Rebeca Rabello_Design methods for a water-sensitive city: Brasília as a case study

by Rebeca Rabello June | 2017

BrasĂ­lia as a case study

Design methods for a water-sensitive city:

Graduation Thesis Proposal Design methods for a water-sensitive city: Brasília as a case study June 2017

Rebeca C. C. Rabello student number 4500725

Mentor team Dr. ir. T. Taneha Kuzniecow Bacchin

Chair of Urban Design Theory, TU Delft

Dr. Roberto Rocco

Chair of Spatial Planning & Strategy, TU Delft

Dr. Paola Viganò

Dipartimento di Culture del Progetto, Università IUAV di Venezia

Delft University of Technology Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment European Post-Master in Urbanism

cover image. Lúcio Costa sketches for the Pilot Plan Source: ArPDF & CODEPLAN & DePHA (1991:p.21)

CONTENTS

PART I 1. Introduction 1.1.

Brasília: a materialized Utopia 1.2.

Water challenges in Brasília 1.3.

Brasília, a water-sensitive city: a paradoxical quest?

1.4.

Research Aim 1.5. Methodology 1.6.

Research Relevance

2.

Theoretical Framework

2.1.

2.2.

The relationship between city and nature Urbanism from an Ecological Rationality

PART II 3.

Analytical Framework

3.1.

About Brasília

3.1.1. The role of the ‘street’ 3.1.2. The four scales 3.1.3. Brasília and the ‘satellite cities’ 3.1.4. Brasília: Design and reality 3.1.5. Brasília: the environmental dimension 3.2.

Operationalizing a G.I. approach in Brasília

3.2.1. Water management in the Federal District 3.2.2. Implementing a G.I. approach in Brasília 3.2.3. The Macro scale 3.2.4. The Meso Scale 3.3.

Governance model and Stakeholders

4.

Design Proposal & Evaluation

4.1.

Concept and Vision 4.2.

Network design, strategies and Evaluation 4.2.1. The Residential Typology 4.2.2. The Monumental Typology

PART III 5.

Conclusion & Reflections

5.1. Conclusion 5.2. Reflection 5.2.1. Supply and demand analysis 5.2.2. Green network design 5.2.3. Hydrological conditions in BrasĂ­lia and the benefits of a G.I. network

References

SUMMARY

The construction of Brasília and the transfer of Brazil´s capital city from Rio de Janeiro was aimed at steering progress and economic growth towards the centre-west and northern parts of the country.What deeply characterized and later validated Brasília as a national and international cultural heritage landmark was its symbolic significance. However, almost six decades after its inauguration, the city´s reality is vastly different from the one imagined in the late 1950s.

Massive demographic growth and urban sprawl have led to decreased soil permeability and increased demands on the region´s water resources. Brasília and its satellite cities currently struggle with poor water quality and supply challenges and are expected to face a water crisis as soon as 2018. The current situation is a direct outcome of the dispersed urbanization model and the grey-infrastructure based water management approach implemented in the city.

This research was set up as a means to provide an alternative approach to Brasilia’s water management design and to open up possibilities that may alleviate Brasilia’s current water crisis. In light of the current hydrological crisis faced by the city of Brasília, this paper proposes a green-infrastructure to Brasilia’s water management approach. In this vein, this study put forth the following argument:

The implementation of a green-infrastructure network in Brasília can enable better water management in the cityscape, provide conditions for better ecosystem functioning regarding hydrological processes; and afford opportunities to recover and re-signify the fundamental principle of social equity from the original Pilot Plan design, through the construction of and assured access to public spaces and common goods and the implementation of strategies that will ensure social diversity inside the limits of the Pilot Plan.

This study, from both analytical and design perspectives, had its foundations in the Green-Infrastructure (GI) and urban water-sensitivity approaches, with particular emphasis on the environmental dimension of urban sustainability. However, implementing water-sensitive urban strategies in Brasília implied a paradoxical quest, for Green-Infrastructure theory is fundamentally based on principles of integration, multifunctionality and connectivity. The principles that shaped the city of Brasília are extremely antagonistic to the ones necessary as premise to the implementation of GI strategies in urban environments. The question was then, how can water-sensitive solutions be implemented in a city designed upon principles of segregation, mono-functionality, heavy grey infrastructural solutions and zoning without compromising its existing urbanistic heritage?

