quarters of Bexiga (Bela Vista) and Brás, and the poor who lived in the city's many shanties and cortiços (degraded multifamily row houses). The topics of his songs are drawn from the life of low-wage urban workers, the unemployed and the vagabonds. His first big hit was Saudosa Maloca ("Shanty of Fond Memories", 1951), where three homeless friends recall with nostalgia their improvised shanty, which was torn down by the landowner to make room for a building. In his Trem das Onze ("The 11 PM Train", 1964) record, which has been ranked one of the five best samba songs ever, the protagonist explains to his lover that he cannot stay any longer because he has to catch the last train to the Jaçanã suburb, for his mother will not sleep before he arrives. An old-school samba band called Demônios da Garoa still plays his songs in the traditional Bar Brahma venue in Centro.
In the late 1960s, a psychedelic rock band called Os Mutantes led the way in the national avant garde music scene. Their success is sometimes related to that of other tropicalia musicians, but they also had a musical style and ideas of their own. They were regarded as very paulistanos in their behaviour and clothing. Os Mutantes released five albums together before lead singer Rita Lee departed in 1972 to start a solo career. Although almost exclusively known in Brazil at that time, Os Mutantes became quite successful abroad after the 1990s (a well-spread legend has it that one Brazilian girl in an exchange programme in California, U.S., forgot one Mutantes' vinyl record in her American host family, leading the way to the popularisation of the band in that U.S. state). In 2000, a record sung in English, Tecnicolor, was released with artwork designed by Sean Lennon.
After the two oil price shocks in the 1970s, the country suffered from an economic recession during the 1980s, a phenomenon that was named the lost decade. A late punk and garage scene became strong in the 1980s, perhaps associated with the gloomy scenario of unemployment and few actual prospectives from the viewpoint of the youth. Underground rock bars and clubs in town were full of thriving musicians and artists waiting for their moment to come. Ira!, which translates as anger or ire in Portuguese, was one of the rock bands that came about at that time. They were strongly influenced by the Mod sound of The Who, the hard rock of Led Zeppelin and the punk rock of The Clash. The band still exists, although with sparse records released. Ira!'s guitarist Edgard Scandurra has a solo career of his own.
In the 1990s, a new musical style has come about: drum & bass. DJ Marky, nowadays considered one of the most exciting DJs/producers in the dance music scene, used to work in a record shop in São Paulo in the early 1990s, which allowed him access to the hardcore sounds that were coming from the UK at the time. Although hardcore wasn't immediately well accepted by the clubing scene in Brazil, Marky started playing these records out, almost giving up at some point because of the small audiences interested in that kind of music. As Marky followed the breakbeat evolution to jungle, a local scene began to develop by itself, and his work began to pay off. In August 1997, Marky made the most important move of his career by travelling to the UK with DJ Patife, intending to meet their drum & bass heroes, by invitation of Bristol-born producer Bryan Gee. Other d&b artists include DJ Patife, XRS, Drumagick, and Fernanda Porto.
Music
To be expanded. Please help contributing and explaining the historical roles of these artists.
Mário de Andrade
Oswald de Andrade Literature
São Paulo is a major cultural centre. The city has an ethnically diverse metropolitan area, with heavy Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Arab and Japanese influences.
The city is known for its varied and sophisticated cuisine, ranging from Chinese to French, from fast food chains to five star restaurants. There are approximately 52 different types of cuisines in São Paulo, and more than 12,000 restaurants. Other venues such as bars, pubs, lounges and discos cater to a variety of music tastes.
São Paulo is home to the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) and "Pinacoteca do Estado" art museums, a symphonic orchestra (São Paulo State Symphony (OSESP), and a Formula One Grand Prix racing circuit (Interlagos).
