Despite evidence to the contrary, favelas still loom large in Brazilian social imaginary as the quintessential poverty pockets. No study to date has systematically examined the place of favelas within the broader geographies of poverty in Brazilian cities. How prominent are these settlements in the context of urban poverty? How do they fare when compared with other kinds of poor settlements? We tackled these questions by examining the sociospatial patterns of the poor population living in five metropolitan areas across the Brazilian territory. Using tract-level data from the 2010 census, we compared favela and non-favela residents through exploratory, inferential, and spatial analyses. Our results suggest that, although sharing the same socioeconomic and ethnic profile, favela and non-favela households are contrastingly distributed across urban spaces: Whereas favela inhabitants tend to live nearer city centers, non-favela inhabitants tend to concentrate in peripheries. This finding has multidimensional implications. At the empirical dimension it reinforces the importance of evidence-based geographical targeting for poverty alleviation policies. At the technical-normative dimension it challenges the official geospatial definition of favela currently in use. At the epistemological dimension it calls attention to the politics of labeling—calling a settlement a favela helps produce it as such—and how scholars must be critical of them.

尽管有相反的证据，但由于典型的贫困地区，贫民窟在巴西的社会想象中仍然很大。迄今为止，尚无系统地研究贫民窟在巴西城市更广泛的贫困地区中的位置的研究。这些定居点在城市贫困的背景下有多重要？与其他类型的贫困住区相比，它们的票价如何？我们通过研究生活在巴西领土内五个大都市地区的贫困人口的社会空间格局，解决了这些问题。使用2010年人口普查的区域数据，我们通过探索性，推论性和空间分析比较了贫民窟居民和非贫民窟居民。我们的结果表明，尽管具有相同的社会经济和种族特征，贫民窟居民和非贫民窟居民在城市空间中分布相反：贫民窟居民往往居住在城市中心附近，而非贫民窟居民则倾向于集中在周边地区。这一发现具有多维意义。从经验角度讲，它加强了以证据为基础的地理目标制对扶贫政策的重要性。在技​​术规范方面，它挑战了当前使用的贫民窟的官方地理空间定义。在认识论层面上，它引起人们对标签政治的关注（称定居点为贫民窟有助于制造贫民窟），以及学者们必须如何批评它们。在经验层面上，它强调了以证据为基础的地理目标制对扶贫政策的重要性。在技​​术规范方面，它挑战了当前使用的贫民窟的官方地理空间定义。在认识论层面上，它引起人们对标签政治的关注（称定居点为贫民窟有助于制造贫民窟），以及学者们必须如何批评它们。在经验层面上，它强调了以证据为基础的地理目标制对扶贫政策的重要性。在技​​术规范方面，它挑战了当前使用的贫民窟的官方地理空间定义。在认识论层面上，它引起人们对标签政治的关注（称定居点为贫民窟有助于制造贫民窟），以及学者们必须如何批评它们。