Abstract
The zest for Sapucaí Street, with the emergence of nightlife and events that occur sporadically at weekends, is the main object of analysis in this paper. Located in Belo Horizonte (Brazil), this street bounds Floresta neighborhood and downtown and is one of the oldest in the city’s central area. Since 2012, leisure establishments have set up on Sapucaí Street and have attracted mainly young customers. The changes on this Street are here analyzed from the point of view of commercial gentrification. To this end, participant observation and interviews were conducted with business’s owners, employees and customers in order to understand their motivations to invest and/or consume in that part of the city, and also to capture their representations about the Street. From the latest and still in process changes on Sapucaí, we question the durability of commercial gentrification, which is subject to changes in a short period of time and presents a doubly ephemeral character that differentiates it from residential gentrification.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Other than that, accompanying social media posts – for e.g. Facebook pages and Instagram profiles that belong to the entertainment providers - helped to keep track of events schedule and also of the opening and closing of bars and restaurants.
‘Belo Horizonte: Transformations in the Urban Order’ is a research on socio-spatial organization of Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region (RMBH) published by Observatório das Metrópoles. Its primary data are the national censuses carried out in 1980, 1991, 2000 and 2010. In order to analyze how the metropolis’ population is distributed across RMBH, its territory was segmented into 7 regions and 24 socio-occupational categories (CATs) were built based on monthly income and formal schooling. These categories were clustered into social types in order to characterize residents’ social composition in the 7 regions. The methodology of socio-spatial analysis developed by Observatório das Metrópoles demonstrated the concentration of upper and middle social types in Belo Horizonte’s central and southern areas. Upper social types distinguish themselves by the concentration of highly educated professionals and of chief executive and managing socio-occupational categories. The middle social type consists of small employers and employees in medium occupations such as office, supervisory, technical, health and education, security, justice and post and artistic occupations (de Mendonça and Marinho 2015).
From Monday to Friday in the afternoons the shed works as Mero Café, which serves drinks and snacks. It is a space used for encounters and as workplace, since groups of professionals schedule small business meetings there or work individually on their laptops.
Those restaurants where working hours include lunchtime receive customers who work in offices and businesses around Sapucaí Street.
The literature on gentrification is extensive which would result in an arduous and probably unfruitful task if mapping all types of gentrification. Even within the commercial one, which would also separate us from the type we are analyzing. A final footnote refers to the gentrification of the old supply markets found in many cities and that today have become tourist attractions, with consequent changes in goods offered and in patrons (de Andrade 2017).
Once Sapucaí Street’s transformation started in 2012, three of the four buildings listed as heritage were closed and/or under renovation.
Power landscapes are spatial orders imposed on the environment, constructed and ordered by dominant social institutions.
Two of the business partners who own this restaurant are videographers. Inside the restaurant there are some video displays that demand a close look at the images’ subtle movements.
See https://casacor.abril.com.br/ for further information.
See https://cura.art/ for further information.
See the following web links for examples: https://www.otempo.com.br/pampulha/a-sapuca%C3%AD-%C3%A9-aqui-1.1567229 and https://www.uai.com.br/app/noticia/gastronomia/2016/04/29/noticias-gastronomia,179,404/rua-Sapucaí-Street-se-torna-opcao-de-gastronomia-e-diversao.shtml
The arrival of street vendors has to do with the arrival of crowds. Before it was not profitable for them to go to Sapucaí. There is a contingent of street workers in Brazil who move from one place to the another according to the demand. They are usually at street parties and fairs and they also place themselves where a lot of young people gather, since they offer alcoholic beverages and soft drinks at more affordable prices.
References
Baptista, L. V., Nofre, J., Jorge, M. do R. (2018). Mobilidade, Cidade e Turismo: pistas para analisar as transformações em curso no centro histórico de Lisboa. Sociologia: Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Número temático – Cidade, cultura e turismo: novos cruzamentos, p. 14–32.
