SA?o Paulo's traditional centre is the area around PraA§a da SA© and PraA§a da RepA?blica , the two sections of the city bisected by a broad avenue, the Vale do AnhangabaA? , which in turn is bridged by a pedestrian crossing, the Viaduto do ChA? . The area around PraA§a da SA© is where you'll find both the PA?tio do ColA©gio, which dates back to the early years of the Jesuit mission settlement, and the commercial district of banks, offices and shops, known as the TriA?ngulo - originally comprising Rua Direita, Quinze de Novembro, SA?o Bento, and PraA§a AntA?nio Prado. The area around PraA§a da RepA?blica now forms an extension of the main commercial district, but there are many hotels and apartment buildings here, too.

The bairros to the east of the centre contained some of the city's first industrial suburbs and were home for many immigrants, but with the exception of the Museu da Hospedaria do Imigrante there's hardly anything of interest here. North of the centre is the red-light district of Luz , until recently known only as the rather seedy location of the city's railway stations, but now being developed into a major cultural hub. Due north of here, across the Rio TietA?, is the RodoviA?ria TietA? , the city's main bus station serving points throughout Brazil and neighbouring countries.

Just south of the commercial district are Bela Vista - usually referred to as "Bixiga", SA?o Paulo's "Little Italy", focused on Rua 13 de Maio - and Liberdade , with its centre around PraA§a da Liberdade and Rua GalvA?o Bueno. Traditionally a Japanese neighbourhood, Liberdade is gradually being transformed by the arrival of new immigrants from other east Asian countries.

To the southwest of the centre is Avenida Paulista , an avenue of high-rise office buildings which divides the city's traditional centre from the Jardins , one of the most prestigious of SA?o Paulo's middle- and upper-class suburbs. Extending south and west are yet more plush suburbs, such as Itaim Bibi and Vila OlA­mpia , with upmarket restaurants and nightspots. Cutting across Avenida Paulista into the Jardins is Rua Augusta , which begins in the centre at PraA§a Franklin Roosevelt; many of SA?o Paulo's best restaurants and shopping streets are located around here. West of the Jardins is Vila Madalena , and beyond here Pinheiros , mainly residential neighbourhoods that are fast developing as two of the city's most fashionable nightspots. Just across the Rio Pinheiros is the vast campus of the Universidade de SA?o Paulo and the Instituto ButantA?, while to the southeast lies the Parque Ibirapuera , one of the city's great parks.

Greater SA?o Paulo includes huge, sprawling, industrial suburbs where people are housed in a mixture of grim-looking high-rise tenements, small houses and, on just about every patch of wasteland, favelas - the slum homes for some two million of the city's inhabitants. The most important industrial areas are the so-called "A B C D" municA­pios of Santo AndrA©, SA?o Bernardo, SA?o Caetano and Diadema, the traditional centre of Brazil's motor vehicle industry and of the city's militantly left-wing political tradition. In the 1940s, Santo AndrA© elected Brazil's first Communist Party mayor, while out of the Metal Workers' Union and the auto workers' strikes of the late 1970s - which heralded the end of the country's supposed economic "miracle" - emerged Lula, the leader of the PT, the Workers' Party.