Due to Brasília’s spatial singularity and the deep dichotomy between the principles that structure the GI approach and the principles that structured the design and construction of Brasília, a need for alternative design methods was identified.

Through literature and data review and a research by design approach, this study took the first steps in demonstrating the potential role of urban spatial patterns as a basis for the implementation of transdisciplinary solutions focused at improving water flows, water quality and water management within the urban landscape of Brasilia. Through the design of a greeninfrastructure network in Brasília, this study evaluated the transferability of Green-Infrastructure theory principles to both modernist cityscapes and cityscapes restricted by heritage protection legislation and policies. By doing so, this research proposed a set of methods, which assisted in the analysis of the urban landscape and in the design of water-sensitive strategies that respected site specificity and preserved the original urban landscape character. This study proposes these methods as the stepping-stone in translating Green-Infrastructure principles to the practice of urban design and planning, in the specific case of modernist and heritage protected cities.

The research was carried out through a multi-scale approach, focusing on the hierarchy of ecological systems in the city, how they work simultaneously and how the implementation of a GI network could both enhance the performance of these systems and synergize them with environmental, social and economic cross benefits. Additionally, a multi-temporal approach was used in order to confer adaptability to the network. Possible design adaptations through a project phasing timeline were explored so as to afford the system flexibility for unpredictable demands.

This work surfaces as a reflection on the current hydrological crisis in the city of Brasília, the existing water management and urban planning models implemented in the city and the seminal work conducted by several governmental agencies, as well as academics and professionals in the fields of urbanism, hydraulic engineering, geology and biology.

The findings presented in this work can contribute to the ongoing debate regarding water management and security in the Federal District of Brazil. This work wasan initial step to explore possible strategies for water-sensitivity in Brasília and the potential role of spatial morphology in preventing or affording soft water management solutions in urban scapes. This study explores the green-network as a base system for the functioning of cities and their surrounding ecosystems, as a propeller of sustainable and holistic forms of water management in urban areas and as a possible agent of social inclusion in urbanized territories.

Despite the insights presented, due to the limited time spam of this research, further analysis and methodological adaptations are required for sound implementation proposals, as presented in the Conclusion and Reflections chapter.

Image 1: Landscape, Brasilia, 1960 Photography by RenĂŠ Burri Source: pro.magnumphotos.com

“ [...]

Minha vda, meus sentidos, minha estética, todas as vibrações de minha sensibilidade de mulher, têm, aqui, suas raízes” Poem by Cora Coralina in Minha Cidade

“[...]

My life, My senses, My aesthetic, All vibrations Of my feminine sensibility, Have, here, their roots”

PART I

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1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Brasília: a materialized Utopia 1.2. Water challenges in Brasília 1.3. Brasília, a water-sensitive city: a paradoxical quest?

1.4. Research aim 1.5. Methodology 1.6. Research Relevance

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1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Brasília: a materialized Utopia

The construction of Brasília and the transfer of Brazil´s capital city from Rio de Janeiro to the hinterland was envisioned as a means to shift the extant national development axis, that was mainly focused on the country´s southeast, to the centrewest and northern parts of the country and promote physical connections between the extreme north, southeast and south regions (Júnior & Alvim, 2015). It was a political and economic strategy to consolidate the domain over national territory and enhance the country’s productivity and competitiveness in the global market (de Oliveira, 2009).

What deeply characterized the city´s design and later validated Brasília as a historical landmark was its symbolic significance. Brasília was designed to represent a national desire for the future and as an image of the country’s and its people’s potentials (Queiroz, 2007). As such, Brasília´s design reflected the precepts of the Modernist Movement and its advocacy for the rationalization of urban space, the standardization of basic human needs, the reconnection of nature and city and the role on technology as a tool for achieving equitable, fulfilling urban experiences.

Within this context, Brasília’s design mirrored a twofold utopian intent. It not only embodied an idealized future for Brazil, but also the Modernist ideal that architecture and urbanism were antidotes to the illnesses of modern society, and that the key to shape a new social order lay within the built environment (Corbusier & Eardley,1973).

The quotes presented below by Lúcio Costa (Brasília’s visionary urbanist), highlight the ambitions of the city’s design, which went beyond the functional domain of planning a capital city for political-administrative functions. Brasília’s design sought to do much more: to insert Brazil into the group of leading, pioneering nations; and to announce Brazil as a source of cultural, social and economic progress.

