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Environment
ENVIRONMENT
São Paulo faces a conflict of urbanization and the environment. Topography, politics, and a lack of information are a few of the barriers that the city faces in addressing water, sewerage, and waste concerns. Landowners are responsible for connecting to the sewage, water, and electricity infrastructure that currently exists, even in occupations. Informal settlements in environmentally protected areas require permits to build proper infrastructure. Further, urban upgrading in informal settlements is an expensive government task that is informed by official government statistics (França, 2017). Elisabete França warns that these statistics do not include informal settlements and should be viewed with skepticism. In this context, self-empowerment strategies may be the most immediate solution to waste management problems for informal settlements (Jacobi, 2017). Private firms, such as MMBB, also provide urban upgrading solutions to informal settlements (Braga, 2017).
88 Pedro Jacobi.