The city of São Paulo subprefecturas
The municipality of São Paulo is administratively divided into 32 regional prefectures, each one with a regional administration ("prefeitura regional") divided into several districts ("distritos"), the latter possibly subdivided into sub-districts (the term "neighborhood", however, does not exist officially, although it is usually applied by the population). The present districts were created by the municipal law nº 11 220 of May 20, 1992, and the current subprefeituras by the municipal law no. 13 399, of August 1, 2002. The subprefeituras deliver some administrative services to the population, thus, decentralizing some routine services.
The official political division of the city takes into account both historical and cultural characteristics of the different districts of São Paulo as practical factors (such as the division of two subprefeituras by an important avenue). But often such a division does not reflect the socio-spatial perception that the local population has of places: there are areas of the city that are not officially recognized by the city, so that its boundary is informal and covers different districts and subdistricts, keeping the name by tradition, physical contiguity or ease of identification. The phenomenon tends to repeat itself in the whole city and considered broadly, can lead to a lack of identification of the residents with real local political bodies.
The official political division of the city takes into account both historical and cultural characteristics of the different districts of São Paulo as practical factors (such as the division of two subprefeituras by an important avenue). But often such a division does not reflect the socio-spatial perception that the local population has of places: there are areas of the city that are not officially recognized by the city, so that its boundary is informal and covers different districts and subdistricts, keeping the name by tradition, physical contiguity or ease of identification. The phenomenon tends to repeat itself in the whole city and considered broadly, can lead to a lack of identification of the residents with real local political bodies.
