Birds in Brazil: Exploring the city of São Paulo

SÃO PAULO (WPVI) -- São Paulo is in one word, massive.

It's the most populous city in all of Central and South America. The metro area is home to 22.6 million people, almost three times as many who call New York City home.

It's also sprawling. The city alone covers 587 square miles, more than four times larger than Philadelphia. It's home to more people of Italian descent who currently live in Rome and has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.

It is a lot of people, and by extension, a lot of things at once, teaming with a culture that seems to ooze from the streets, but struggling under the sheer enormity of keeping up with the needs of its residents.

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One in ten who live here makes their homes in high-density makeshift neighborhoods.

"You see a very vibrant, modern town in some parts of the town, and then right next to it you see the shafts, like the slums, people living in in cardboard houses," said Larrisa Lautert, who lives in São Paulo.

The Tiet River is one of the city's two main bodies of water. It's among the most evident victims of its fast growth coupled with decades of corruption. At times, this river is a biological dead zone, unable to support any kind of life along with 160-mile stretch.

And traffic, well, that can be brutal.

While the population of São Paulo soared more than 10% in the last decade, the number of cars here rose by more than 110%. The result is gridlock.

But all of that is inspiring Paulistas, as they're known, to harness their power to build a better future, and they are doing that right now.

"You can find anything you want in São Paulo at any time because it's a city that never sleeps as well," said Lautert.