Sao Paulo: Security and Transportation

Sao Paulo has a shocking amount of helicopter traffic. According to numerous accounts by lecturers and a documentary called Manda Bala, it has the world's largest fleet of private helicopters. Robbery and kidnapping are considered major threats to the wealthy in a city with very high income disparity and close proximity of wealthy neighborhoods to poor. In their vehicles on public streets is when people consider themselves most exposed, as they can otherwise avoid public spaces. As such, industries like car bulletproofing, private security, and helicopter transport are thriving. Private helicopter transport is fascinating, because it allows those who can afford it to simply travel in their own space - still public space, mind you - entirely undisturbed by the threatening, and general, public. Throughout the city, the architecture of large office, industrial and residential buildings, as well as numerous small heliports, reflect this unique transportation security consideration in the urban landscape.