From the door inwards, up the stairs: The self-constructed housing in favela
Self-construction is a determinant form of space production in Latin American cities and it takes place in Brazilian favelas as a fundamental generator of social-material space. Meanwhile, for a long time, the favela space has also been the object of State interventions through the policy of slum upgrading which aims to guarantee urban and housing quality of life. Therefore, habitat is understood as the product of the concrete and intertwined dynamics between the favela and the State. From this perspective, the main research question is: what housing derives from the processes of self-construction in favelas and slum upgrading? Thus, the aim is to understand the processes and products resulting from self-construction as a form of housing production through the action of favela dwellers, and from slum upgrading as a form of state intervention to improve the housing conditions of this type of settlement through the coordinated action of public authorities. For this purpose, based on bibliographical research, old theoretical debates about the theme of " auto-construction" are summarized and, whenever possible, updated to relate to the favela context. The aim is to understand and portray the role of self-construction in the slum upgrading and vice-versa through the reading of social processes; policies and layers of intervention; resulted in urban forms; and the built environment and social appropriations, all based on the pioneer trajectory of the city of Diadema (SP, BR), proceeding with the bibliographic and documentary research. The study goes deeper into the "from the door inwards, up the stairs" scale of self-constructed housing in one of Diadema's favelas through the analysis of the cadastral and documental survey of 68 buildings - which include 113 houses - where the characteristics of the favela dwelling are known and portrayed using descriptive, quantitative and illustrative variables of its numerous elements. The conclusion is that there is a strong relationship of dependence between slum upgrading processes and auto-construction actions and, although they operate concomitantly neither correlate to the point of guaranteeing the fairest and most satisfactory conditions for the physical environment of the dwelling. With this, it is recommended that housing and slum upgrading policies prioritize the components of housing production and upgrading rather than perpetually relegating them to self-construction.