Favelas in medium sized brazilian towns: expansion and difficulty of controlling measures

In the last years there has been a surge in the increment of the number of favelas in mean-sized brazilian towns, so that the formation of favelas is no longer a characteristic of big cities. Hence, it is only natural that this phenomenon gives raise to socio-spatial problems and, consequently, to the necessity of controlling this process. Currently there is not a consensus for the criteria to defining the term 'favela'. Thus, the different organs of the brazilian administration concerned in the problem use different criteria to classify a certain agglomeration of dwellings as a favela, and this originates obstacles to the implementation of basic public projects. This panorama highlights the interest of making a comparative study of the different concepts of favela in Brazil, specially in mid-sized cities, that be also able to reveal the inadequacies of those concepts to the social reality.