Becker, H. (1997). Métodos de pesquisa em ciências sociais. São Paulo: Huitec.
Berquó, P. B. (2015). A ocupação e a produção de espaços biopotentes em Belo Horizonte: entre rastros e emergências. Dissertação (mestrado) – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Escola de Arquitetura.
Betancur, J. J. (2014). Gentrification in Latin America: Overview and critical analysis. Urban Studies Research, https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/986961.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Boterman, W. R. (2018). A flavour of class-based spatial change: Geographies of haute cuisine in the Netherlands. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 109(1), 161–170.
Butler, T., & Lees, L. (2006). Super-gentrification in Barnsbury, London: Globalization and gentrifying global elites at the Neighbourhood level. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, 31(4), 467–487.
Cerqueira, E. D. V. (2014). A evolução das formas de gentrificação: estratégias comerciais locais e o contexto parisiense. Cadernos Métropole, 16, 417–436.
Clark, T. N. & Lloyd, R. (2000). City as an entertainment. Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Advised at: https://www.faui.uchicago.edu/EM3.SS.doc. Accessed 21 Nov 2018
Cócola Gant, A. (2016a). Apartamentos turísticos, hoteles y desplazamiento de población. Informe para el debate sobre el nuevo Plan Especial Urbanístico de Regulación de los Alojamientos Turísticos. Advised at: https://agustincocolagant.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Informe_gotic_final. pdf. Accessed 21 Nov 2018
Cócola Gant, A. (2016b). Holiday rentals: The new gentrification battlefront. Sociological Research Online, 21(3), 1–9.
Contreras Gatica, Y. (2011). La recuperación urbana y residencial del centro de Santiago: Nuevos habitantes, cambios socioespaciales significativos. Eure (Santiago), 37(112), 89–113.
de Andrade, L. T. (2017). Os Mercados e os Dilemas da Autenticidade. Uma análise do Mercado Central de Belo Horizonte. Interseções - Revista de Estudos Interdisciplinares, 19, 443–462.
de Andrade, L. T., & Arroyo, M. A. (2012). Bairros pericentrais de Belo Horizonte. Patrimônio, territórios e modos de vida. Belo Horizonte: PUC Minas.
de Andrade, L. T., de Mendonça, J. G., & Diniz, A. M. A. (2015). Belo Horizonte: transformações na ordem urbana. Belo Horizonte: PUC Minas.
de Pinho, O. S., A. (1996). Descentrando o Pelô: narrativas, territórios e desigualdades raciais no Centro Histórico de Salvador. Campinas, Departamento de Antropologia, IFCH/Unicamp: Dissertação de mestrado.
Dias, S. J. (2011). Estratégias recentes de organização urbana comercial – O “SoHo do Porto” e a territorialização de actividades culturais/criativas. Sociologia – Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Porto, 21, 69–95.
Girão, E. T. (2016). Rua Sapucaí se torna opção de gastronomia e diversão: Com um clima charmoso e agradável, tem opções para gostos variados. Resource document. Portal Uai, Gastronomia. http://www.uai.com.br/app/noticia/gastronomia/2016/04/29/noticias-gastronomia,179404/rua-sapucai-se-torna-opcao-de-gastronomia-e-diversao.shtml. Accessed 15 January 2017.
Hiernaux, D., & González, C. I. (2014). Turismo y Gentrificación: pistas teóricas sobre uns articulación. Revista de Geografía Norte Grande, 58, 55–70.
Janoschka, M., Sequera, J., & Salinas, L. (2014). Gentrification in Spain and Latin America – A critical dialogue. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38(4), 1234–1265.
Jayme, J. G. & Trevisan, E. (2012). Intervenções urbanas, usos e ocupações de espaços na região central de Belo Horizonte. Civitas, Porto Alegre, 12(2), 359–377.