“Notwithstanding a deliberate act of will and command, Brasilia is not a gratuitous gesture of personal or political vanity, alike the ones of the Renaissance, but the crowning act of a great collective effort towards national development.

Iron and steel, oil, dams, high-ways, the automobile and shipbuilding industries correspond to the key of a vault and, due to the singularity of its (Brasília’s) urban design and its architectural expression, testifies to the intellectual maturity of the people who conceived it, a people engaged in the construction of a new Brazil, oriented towards the future and mastering their own Destiny.”

Author’s translation of the original fragment in: (Costa, 1967:301)

“Of one thing I’m certain, (…) Brasilia proves what has been happening in various sectors of our (Brazilian) activities: we no longer export only coffee, sugar, and cocoa - we also provide some nourishment to the universal culture.”

Author’s translation of the original fragment in: (Costa, 1959:299)

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Costa’s proposed urban design for Brasília structured the city through four main urban scales1 (residential, bucolic, gregarious and monumental) and with the principles of; car-based infrastructural solutions, land-use zoning, monofunctionality and the intense percolation of nature through the built environment. Brasília´s proposed architecture and urban morphology presented a completely diverse ambience from the urban reality of other urban centres at that time and underpinned the city´s utopian image.

However, almost six decades after its inauguration, the city´s reality is vastly different from the one imagined in the 1950s2.

Declared a cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1987, the city witnessed a paradoxical development trajectory. During the city´s construction, a ring road delimitating the Paranoá River Basin and the boundaries of the Pilot Plan3 was built.

This ring road, called EPCT (Estrada Parque do Contorno), played a key role in the slum eradication policy adopted in the city from the 1970s4 on (de Campos Gouvêa, 1995; de Oliveira, 2009; and Júnior & Alvim, 2015). This policy led to the construction of several ‘satellite cities’5 outside the ring road. While the Pilot Plan remained somewhat preserved due to heritage protectionist legislation, its surroundings suffered intense sprawl and urbanization (usually unplanned). According to the IBGE – Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute of Geography & Statistics), over the past sixteen years, the Federal District has had a rate of demographic growth around twice the national average. Given that this trend is predicted to continue, by 2030, the population of the Federal District will have increased by 27 percent (from 2016) to 3.8 million inhabitants.

Demographic Growth Scenarios (2000|2004|2006|2010|2020|2030) Exploratory Scenario Year

Population Federal D.

Surrounding

Trend Scenario Rate of growth

Federal D.

Year

Surrounding

Population Federal D.

Surrounding

Rate of growth Federal D.

Surrounding

2000

2051146

439496

-

-

2000

2051146

440974

-

-

2004

2282447

559836

2.71%

6.24%

2004

2282447

562154

2.71%

6.26%

2006

2391768

607265

2.37%

4.15%

2006

2382868

613413

2.20%

4.46%

2010

2608585

689387

2.19%

3.22%

2010

2574579

707649

1.94%

3.64%

2020

30595881

854279

1.61%

2.17%

2020

2957840

932756

1.40%

2.80%

2030

3438008

965708

1.17%

1.23%

2030

3250759

1108098

0.95%

1.74%

Image 02 - Demograthic scenarios Data Source: PDOT 2012

Urban Scales is the terminology used by Lúcio Costa in the Pilot Plan Report (1991) to address the residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic domains of Brasília 1

Brasília was originally designed to host a population of 500.000 inhabitants. Once the city reached its demographic limit, a set of satellite nuclei were to be built outside the Pilot Plan area. However, this did not happen. In 2016, the Federal District had a population of 2.977.216 inhabitants of which less than 10% lived inside the Pilot Plan (IBGE).

2

The current boundaries of the Pilot Plan and Brasília are not the same as when the city was constructed. Chapter 3 gives further details regarding the administrative boundaries of Brasília and the Federal District.

3

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1.2. Water challenges in Brasília

Massive demographic growth and the resultant urbanization in the Federal District area has led to decreased soil permeability and severe demands on the region´s water resources (de Andrade, et al., 2016). As a result, Brasília today faces severe challenges regarding water security. Brasília and its ´satellite cities´ are expected to face a water crisis as soon as 2018; an effect of not just climate change and land use patterns but also the demographic growth rate (Tokarnia, 2015).

