São Paulo
Some facts about São Paulo:
The metropolitan area of São Paulo concentrates around 20MM ppl. However, both the city center (geographically and also the older downtown area) and the outskirts are mainly degraded areas.
This means that if you imagine the metropolitan area of São Paulo as a circle (which is almost correct), you will find a degraded inner circle (diameter about 4km = 2.5 miles), surrounded by a middle and high-class ring varying from 4 to 10km (2.5 to 6.5 miles) large, which is then surrounded by low-class outskirts. This is evidently generalization, so it may not reflect the exact situation of each neighborhood inside the areas I mentioned.
However, the situation described above has some bad results. As ppl concentration is very spread out, including commercial and residential areas that have been disorderly developed in the imaginary “intermediate ring”, it is difficult to identify one single spot in the city that concentrates all necessary factors that have allowed the development of large luxury avenues, such as the 5th Ave. and Champs-Elysées (e.g. luxury hotels, shops, “AAA” commercial buildings and high-wealth residential buildings).
In São Paulo, the largest concentration of luxury hotels is both in the “Jardins” district, and also in the new downtown area, generally called “Brooklyn”, near Berrini Ave.
Luxury apartments are also found in the “Jardins” district, but due to the availability of undeveloped land, most modern high-wealth residential buildings are located elsewhere.
The new “AAA” commercial buildings are mostly located in the “Itaim” and “Brooklyn” districts, which are nearby. Main aves. are “Faria Lima” and “Berrini”, as well as “Marginal Pinheiros” (which was originally a ring-road – like Parisian Boulevard Periphérique –, but has now been almost entirelly “converted” into a regular avenue, due to city growth).
Luxury shops are mainly located inside large Shopping Centers. São Paulo is known for its large number of malls, among which there are some of the largest ones in the world. This is due to (i) security reasons; but mainly to (ii) the need of large spaces with easy access through main avenues allied to large parking availability.
Street luxury shops are rare, and the only spot they may be found in São Paulo is in the “Jardins” district, mainly Rua Oscar Freire, which is a very small street. It has the largest concentration of international and Brazilian luxury brands, but it is not comparable to 5th avenue or Champs-Elysées, which are touristic spots. Rua Oscar Freire is more comparable to Parisian Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
