This study is due to a concern about a very current topic: the slum. The existence of an urban and housing crisis in the news brings up the discussion on the slums in major Brazilian cities, as one of the most important issues to be discussed in the urban space. More and more are discussed in the slums in the urban landscape, making it necessary to understand the dynamics of slum areas and also its relationship with the metropolis. Here we have the objective of showing the slum as the expression of some conflicts in urban areas, utilizing the example of the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, pointing the main contradictions involving the presence of the shantytowns in neighborhoods facing social groups high income in the city. We seek, therefore, to observe the elements that express these conflicts and to understand the extent to which this part of the slum population of the districts daily in the study, a discussion that involves, therefore, the issue of right to the city. We believe that these conflicts are also symbolic and run through the issue of stigma surrounding the slum and the slum in Rio de Janeiro, so, we seek also illustrate how these conflicts and contradictions contribute to exacerbate the stigma and the distance between the slum and the neighborhood.