Sites of interest
Praça da Sé (Large square next to the São Paulo Cathedral. Official center of the city)
Edifício Itália (skyscraper with observation deck)
Banespa Building (skyscraper with observation deck and museum)
Pátio do Colégio (founding site of the city)
Catedral da Sé (the metropolitan cathedral, a symbol of the city)
Museu do Ipiranga (a museum built in honor of the proclamation of the independence of Brazil)
Solar da Marquesa (a rare example of 18th century architectural style)
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (designed by Ramos de Azevedo in 1897)
Avenida Paulista (one of the most important thoroughfares of the city and the site of many cultural centers and museums, such as the MASP and Centro Cultural Itaú)
Ibirapuera Park (the second largest park of the city (Parque do Carmo is the biggest), is also home to several museums. It is known for its buildings designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, such as the Oca and the new Ibirapuera Auditorium)
Edifício Copan, also designed by Oscar Niemeyer, in the Centro neighbourhood. Built between 1951 and 1966, its wavy shape gives the building an impression of movement, and the integration of small businesses and residential flats are of innovative urbanism. Rumour has it that Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders lived for 6 months in this building while touring with musician Moreno Veloso in 1994.
Pinacoteca do Estado, an important art gallery, and Museum of the Portuguese Language, in the train station of Luz. Sights
There exist some sites and magazines specialized in the spreading of the events in the city, but we can detach the Agenda Cultural de São Paulo (São Paulo's Cultural Calendar) in http://agendacult.wordpress.com
Events
The São Paulo Art Biennial is a cultural event hosted every two years. Almost 1 million people visited the 26th Bienal in 2004. Its theme was chosen to enable a wide range of artistic positions to feel comfortable. The concept of "Free Territory" involved various dimensions: it had a physical-geographical, a socio-political as well as an aesthetic dimension — the latter, of course, being of greatest interest in the context of this exhibition.
In order to emphasise the thematic unity of the overall exhibition, the invited artists and those representing the countries are mixed together on the 25,000 square metres of the spacious Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion. Despite the complexity of individual voices, the final result was intended to be a unity.
In addition to an intensification of the North-South dialogue inside Brazil, the Bienal's aims include the promoting of links between non-European cultures along a South-South orientation. The next edition of the Biennale will take place in 2008.
Bienal de São Paulo
Brazil first entered the international fashion circuit with the increasing reputation of famous Brazilian top models such as Adriana Lima, Gisele Bündchen, Alessandra Ambrosio, Fernanda Tavares, Ana Beatriz Barros, Izabel Goulart and Ana Hickmann, and the "discovery" of some fresh talents such as Alexandre Herchcovitch by some international fashion magazines. As a consequence of this, SPFW is the place to see and to be seen in Brazilian fashion scene, always attracting a number of international editors and models.
São Paulo Fashion Week is nowadays one of the most relevant fashion events in the country. It takes place twice a year at the building of Bienal de São Paulo.
São Paulo Fashion Week
The largest tourist event in the city, the São Paulo Gay Parade attracted about 2.5 million people to Paulista Avenue in 2006. It is usually opened by the city's mayor. A large carnival runs along the avenue, with several Trio Elétricos. The last parade was held on June 10, 2007, and its organizers claimed a record-breaking 3.5 million attendees, though no official estimate was given by the Polícia Militar.
São Paulo Gay Parade
The March for Jesus is a Protestant parade that takes place every year in Paulista Avenue, now in another downtown avenue. It is organized by the Renascer Church, a Pentecostal denomination created in the 1980s and which has grown significantly in the first decade of the 21st century. In 2007, about three million people took part in the event, according to official estimates.
March for Jesus
The Electronic Language International Festival is a non-profit cultural organization, whose purpose is to disseminate and to develop arts, technologies and scientific research, by means of exhibitions, debates, lectures, and courses. The festival promotes a yearly meeting in Brazil, in the city of São Paulo. The event is open to the public, and intends to expand its educational reach to local and eventually remote audiences, thus sharing the experiences learned with FILE, through technologies of education, communication, registration and memory. The File Festival show in its events web art, net.art, artificial life, hypertext, computer animation, real time teleconferences, virtual reality, panoramas, interactive movie, e- video, electronic art installations and robotics through interactive and immersive rooms.