Keatinge, B., & Martin, D. G. (2016). A ‘Bedford falls’ kind of place: Neighbourhood branding and commercial revitalisation in processes of gentrification in Toronto, Ontario. Urban Studies, 53(5), 867–883.
Lees, L. (2003). Super-gentrification: The case of Brooklyn Heights, New York City. Urban Studies, 40(12), 2487–2509.
Lees, L., Slater, T., & Wyly, E. K. (2008). Gentrification. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Lees, L., Shin, H. B., & López-morales, E. (2016). Planetary gentrification. Cambridge, England, and Malden: Polity Press.
Leite, R. P. (2007). Contra-usos da cidade: lugares e espaço público na experiência urbana contemporânea. Campinas: Ed. da Unicamp; Aracaju: Ed. da UFS.
Mendonça, J. G. de, Marinho, M. A. C. (2015). As transformações socioespaciais na Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. In: Andrade, L. T. de, Mendonça, J. G. de, Diniz, A. M. A. (2015). Belo Horizonte: transformações na ordem urbana. Belo Horizonte: PUC Minas.
Nieuwland, S.; Van Melik, R. (2018). Regulating Airbnb: How cities deal with perceived negative externalities of short-term rentals. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1504899.
Pio, L. G. (2001). Cidade como patrimônio: Revitalização e preservação no centro histórico do Rio de Janeiro. Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências Sociais. Rio de Janeiro: UERJ, PPCIS.
Rubino, S. Enobrecimento Urbano. (2009). In: Fortuna, C. & Leite, R. P. (Orgs.). Plural de cidade: novos léxicos urbanos. Coimbra: Almedina.
Sklair, J., & Frugoli, H., Jr. (2009). O Bairro da Luz em São Paulo: Questões Antropológicas sobre o fenômeno da gentrification. Cuadernos de Anthropologia Social, 30, 119–136.
Smith, N. (2006). A gentrificação generalizada: de uma anomalia local à “regeneração” urbana como estratégia urbana global. In C. Bidou-Zachariasen (Ed.), De volta à cidade. Dos processos de gentrificação às políticas de « revitalização » dos centros urbanos. São Paulo: Annablume.
Smith, N. & Williams, P. (1986). Alternatives to orthodoxy: Invitation to a debate. In: Smith, N. & Williams, P. Gentrification of the city. London: Unwin Hyman.
Tempo, O. (2017). PBH mapeia 9.500 bares da capital; veja qual é o bairro mais boêmio. Resource document. O Tempo, Cidades. https://www.otempo.com.br/cidades/pbh-mapeia-9-500-bares-da-capital-veja-qual-%C3%A9-o-bairro-mais-bo%C3%AAmio-1.1536485 Accessed 07 November 2018.
Ticle, M. L. S. (2016). O nó entre o espaço e o tempo em Santa Tereza: os bares na paisagem boêmia em um bairro de Belo Horizonte. Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Programa de Pós-graduação em Ambiente Construído e Patrimônio Sustentável da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
Vieira, M. E. de (2006). Distinção, cultura de consumo e gentrificação: o Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil e o mercado de bens simbólicos. Tese de Doutorado apresentada ao Departamento de Sociologia da Universidade de Brasília/UnB. Brasília.
Zukin, S. (1982). Loft living: Culture and capital in urban change. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Zukin, S. (2010). Paisagens urbanas pós-modernas: mapeando cultura e poder. In: Arantes, A. A. (Org.) O espaço da diferença. Campinas: Papirus.
Zukin, S. (2012). The social production of urban cultural heritage: Identity and ecosystem on an Amsterdam shopping street. City, Culture and Society, 3(4), 281–291.
Acknowledgments
This paper’s research received supported from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
dos Santos Veloso, C., Teixeira de Andrade, L. Sapucaí Street: Entertainment Hub and Commercial Gentrification in Belo Horizonte. Int J Sociol Leis 2, 43–61 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00032-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00032-w