Brasília is located in Brazil´s center-west region, on high plateau lands and completely within the Cerrado Biome. The Federal District encompasses a strategic hydraulic region, for it is in this region that most watercourses in South America are formed (de Andrade, et al., 2016). The Federal District´s seven watersheds are a part of the three main macro water basins in Brazil: the Paraná river basin, the São Francisco river basin and the Tocantins River basin (ibid.). Disturbances and stresses on the watersheds inside the Federal District have had a direct impact on the water security6 of other Brazilian States, as well as on other South American countries.

According to the IBRAM – Instituto Brasília Ambiental (Brasília’s Environmental Institute), the integrity of all seven watersheds serving Brasília and the “satellite cities” is under stress. A diagnosis released by the Institute in 2012 highlighted issues of water pollution, natural vegetation loss, erosion, reduced soil infiltration capacity and reduced groundwater resources (Governo de Brasília, 2012).

In addition to high rates of demographic growth and increased demand for water supply, anthropogenic alterations to the Cerrado ecosystem are also responsible for current levels of water stress in the Federal District. The Cerrado biome is characterized by acidic soil, deep underground water tables and highly specialized vegetation. Two thirds of the Cerrado vegetation are in the subsoil, creating a complex system of deep roots, which re-feed the water table (Spera, et al., 2016).

However, extensive deforestation for agricultural and urban development are altering the water cycle in the region and compromising the capacity of local springs and streams (de Andrade, et al., 2016).

The ongoing debate regarding water security in the Federal District has engendered two government led projects to increase the city´s water capacity and meet demands until 2040.One of the projects is the construction of two additional reservoirs, in addition to using the Paranoá Lake as a water supply source (Tokarnia, 2015). According to the CAESB - Companhia de Saneamento Ambiental do Distrito Federal (Environmental Sanitation Agency of the Federal District), the implementation of these projects would increase the capacity of the local water system by 6.5 thousand liters per second (bid.).

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Chapter 3 describes the expansion models and policies adopted in Brasília.

According to the political-administrative organization of Brazil and its Constitution, Brasília´s ‘satellite-cities’ are actually not cities. They are Administrative Regions (RAs) of the Federal District. The Federal District is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is the only one that does not have municipalities.

Rather, it is divided in 31 administrative regions. The Administrative Region 1 (RA-1) encompasses the urbanized area designed by Lucio Costa and the National Park of Brasília.

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Image 03 - Watersheds - Federal District

lakes and dams

Source: Federal District´s Hydrology Map (1996)- CODEPLAN

watershed limits rivers and streams

The state of watersheds inside the Federal District Descoberto River Watershed Disposal of untreated sewage from new urban centers Increased demand for irrigation systems São Bartolomeu River Watershed Intense urbanization process Natural vegetation loss Reduced soil permeability Underground water exploitation Reduced recharge of underground aquifers Preto River Watershed Intense agriculture activity Intense exploitation of water resources

Maranhão River Watershed Deforestation of preservation areas Irregular sand extraction from water banks Disposal of raw animal waste into stream Corumbá River Watershed Erosion and transportation of solids to the water basins Disposal of untreated sewage into tributaries Paranoá Lake Watershed Overall good condition Illegal sewage and drainage connections São Marcos River Watershed Intense agriculture activity Increased irrigation demand Intense use of agrochemicals Image 04 - The State of Watersheds in the Federal District Source: IBRAM 2012

This paper adopts the definition of water security as proposed by the United Nations: “The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of and acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability” (United Nations, 2013) 6

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1960 Demographics: 88.295 inhabitants Urbanized Area: 2 km2

1970 Demographics: 537.492 inhabitants Urbanized Area: 7 km2

1986 Demographics: Built-up Area: 25 km2

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1997 Demographics: Built-up Area: 39 km2

2013 Demographics: 2.789.761 inhabitants Built-up Area: 55 km2

urban occupation urban expansion lakes main water ways main roads Image 05 - Urban expansion Federal District Sources: IBGE, Censo Demogrรกfico do Distrito Federal 1960 IBGE, Censo Demogrรกfico 1970/2010 SEGETH/SITURB

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1.2. Brasília, a water-sensitive city: a paradoxical quest?

