Social vulnerability in a metropolitan context: the case of Campinas. Draft.

This article begins with an attempt to summarize the literature including a number of conclusions in reference to the meaning and importance of the concept of vulnerability for urban studies. It then seeks empirical application of the conclusions based on the use of secondary data specifically the Demographic Census of 2000. As a result it presents a division of the city into "zones of vulnerability" making it possible to identify types of privation or advantages in the intraurban sphere beyond the question of income levels. These factors can give segments of the population more or less power to react to the difficulties that the unequal city imposes on them. Although this is admittedly a preliminary approximation especially because of the deficiencies of the data used it is nonetheless considered distinct from the traditional approaches used in this type of study. (excerpt)