Festival for Electronic Art
Anima Mundi (an international competitive video and film festival devoted exclusively to animation)
AnimeCon - International Anime Convention
AnimeDreams - International Anime Convention
Anime Friends - International Anime Convention
Comdex
Mercado Mundo Mix
São Paulo International Film Festival
Carnival of São Paulo
Skol Beats
Tim Festival
Nokia Trends
Festa de N. S. Achiropita
Fenasoft (International Computer and Software Trade Fair)
UD Fare (Domestic Utilities Fair)
São Paulo Art Biennial a modern art exposition
Feira Internacional do Livro (Book International Fair) Other events
Sports
As in the rest of Brazil, football is by far the most important sport in the city. The major teams in São Paulo are Corinthians, Palmeiras and São Paulo FC. These teams are all playing in the Brazilian Série A. The fourth most important club of the city is Portuguesa, playing in Brazilian Série B. There are two other small clubs in the city, Juventus and Nacional. Another popular club in São Paulo is Santos FC from the nearby coastal city of the same name, Santos.
Soccer/Football teams
Football
The São Silvestre Race takes place every New Year's Eve (31 December). It was first held in 1925, when the competitors ran about 8,000 metres across the streets. Since then, the distance raced has varied, and it is now fixed at 15 km. Registration takes place from 1 October, with the maximum number of entrants limited to 15,000.
Corrida de Sao Silvestre
The Brazilian Grand Prix (Portuguese: Grande Prêmio do Brasil) is a Formula One championship race which occurs at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos. In 2006 the Grand Prix was the final round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. The Spanish driver Fernando Alonso won the 2006 drivers championship at this circuit by coming second in the race. The race was won by the young Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, driving for the Scuderia Ferrari team.
Brazilian Grand Prix
Volleyball, basketball and tennis are other major sports. There are several traditional sports clubs in São Paulo that are home for teams in many championships. The most important are Esporte Clube Pinheiros (volleyball, swimming, basketball and handball), Clube Atlético Paulistano (basketball), Esporte Clube Banespa (volleyball, handball and futsal), Associação Atlética Hebraica (basketball) and São Paulo Athletic Club (rugby union).
Other sports
The following international sports events have been held in São Paulo:
1950 — FIFA World Cup (football)
1963 — Pan American Games (Multi-sports)
1971 — FIBA World Championship for Women
1977 — Women's U20 Volleyball World Championship
1983 — FIBA World Championship for Women
1993 — Volleyball World League
1994 — Women's Volleyball World Championship
2000 — FIFA Club World Championship (Football)
2005 — World Cup in Artistic Gymnastics
2006 — International Police and Fire Games (Multi-sports)
2006 — FIBA World Championship for Women (Basketball)
2006 — 13th World Cup Final in Artistic Gymnastics
2007 — 3rd International Blind Sports Association World Championships and Games International sports events
Transportation
The city is crossed by many of the most important Brazilian motorways, such as the BR-116, Rodovia Raposo Tavares, Rodovia Anhangüera, Rodovia dos Bandeirantes, Rodovia Anchieta, Rodovia Castelo Branco and Rodovia dos Imigrantes. Automobiles are still the main means to get into the city.
Motorways
São Paulo grew quickly from the 1940s to the 1980s and many roads and buildings were built without major planning. As a result, heavy traffic is common on the city's main avenues, and traffic jams are relatively common on its largest highways. The main means of commuting into the city is by car and by bus. An effective way of avoiding heavy vehicles traffic in the city, such as buses and trucks that crossed the city for other destinations, was planned by ex-governor Mário Covas as a road ring that circles the city, called Rodoanel Mario Covas
Rodoanel
Although poorly served by heavy rail services, there is an infrastructure project to build a high-speed railway service linking Brazil's two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, a milestone in the revitalisation and improvement of the Brazilian passenger railway services.
Railways
São Paulo has three airports. There are two major airports in the São Paulo metropolitan area: São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport (GRU, for domestic and international flights) and Congonhas, (CGH, for domestic flights). There's also a small airport known as Campo de Marte north of the Old Center for small, private aircraft and helicopters. Campo de Marte also hosts the Ventura Goodyear Blimp.
Congonhas Airport operates domestic and regional flights, mainly to Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasília. Campo de Marte airport handles some private and small-sized airplanes. Guarulhos International Airport, also known to São Paulo dwellers as "Cumbica", is located 25 km North East of the city centre, in the neighbouring city of Guarulhos. Guarulhos airport operates both domestic and international flights.
On July 17, 2007, the worst airline accident in Brazil's history occurred at Congonhas airport, blamed on rain and a shortended runway. Nearly 200 people from the plane and on the ground died. Following the accident, pilots refused to land in the rain and the President ordered that ticket sales for flights to the airport be stopped. Aviation throughout the entire country reached a crisis state.