The 1980s saw the rise of eco-urbanism theories and approaches towards urban design and planning. These theories, as opposed to a functional view of the city, embraced the benefits of social-environmental approaches to urban planning and design and sought alternative forms of development through nature-based solutions. Nature-based solutions are “actions which are inspired by, supported by or copied from nature” (European Commission, 2015:5). Nature-based solutions encompass green infrastructures, blue infrastructures and biomimicry as tools to design environmentally sustainable urban systems (Scott, et. al., 2016).

Water management in Brasília has always relied solely on grey infrastructures. This trend continues even in contemporary solutions proposed for solving the current water crisis faced by the city. Despite the increase in supply capacity, the proposed solutions lack a comprehensive strategy to reduce the ongoing deterioration of natural water resources in the region.

The current scenario of water stress in Brasília highlights the inability of grey infrastructures to properly respond to peak demands related to climatic changes and increased pressure on the existing infrastructure due to massive demographic growth.

Water management in Brasilia and the Federal District, therefore, requires alternative approaches to urban planning and design; solutions which understand the potential role of urban patterns to enable and facilitate both ecosystems functions and services7 that are vital to the functioning8 and preservation of natural ecosystems, and the very existence of urban centers themselves (Rogers, 2001).

A multitude of theories, guidelines and models have been put forward to orient planning and design actions inside the urban realm concerning ecosystem functions and services. This body of knowledge is composed of different frameworks that aim to plan and design water management strategies inside the cityscape that simultaneously afford ecological, economic and social benefits; through a nature based solutions perspective. Among these theories, the Green-Infrastructure and water-sensitive approaches stand as recognized frameworks to address ecosystem functioning and integrity in the urban landscape (Bacchin, et al., 2014; Ahern, 2007; Ashley, et al., 2013).

The Green-Infrastructure (GI) theory is fundamentally based on the principles of integration, multifunctionality and connectivity; as well as on the concept of synergism between ecosystem functioning and socio-economic benefits in order to promote sustainable, integrated solutions for water management, climate regulation and increased life quality in urban contexts (Hansen & Pauleit, 2014).

7

See chapter 2 for the definition of and differentiation between ecosystem functions and services

8

See chapter 2 for the definition of ecosystem functioning.

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The principles that shaped the city of Brasília, however, are extremely antagonistic to the ones necessary as premise to the implementation of GI strategies for performative water-sensitive urban environments. Brasília, therefore, presents a challenging platform for testing the implementation of the Green-Infrastructure approach and to the city´s own capacity to respond to growing environmental pressures. The challenge is a consequence of the need to preserve the city`s declared architectonic and urban heritage while adapting Brasilia to water sensitivity.

Therefore, implementing water-sensitive urban strategies in Brasília implies a paradoxical quest, for how can GreenInfrastructure solutions be implemented in a city structured upon the principles of segregation, mono-functionality, heavy grey infrastructural solutions, and zoning without compromising its existing urbanistic heritage? Within this context, the study proposed the following research question:

How can urban planning and design promote integrated, sustainable urban development solutions regarding watersensitivity in the city of Brasília?

For the purpose of this study, water sensitive cities are defined as urban environments that (Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, 2016): i) “Serve as a potential water supply catchment, providing a range of different water sources at a range of different scales, and for a range of different uses”; ii) “Provide ecosystem services and a healthy natural environment, thereby offering a range of social, ecological, and economic benefits”; iii) “Consist of water sensitive communities where citizens have the knowledge and desire to make wise choices about water, are actively engaged in decision-making, and demonstrate positive behaviors such as conserving water at home and not tipping chemicals down the drain.”

To answer the main research question, additional sub questions needed to be investigated. The sub questions were:

1. How can water resources and water flows be managed and facilitated through urban design and planning in Brasília so as to achieve a water-sensitive city?

2. How can a green-infrastructure, aimed at optimizing water management, be implemented in Brasilia without endangering the city´s existing urban and architectonic heritage?

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3. How can the implementation of ecologically performative, multifunctional spaces in Brasília assure fair access to the benefits of ecosystems’ services and promote a widespread ‘right to the city’9 to the different social groups inside the Federal District?

