Grounded relationalities, the socio-ecological (de/re)territorialization of São Paulo's urban marginalities

Abstract. This paper explores how marginal urbanities are produced, contested, and dismantled through grounded processes of territorialization, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization. While Latin American urban studies have extensively analysed structural territorial struggles, the lived everyday processes through which low-income individuals are (re)appropriating, defending, and losing territory remain poorly understood. Retracing the history of Terra de Deus, a self-built marginal urban settlement located within São Paulo's ecological peripheries, this study draws on Latin American traditions of situated oral history to re-centre residents' testimonies and expose what is at stake under lived (de/re)territorialization struggles. Based on 3 years of fieldwork (2022–2024) – including community workshops, in-depth interviews, and participatory cartography – this paper introduces the concept of grounded relationalities as the fragile socio-ecological relations emerging and conditioning the (de/re)territorialization process. This study exposes how grounded relationalities represent the emerging terrain on which marginalized communities dispute territorial appropriation and longevity.