In 2005, about 33 million people went through the city's airports (mainly from Congonhas and Guarulhos International Airport, the only two operating commercial flights). Infraero - Brazil's main aviation authority - estimates that with the remodelling of Guarulhos Airport, São Paulo's airports will be able to handle about 45 million passengers a year within the next five years. There are also plans to expand the Viracopos-Campinas International Airport at Campinas, a city about 90 km North of São Paulo.
São Paulo has allegedly one of the highest per capita helicopter ownership in the world. The owners are an elite wealthy class who take advantage of around one hundred helipads and heliports to conveniently avoid heavy traffic.
Airports
The city has 61 km of underground railway systems (34.6 km fully underground) (the São Paulo Metro.
São Paulo's underground train system is modern, safe, clean and efficient, considered one of the best subway systems in the world, as certified by the NBR ISO 9001. It has four lines (the newest one, the Yellow line, is under construction, thus unavailable at the moment) and links to the metropolitan train network, the CPTM.
The underground rail system (called "metrô", short for "metropolitano"), with three complete lines:
The suburban rail system, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM), has six lines that serve many regions not reached by the underground system, and even some other cities in the metropolitan region. The CPTM network is longer than the underground rail system.
The fast-lane bus system: there are many such bus lines in the city, called "Passa Rápido", which are street-level, placed on large avenues, and connected with the underground or suburban train stations.
Line 1 - Blue: The first Metrô line built connects the North and the South Side of São Paulo. Connections are available for the Green, Red and Yellow lines and also for CPTM trains. Tietê and Jabaquara bus terminals are also reachable through the use of this line.
Line 2 - Green: The Green line transverses the Avenida Paulista ridge, connecting Ipiranga to Vila Madalena, and also integrating the Blue and Yellow lines.
Line 3 - Red: One of São Paulo's busiest lines, it connects the East Side to the West Side. Connections to the Blue and Yellow lines are possible, as are with CPTM trains. The Barra Funda bus terminal is located on this line.
Line 4 - Yellow (under construction): Scheduled to be open in the near future, the Yellow line will connect the central Luz station to the South side in a route constructed immediately below the Consolação and Rebouças avenues. Connections will be available to the Blue, Green and Red lines and to CPTM trains.
Line 5 - Lilac: Built for users who need to reach specific places in São Paulo's South Side. Only a short distance of the line is already available (six complete stations), connecting to CPTM trains at Santo Amaro station. Underground and light rail system
By 2008, a new line, the Line 4 - Yellow, will be ready for use. The state government has built some underground stations in the Line 5 - Lilac, but although operating fully, this line is yet to be integrated with the main subway system. The lilac line serves only the subprefecture of Santo Amaro, but it is planned to be extended and connected with the lines 1 and 2.
On January 12, 2007, at 3:15 p.m. local time, a huge hole in the ground opened by accident in the future line 4 (yellow) Pinheiros station of São Paulo's underground system. Seven people were killed (four of them in a passing shuttle bus which was swallowed and buried by the cave-in). The accident caused serious structural damage to many houses in the surrounding area, forcing their households to move to hotels and the homes of relatives. Prior to the accident, many reports concerning fissures in the walls of these houses had been noticed. Officials of the company hired by the State of São Paulo Government to build the station blamed excessive rain as a primary cause, although outside pundits say what really happened was insufficient soil analysis, since the future Pinheiros underground station is very close to the river Pinheiros. After the accident, another concern was a large crane that threatened to fall over neighboring homes, until it was later dismantled by engineers working in the project.
New underground lines
The bulk of the public transport (government and private companies) is composed of approximately 17,000 buses (including about 210 trolley buses), coloured uniformily according to the non-central region served (ex.: light green for the buses that go South West, dark blue for the Northern area). Until the past few years, there was a strong presence of informal transport vans (dab vans), but the vast majority of such vans are already fully registered with the city council, legalized and operating under the same color scheme of the main system.
