A cidade que quer tocar o céu.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the dwelling verticalization process that the city of Recife, Brazil, is undergoing nowadays. In the last 50 years, the population of this city increased almost three times, while, as example, the district of Boa Viagem had its population increased almost five times. The same can be said about the dwelling-place amount, a situation that, among other traditional districts around the city, denotes the existence of a network of districts of speculative interests for the housing market. The new dwelling towers are rapidly spreading out through the city, thus directly influencing the new transit ways, the apparition of new urban centralities, and the gentrification of public spaces. Slowly, a new private culture is built, which defines new values of consumption and image, therefore establishing new social barriers. This immoderate land occupation, plotted by big civil architecture enterprises and stimulated by these new social groups, causes, in time, noxious consequences on the natural environment, with a serious propensity to become an irreversible situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]