4. Which methodologies should be applied to the design process of a green-infrastructure network in the city of Brasília, in order to guarantee the operationalization of Green-Infrastructure theory principles and concepts to the design practice?

1.4. Research Aim

This study aimed to demonstrate the potential role of urban spatial patterns as a basis for the implementation of transdisciplinary solutions focused at improving water flows, water quality and water management within the urban landscape of Brasilia.

Through the design of a green-infrastructure network in Brasília, this study sought to evaluate the transferability of GreenInfrastructure theory principles to both modernist cityscapes and cityscapes restricted by heritage protection legislation and policies. By doing so, this research proposed a set of methods, which assisted in the analysis of the urban landscape and n the design of water-sensitive strategies that respected site specificity and preserved the original urban landscape character.

These methods were the stepping-stone in translating Green-Infrastructure principles to the practice of urban design and planning, in the specific case of modernist and heritage protected cities.

The findings presented in this work can potentially contribute to the ongoing debate regarding water management and security in the Federal District of Brazil (Brasília included). This work aimed to highlight possible actions within the realms of urban planning and design that can contribute to water preservation and water development in Brasília through an interdisciplinary ecological approach.

This work understands ‘right to the city’ as defined by Harvey (2008): as the right to appropriate and change the cityscape. The right to the city is a common right, which depends on a collective endeavor to reshape the processes of urbanization. According to Lefebvre (1996); by appropriating urban space, inhabitants redirect the city away from an engine of capital accumulation, into a web of cooperative social relations among inhabitants. The right to the city as defined by Lefebvre entails participation; a political awakening of civic society, and a struggle for urban social appropriation. From this understanding, this work aimed at creating conditions to foster the right to the city in Brasília by promoting a system of public spaces, accessible to all, which can afford social participation and appropriation of the urban space. Additionally, strategies to diversify social mix inside the Pilot Plan and enable lower income levels of the population a proper spaces inside Brasília were proposed.

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1.5. Methodology

The methodology applied to this study encompassed three main domains: literature review, data review and research by design. The methods chosen reflected the questions presented previously and the aim of the research. As such, the literature review was conducted in two phases. Firstly, a literature review was conducted in order to construct the theoretical framework of this research, that is, the epistemic backbone upon which the analytical phase of the study was conducted.

The review was structured along two dimensions: an ecological dimension and a spatial and social dimension. Within the ecological dimension theories of Green-Infrastructure, Water-sensitive urban design, Landscape Ecology and Landscape as Infrastructure were explored. Within the spatial and social dimension the state of knowledge research related to theories of space syntax, place making, urban vitality and spatial characteristics related to urban “success” and social appropriation of urban spaces was investigated.

Secondly, a literature and data review were conducted in order to construct the Analytical Framework of this research, aimed at constructing a broad analysis of the city of Brasília from ecological, social and urbanistic perspectives. Within the literature review, research was conducted in three spheres: i) governance model and regulations regarding Brasília´s architectonic and urbanistic heritage ensemble; ii) the production of Brasília´s landscape, from the original Pilot Plan design to the current spatial appropriation of the city; and iii) the ecological and social challenges currently faced by Brasília. The data review was conducted in two spheres: i) water management and hydrological crisis in Brasília; and ii) Brasília´s and the Federal District´s socio-economic indicators. Both literature and data review provided input for the research by design domain. The latter was conducted in five spheres, those being: i) the Pilot Plan site analysis; ii) suitable locations for GI implementation inside the Pilot Plan; iii) Green-infrastructure network design; iv) design evaluation; and v) design phasing.

All research domains were carried out simultaneously, within a circular co-construction process, resulting in common shared products. The methodology diagrams indicate the prime domains, spheres, methods and products comprised in this research, without, however, presenting hierarchical relationships between the domains.

Due to the complex and hierarchical character of GI networks, this research applied a through-scale approach encompassing three physical scales: i) the Federal District´s territory (macro-scale); ii) the Pilot Plan (meso-scale); and iii) the urban sectors | urban axes (micro-scale). The Macro scale took into consideration the whole Federal District territory, including the Pilot Plan design area and all “satellite cities”. The Meso scale analyzed the built environment of the Paranoá watershed, with a focus on the Pilot Plan area; as well as on areas of natural, semi-natural and anthropized vegetated spaces. The Micro Scale explored planning and design strategies in different urban axes of the Pilot Plan, aimed at the implementation of water-sensitive design solutions and the possibility of social inclusion in this highly gentrified area of the city.

