Occupations As Feminist Re-Imaginations of Space Production: The Case of the 9th of July Occupation in Inner City Sao Paulo

In São Paulo, Brazil's largest city and one of the ten largest metropolitan areas in the world, home to over 20 million people, an intriguing urban paradox unfolds—monumental buildings in the city center stand abandoned while the city continues to expand horizontally. Amidst this complex urban landscape, new ways of imagining urban space are emerging, driven by Black women-led social and housing movements. These movements are not only reclaiming abandoned buildings but also projecting alternative futures for urban life, using these spaces to assert material and political centrality while (re)producing, (re)making and (re)imagining the city otherwise.

This work presents women-led occupations as feminist alternatives and re-imaginings of urban space production. Drawing on feminist theory, it examines how these movements challenge gendered and racialized urban inequalities by envisioning and creating different futures for city-making. Focusing on the specific context of São Paulo's urban development—particularly the abandonment of the city center and the political mobilization that has crystallized around occupations—it explores how these actions are not only responses to present urban conditions but also embodiments of imagined future cities, where feminist and inclusive principles guide transformation.

Through the case study of the “Movimento Sem Teto do Centro” (Roofless Movement of the Center), led by Carmen Silva, a Black woman and the social and housing activist, and particularly through the case of the 9th of July Occupation in inner-city São Paulo, this work analyzes how the spaces and collective practices within these occupations challenge traditional urban production rooted in racist, classist and gendered exclusionary systems, offering transformative approaches to urban futures. In doing so, it connects to broader discussions on social movements, illustrating how the power of imagined futures motivates and sustains collective action.