Abstract
The main concern of this dissertation is to explore the way that a change in the spatial segregation can influence the social networks of inhabitants in a popular district in the city of Campinas. The empiric reference is Vila Castelo Branco, a district built by Cohab – Campinas in 1967 for the low-income population. This case illustrates a process of incorporation of a spatially segregated district and the research developed was the study of the transformation that this spatial change caused to the social network of the people living there. Such proposal is inserted in the debate on the inequality in the access to material and immaterial wealth found by individuals and caused by spatial and relational dynamics. The analysis of the empiric data enlightens the current interpretations about the possibilities of amplification and diversification of social contact from spatial proximity. For the realization of the work proposal, inhabitants’ social networks were built in two periods, one corresponding to the spatial segregation and the other to the current conditions of the district.