Aclimação
Aclimação is a prosperous neighborhood[1] in the central region of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is located in the municipal district of Liberdade, in the Sé Subprefecture.
Initial construction and high-rise redevelopment[edit]
Even while the Jardim da Aclimação was still a flourishing attraction, a residential neighborhood was starting to take shape around it. In 1900 the only roads and avenues in the area were the ones marking its boundaries, including the Rua Vergueiro, the Rua Lins de Vasconcelos and the Rua Tamandaré. By 1905, the Rua Pires da Mota, Rua Cururipe, Rua Espírito Santo, Rua José Getúlio, Rua Baturité, and the first section of the present-day Avenida da Aclimação had been laid out. In 1914, the Rua Machado de Assis and part of the Rua Paula Ney and the Rua José do Patrocínio had appeared on the map.
Nevertheless, between these roads built on the steepest part of the property, known as the Morro da Aclimação, originally belonging to the family of Francisco Justino da Silva, and the Rua Lins de Vasconcelos, the Avenida da Aclimação, and the Jardim da Aclimação, all that existed was an almost rural landscape dominated by scrubland, streams, fields, and farm buildings.
In 1916, again reflecting the irregular contours of the area, a series of roads were built in a semicircular arc off the Avenida da Aclimação and converging on the Largo Rodrigues Alves, the present Praça General Polidoro. These were all named after precious stones—Turmalina, Topázio, Diamante, Ágata, Safira, Esmeralda, Rubi, etc. Higher up, in the direction of the Rua Nilo, the street names took their inspiration from the planets of the solar system: Júpiter, Urano, Saturno. It was not until 1928 that the maps show an increasing number of buildings appearing on the Morro da Aclimação between the Rua Jurubatuba (now Avenida Armando Ferrentini) and the Vila Mariana cemetery.
A middle-class residential neighborhood sprang up, dominated by single and multi-story houses occupied by Italians, Japanese, Portuguese and natives of the city of São Paulo itself. The administrative Subdistrict of Aclimação was created in 1938 but was abolished in 1986 when the municipality of São Paulo was reorganized into 96 Districts. However, there is still a Civil Registry for the Subdistrict of Aclimação, established by the legal authorities at State level.
From the 1970s onwards, the onward march of construction led to increasing numbers of new buildings, as the neighborhood became more and more dominated by high-rise construction. The increase in population was followed by the establishment of banks, schools, shops, estate agents and other services attending to the needs of the local population. Along the major roads like the Avenida da Aclimação, very few private homes have managed to survive the onslaught of the property developers.
Aclimação today[edit]
Because of its location, the neighborhood has become increasingly popular with estate agents catering to the upper middle class[2] and has become increasingly sought-after.[3][4] The "property boom" has put pressure on transport facilities and resulted in the disappearance of the features that gave the neighborhood its former character including the semi-detached houses and the old multi-storey homes.[2] The area has also undergone a socio-economic transformation, from a middle-class to an upper-middle-class neighborhood,[2] as it has become an increasingly sought-after place to live[5][6]
Aclimação is a stronghold of São Paulo's South Korean community. The Praça General Polidoro square is surrounded by Korean restaurants, churches and other businesses. According to local real estate surveys 30% of the area's resident population are Korean or of Korean origin. One possible explanation is the presence of Presbyterian churches nearby as most of the Koreans are Protestant Christians and also because of its proximity to the neighbourhood of Liberdade, a typical asian neighbourhood in the city.