There has been great interest on the part of public and private initiatives in knowing the location of urban areas with potential for investments in social resources. The aim of the present article is to propose a methodology to identify such areas, using the city of São Paulo (Brazil) as a case study. This approach, supported by The Geographic Information System (GIS), is based on multicriteria analysis and quantification of spatial data. The results, presented spatially in a synthesis map,

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... e possible to identify promissory areas for social investment in São Paulo. The method allows us to analyze data at different spatial scales from the GIS base, enabling a systematization to find out areas with higher potential for investment in social equipment, services and facilities. Furthermore, it gives possibility of modeling several variables, thus being adaptable to different geographic areas.