ABSTRACT
The object of this study is "Vila Pinheiros ", one of the low income settlements built ten years ago to host a population of 65()()() people who lived in a shanty town named Favelas Mare, located in Rio de Janeiro. After being established at the low income settlement, this population, made up essentially of extremely poor rural immigrants, suffered a hard adjusting process to the urban environment. This process, however, ended up in transforming these isolated immigrants in a real community in the social meaning of the term. Currently, this popular neighbourhood is completely transformed by its inhabitants, both in its physical aspect and in the use value of its spaces. This study is supported by a field work which followed the development of Vila Pinheiro's social practices along 4 years. It presents an analysis of a social and cultural process of spatial modifications related to the adjusting period to the urban environment experienced by this population of rural immigrants. In order to contribute to the understanding of the realities of this group of inhabitants through the observation of the social-spatial dialectics, this study tries to bring evidence that while the community builds its spaces, its is at the same time building it self.
