According to the professor, the dynamics of the corporate real estate market follow broader urban and macroeconomic transformations — not merely individual decisions by developers or investment funds.

“The leasing market for commercial buildings in an urban area tends to be more dynamic the more companies prefer to occupy third-party properties for their administrative operations. This market has grown in major metropolitan areas over the past decades mainly because land in prime locations has become very expensive and because companies began prioritizing investment in their core businesses — seeking productivity and competitiveness — rather than immobilizing capital in real estate assets.”

A central issue in the discussion of urban inequality is the emergence of new business centers. If the market once seemed restricted to a few consolidated regions, today there is a movement of expansion, driven by limited supply in traditional areas, rising prices, infrastructure shifts, and changes in demand profiles.

According to Alencar, the formation of commercial hubs can occur in two ways: organically or through inducement.

“In general, the natural formation of commercial hubs is influenced by the presence of dense residential areas. Without artificial barriers, restrictions, or geographic obstacles, urban work zones commonly emerge at the edges and intersections of heavily populated residential regions.

When the State induces these hubs, this typically happens through master plans and land-use regulations. Inducement by entrepreneurs occurs when they identify underexplored opportunities and, once successful, attract new developments to the same region.”

Despite the stigma that sometimes falls on the sector, the specialist highlights that new commercial developments also generate positive effects: they create jobs, increase tax revenues, stimulate surrounding retail and services, and help consolidate regions with economic vocation.

Orlando Ribeiro reinforces that the urban impact is often immediate: when a new office or logistics cluster emerges, “the region wakes up.” Land values rise, pedestrian flow increases, and the city begins to demand more infrastructure. In office markets, this translates into higher daytime circulation and greater demand for public transport and services.

For Ribeiro, the market responds both to real demand and to signals of opportunity. But there is one decisive factor: public investment.

In the architect’s view, instruments such as the Master Plan and zoning function as a “map” indicating where it is safe and profitable to invest. This helps explain why capital tends to concentrate in certain areas.

According to Alencar, market dynamics can generate indirect impacts on prices and cost of living in certain regions, especially during phases of expansion and consolidation.

“During the expansion phase of new developments, there are noticeable impacts on perceived values and on asking prices for a range of assets and services. The new price level eventually becomes consolidated in the region as the newly delivered developments achieve effective occupancy.”

Ribeiro adds that another common effect is the so-called “nighttime desert”: areas full of activity during business hours but empty and unsafe at night because they lack residential use or mixed functions.

This process can be virtuous — if local income and opportunities grow alongside rising costs. Otherwise, the outcome is exclusion.

For Alencar, the main risk is gentrification, especially when appreciation becomes disconnected from the local socioeconomic profile:

“The region’s average income must keep pace with the evolution of the cost of living in the area. Otherwise, gentrification becomes inevitable.”

According to Alencar, for the sector to balance financial returns with urban integration and inclusion, “the only path is to improve investment decisions and increase productivity at every stage of development.”

Ribeiro adds that the government acts as the “referee of the game”: it defines the rules through zoning and can require trade-offs.

“You want to build this shopping mall? Then you must improve the nearby bus terminal or build affordable housing in another area.”

In summary, commercial real estate is not inherently a villain or a savior of the city. It is an economic agent operating within the existing urban framework — and the city, in turn, responds to these movements.