Buses
Since the beginning of the 20th century, São Paulo has been the major economic center of Brazil. With the arrival of the two World Wars and the Great Depression, coffee exports to the United States and Europe were critically affected, leading wealthy coffee farmers to invest in industrial activities which eventually turned São Paulo into Brazil's largest industrial hub. The new job positions thereof contributed to attracting a significant number of immigrants from other regions of the country, especially northeastern states. From a population of merely 32,000 inhabitants in 1880, São Paulo increased its population to approximately 250,000 in 1900, 1,800,000 in 1940, 4,750,000 in 1960 and 8,500,000 in 1980. The effects of this population boom have been:
Although urban planning has been implemented in some areas, São Paulo has developed quickly without major planning
Ineffective public transport associated with a high number of cars and other vehicles in circulation lead to consistently congested traffic on many roads of the city.
Due to heavy usage and poor maintenance, the quality of the pavement on certain roads (especially in the outskirts of the city) is problematic, and potholes and other asphalt defects are common.
Crime rates are high, mainly due to the high circulation of automobiles and buses in town.
The two major rivers crossing the city, River Tietê and River Pinheiros, are also highly polluted. A major project intended to clean up these rivers is in the pipeline. Current critical problems
Bob Burnquist
Fabiola da Silva
Marco de Santi
Alex Atala
Ayrton Senna
Rubens Barrichello
Leandro Barbosa
Luciano Burti
Hélio Castroneves
Mário de Andrade
Oswald de Andrade
Emerson Fittipaldi
Eder Jofre
Amyr Klink
Rita Lee
Anita Malfatti
Felipe Massa
Fernando Meirelles
Jair Oliveira
Roberto Rivellino
Robert Scheidt
Alex Barros
Alexandre Herchcovitch
Ruy Ohtake
DJ Marky
DJ Patife Famous Paulistanos
January 25 – São Paulo's Anniversary — city holiday
Between February and March – Carnival (Brazilian national holiday, it starts on the Friday to Tuesday preceding Lent. The holiday ends at noon on Ash Wednesday)
Between May and June – Corpus Christi
July 9 – 1932's Constitutional Revolution
November 20 – Black People Consciousness Day Major holidays
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (1981) Algiers, Algeria (2005) Amman, Jordan (1997) Asunción, Paraguay (1998) Bamako, Mali (2000) Barcelona, Spain Beijing, PR China (1999) Beirut, Lebanon Budapest, Hungary (2000) Buenos Aires, Argentina (1999) Cairo, Egypt Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2000) Coimbra, Portugal (1996) Córdoba, Spain (2001) Damascus, Syria (1999) Funchal, Portugal (1998) Góis, Portugal (2000) Havana, Cuba (1997) Johannesburg, South Africa (1995) La Paz, Bolivia (1999) La Plata, Argentina (1988) Leiria, Portugal (1996) Lima, Peru Lisbon, Portugal (1995) Luanda, Angola (1993) Macau SAR, China (1999) Mendoza, Argentina (1998) Mexico City, Mexico Miami, USA (1988) Milan, Italy (1962) Montevideo, Uruguay (2001) Naha, Japan (1998) Osaka, Japan (1985) Presidente Franco, Paraguay (1994) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1995) San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain (1990) San José, Costa Rica Santiago, Chile (1998) Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2000) Seoul, South Korea (1977) Shanghai, PR China (1988) Sydney, Australia (1997) Tel Aviv, Israel (2004) Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1999) Yerevan, Armenia (1999) Sister citiesList of municipalities in the state of São Paulo by population
Conservatório Dramático Musical de São Paulo
1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo
Sister cities of São Paulo
São Paulo Turismo S/A - Official Tourism Board of the City of São Paulo
Large Cities Climate Leadership Group See also
Official websites
(Portuguese) Guia Sao Paulo.com
(Portuguese) Agenda Cultural de São Paulo
(English) VisitSP – São Paulo travel guide with hotels, restaurants, bars and news
(English) São Paulo Conventions and Visitors Bureau
(English) Gringoes Website
(English) The New York Times São Paulo´s Travel Guide
(English) Brazil Travel Guide - São Paulo Travel information for foreign visitors Other websites
São Paulo travel guide from Wikitravel Maps
(English) Rich Brazilians Rise Above Rush-Hour Jams
(English) São Paulo mayoral race 2004 pages
(English) Global Cities exhibition at Tate Modern, London
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