Population aging in urban structure: a study on Santos

Abstract

The sociodemographic analysis of the current aged population and the study of the formation of Santos, Brazil, as an organized urban structure reveal that the location of middle-class residential areas occupied by the medium-class elderly population (which corresponds to 60% of the total elderly population in the city) follows the main historical tendency of the urbanization process: the spatial separation of the social classes. As the majority of the aged population has a better and more certain income than families in the beginning of the life cycle, they can keep up with the rising values of residential areas within the city, especially the ones near the high-class areas. Indeed, it is noticeable an intra-urban migration of middle-class retirees. At the same time, young working families at the beginning of the life cycle have been forced to relocate to the suburban cities of the Metropolitan Region of Santos, which still offer more affordable residences.