Photos of empty São Paulo streets during world cup games

Have you ever wondered what the world outside is like when the whole city is glued to their TV sets watching the Brazil game?

Amateur photographer Robson Leandro da Silva has the answer. He went for a walk around the city during the Brazil-Mexico game and took these shots of the deserted streets of São Paulo. 

Sé, the main subway station, at 4pm
 

Sé Station at 4pm:

25 de Março Street, downtown, at 4h16 pm:

All photos were taken on an Iphone. For more check out his page on Flickr

VIDEO: São Paulo by Fifa TV

São Paulo as Fifa sees it:

World Cup: The inside of Arena Corinthians looking clean, fresh & ready!

It`s cost a lot of money, taken a long time, the roof has collapsed in the process and with only days to go they are apparently still putting the finishing touches on the media centre and the VIP rooms.

Undoubtedly the Arena Corinthians, or Itaquerão, has had a troubled beginning.

Host to a number of matches in São Paulo, most of the stadium shots seen so far in the media have focused on the somewhat awkward-looking temporary stands which are due to be removed after the world cup and the lack of roof coverage which although part of the original plans is not an official Fifa requirement nor is it a fixture on many other world cup stadia.

However, if you stop to look past its troubled construction and have a look inside, it is clear Arena Corinthians is a top of the range stadium in every sense. There are 10 escalators, 15 lifts, 2 ramps and 13 staircases. It comes complete with an Auditorium for 360 people, a convention center and 6 different changing rooms!

The São Paulo team Corinthians, who will inherit it, have got themselves a flush building with some impressive features. Stairwells, concourses, corridors and rooms, everything is designed in the club colours of black and white.

Below are some choice photos of different areas which have not had a lot of exposure in the local or international press so far and which give an insight into what the day to day workings of the stadium will be like once operational.

Main concourse area

Press room

Home changing rooms

Home changing rooms

Away changing rooms

Away changing rooms

Stairways

The view from the stands

São Paulo in Statistics: How people move around

Just as a city's geography defines its transport needs, a city's transport network defines its future spatial layout and urban development. In other words it is both, a response to, and a driver of growth.

In the same way, the development of private transport is both caused and inhibited by the availability and quality of alternative public systems. 

Old world mega cities such as London and New York have extensive metro networks, essentially because they started earlier and have had a head start in terms of wealth. 

São Paulo, however, is much more similar to Mexico city. It trails far behind Mexico in terms of track kilometres built but the seemingly never-ending sprawl that caracterise both cities means that the car is king.

Below are some interesting infographics from the same dataset (LSE cities) we used last month to look at where people live in São Paulo. This time they offer an insight into how people move around in each city.

You can clearly see the difference between Hong Kong, Mumbai or Istanbul, cities which have cheap, efficient and accessible public transport and São Paulo or Johannesburg which have heavily strained public infrastructure failing to adequately connect people from where they want to go to where they live and vice versa.

Shanghai is investing heavily in metro and rail transport but in the meantime the humble bicycle is alleviating congestion on larger transportation systems.

Huge potential for metro and train growth

A very compact city means a lot of walking

Despite the sealink most people stay on one side or the other

Informal minibus dependency

Still has high car usage despite congestion charge

Colonial era train network is still main transport method

The city with the most bicycle journeys