Abandonment
Friday, January 4th, 2008Nowadays, abandonment is vastly different in different cities. In economically strong cities like the New York, abandonment is generally simply a transitional phase - it’s only a matter of time before the building is either restored or torn down to make way for something new. In cities that have a little shakier economies, but a general sense of optimism, abandonment is an investment. Old buildings are secured until it’s profitable to restore or replace them. In cities with bad economies and population decline, abandonment is simply part of the general urban landscape.
Exploring abandonment in these three types of cities is different. In the first kind, where abandonment is actually fairly active, you’re generally looking for a friendly worker to let you in, or some kind of easy unsecured entrance during inactive times. The second type of abandonment is the toughest. An inactive site leads to none of the many possibilities of entry there are when a site is continually being entered and exited, and structurally changed. However, the fact that it is also perceived as having potential value leads it to generally be heavily secured and sealed (at least by abandoned building standards). Fencing is added and topped with barbed wire, entrances are sealed with cinderblock, occasionally security guards are stationed there. These are the ones that take a little work. In the third type of city, exploring is generally as easy as walking down the street and going the hole in the wall.
These three types of abandonment, however, only really apply to the cities of North America and Western Europe. Today, many, many cities in South America (and I’m sure in other parts of the world I haven’t visited) follow a very different pattern. Despite depressed or only mildly vibrant economies, there is enormous population growth and a huge housing crunch. This leads to a different type of abandonment - one in which the buildings aren’t really abandoned, but populated informally by various communities - squatters, drug users, homeless families. This is the case with the abandoned coffee baron’s mansion that we are going to visit in Sao Paulo - as well as pretty much every other abandoned building of significance.
This type of abandonment was also fairly prevalent in the New York City of yesterday. New York never experienced the heavy depopulation of other large Northeastern and Midwestern cities. At it’s worst, New York’s population was only off about 15% from its peak. Compare this to Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo, Cleveland, and numerous other cities that are down 50% or more from their peak populations. As a result, there is simply not much of a housing crunch in these cities, as the urban infrastructure greatly outnumbers the population. Sure, you might run into some empty buildings used as shooting galleries or populated by squatters in these towns, but not that much. The reason is simply because there’s a lot more empty buildings than there is need for them. In New York, even at its worst this was never the case. In addition to less depopulation, abandoned (or even occupied) buildings were much more likely to be torched for insurance money, rendering them uninhabitable, even to the homeless.
The abandoned coffee mansion is actually also in the same condition. Water damage has led to the city declaring an emergency evacuation of the squatters. The result is an abandoned building, and a thriving shantytown behind the gates in the yard.
The folks in PreservaSP have been there before, and know some of the inhabitants. They call off the barking dogs (there to keep out drug users, not curious urbanists) and let us in. We bring some presents, and chat for a bit with the residents before heading in.
The most interesting thing I learn from a resident named Nieva is that this is not actually a residence of last resort. Apparently the city has offered them housing virtually for free - the problem being that it’s about three hours away. The residents opted to stay instead - many people had jobs and connections downtown that they had to be near. This demonstrates the enduring problem of the South American megopolis.
Many people in New York complain about the poor getting forced out of neighborhoods with convenient access to Manhattan. While this is somewhat true, it is nothing on the level of South American cities. Lack of affordable housing, lack of transport (Sao Paulo has three subway lines for 20 million people), bad planning leading to heavy traffic, and many times the physical structure of the city (most notably in Rio) all conspire to lead to a horrible commute - especially for those reliant on public transportation. It’s not even an option - who can take 25% of their time in traffic? The folks would rather stay in a shantytown than endure it. A good bit of perspective for those people in New York that complain about being forced to move 2 subway stops further out into Brooklyn.
After chatting a bit we headed into the mansion - as far as abandonment went it was pretty standard. The most interesting thing were some of the murals commemorating the expulsion of the residents of the abandoned building. It reminded me of the murals in the Amtrak Tunnel on the west side of Manhattan commemorating the exodus of the homeless residents there. There were also some designs that I was told were by a graffiti artists who only paints in places he thinks hardly anyone will see.
This is one of the most rewarding things about going exploring - the ability to see things other people don’t, or even can’t. What it is isn’t even that important. Any explorer type who says they don’t get at least a small kick from the exclusiveness of going places you aren’t allowed to is lying. I left happy, saying goodbye to Nieva on the way out - and determined that my next time in Sao Paulo, I was going to find more of those designs somewhere.