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Expert Interviews Summary

In addition to understanding the history of Ocupação Anchieta, and the residents’ way of life, it was important for the Taubman College Team to understand how the Occupation fits within the larger legal, political, and socio-economic context of São Paulo. During the latter half of the field visit (March 2-4 and March 6-9), Taubman Team had the opportunity to partner with the architecture firm, RADDAR, and Escola da Cidade, an architecture and urban planning (urbanism) college in São Paulo, Brazil, to participate in a workshop on community strategies for informal settlements.

80 (left) Sol Camacho Addresses Taubman College and Escola da Cidade Students in a Working Session at PIPA, Paraisópolis.

The workshop specifically focused on the urbanization of informal settlements and explored themes of cultural identity and urban development.

Throughout the workshop students had the opportunity to attend lectures and engage in conversations with local experts from the following areas: housing policy, zoning laws, environmental protection, and culture and community organizing. The group of experts encompassed a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, including urban planners, architects, NGO directors, community organizers, developers, and scholars. Our interactions consisted of tailored lectures to Taubman Team’s interests.

Students raised questions regarding the real estate market, building construction costs, housing policy, and municipal and private infrastructure related to solid waste management and sewage. Every lecture followed a question-andanswer session. Some of the questions were unprompted and reflected the information just received in the lectures, while others were based on an interview guide developed by the team of Taubman students before they left Ann Arbor, Michigan. Students also created this interview guide through prior research on what topics the Team wanted to learn more about to gain a better understanding of the context in São Paulo – and how Ocupação Anchieta fits within that context.

Students from both universities and disciplines were paired together and challenged to find unique ways to creatively represent an informal settlement through mapping. The workshop was possible because of the contacts of professors Pimentel Walker and Arquero de Alarcón in collaboration with Sol Camacho at RADDAR and the urbanism professor at Escola da Cidade Daniel Montandon.

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