Parque D. Pedro is one of the most forceful examples of the urban and social structural transformations of São Paulo city. It integrates an old portion of the fertile valley of the Carmo, which suffered its first interferences in the end of the XIX century, following a series of hygienic cleaning works in the city. Conceived by French architect Bouvard, in 1911, it is marked the invisible barrier historically established, until the subway implantation, between the high city, the southwest, and lower part, the east/southeast. The few real estate investments made in the area, as São Vito building, suffered to fast degradation, turning into great vertical tenement houses, overpopulated and devoid of the basic services.
Gradually taken by circulation systems _ avenues, viaducts, buses terminals and subway, Parque D. Pedro would finish for being entirely fragmented, resulting in a gigantic road structure. This road entanglement aims more than simply transposing an obstacle, the Tamanduateí river: it transposes the central area, connecting all the regions. It can be said that it is the metropolis node of ways. Currently, the area is occupied by a large bus terminal, ambulant commerce areas and still forested spaces. The institutional public use is present, in the City Hall and Casa das Retortas, where some municipal agencies are situated.