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Image 06 - Research Methodology

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Macro Scale

Meso Scale

Micro Scale

Nano Scale

Image 07- Research and design scales

A multi-scale perspective was utilized, for multi-scale and multi-object approach are prime GI planning principles (Ahern, 2007; Hansen and Pauleit, 2014). The multi-scaled approach supports itself on the hierarchy theory, which focuses on the structure and behavior of systems that work simultaneously, at multiple scales. The same approach is necessary in GI planning, for landscapes, themselves, are hierarchical systems. As stressed by Ahern (2007: 269), even though landscapes are defined as large heterogeneous areas of land, “they are also by definition “nested” within larger areas of land that often constrain, or control the ecological processes – particularly those associated with species movement and hydrological processes. (…) The multi-scale approach involves assessment and planning of spatial configurations of landscape patterns and ecological processes at multiple scales and how these patterns and processes interact. “

Bacchin (2015) stresses the fundamentals of implementing not only a multi and through-scale approach, but also a multi-temporal approach in order to afford spatial and functioning adaptation and flexibility. “From a design/engineering perspective, the question is how to design for contingency and multifunctionality, managing or adapting to events as they unfold in time, with in-built flexibility, and at the same time providing elements of permanence for cultural appropriation” (Bacchin, 2015:18).

Therefore, a multi-temporal approach was conducted in this research within the reflection of necessary and possible phasing stages for design implementation and vision achievement. Additionally, possible design adaptations through the phasing timeline were explored in order to afford the system flexibility for unpredictable demands. In summary, this study, from both analytical and design perspectives, had its foundations on the Green-Infrastructure and urban water-sensitivity approaches, with particular emphasis on the environmental dimension of urban sustainability.

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1.6. Research Relevance

Due to the Federal District´s location, water management actions and inactions inside its territory have a direct impact on water resources on the rest of the country. As mentioned previously, the seven watersheds that comprise the Federal District are a part of three main national macro water basins in Brazil (de Andrade, et al, 2016). Additionally, deforestation in the Cerrado biome can alter rainfall rates in the Amazon State (Mendes Malhado, et al. 2010) and the integrity of hydrological cycles and water security of other Brazilian states. Therefore, the implemented forms of urban development and water management in the Federal District have not only a regional, but also a territorial impact in Brazil.

As a response to rising awareness of the importance of interdisciplinary governance frameworks for tackling urban development and nature preservation, in 2007, the elaboration process of an Ecological-Economical Zoning report (ZEE) for the Federal District became a priority in the agenda of the local government. This report aimed to identify ecological and economical specificities, vulnerabilities and potentials of each area in the Federal District in order to provide guidelines for the urban development of each administrative region. A second stage of the report process is still in progress. However, important mappings on environmental vulnerabilities in the Federal District have already been produced and have given important inputs to this work on necessary action regarding sustainable forms of water management and urban development in the city.

This work surfaces as a reflection of the current hydrological crisis in the city of BrasĂ­lia, the existing water management and urban planning models implemented in the city and the seminal work engendered by several governmental agencies, as well as academics and professionals in the fields of urbanism, hydraulic engineering, geology and biology.

This work was an initial step in exploring possible strategies for water-sensitivity in BrasĂ­lia and the potential role of spatial morphology in preventing or affording soft water management solutions in urban scapes. This study investigated the greennetwork as a base system for the functioning of cities and their surrounding ecosystems, as a propeller of sustainable and holistic forms of water management in urban areas and as a possible agent of social inclusion in urbanized territories.

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2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1. The relationship between city & nature 2.2. Urbanism from an Ecological Rationality

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2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The evolution of schools of thought and practices related to urban planning and design is characterized by a paradoxical relationship between man and nature. Nature has progressively been commodified and perceived as a source of imperishable resources recurrently bent by and for the needs of man. However, the effects of rampant urbanization and climate change (current and foreseen) have revealed the fragility of human kind and urban settlements to environmental stresses, as well as a deep dependency on natural resources and services from ecological systems.

A brief historical analysis of urban models raised through the XX and XXI centuries and a parallel reflection on the changing role of nature in each of these historical moments can help understand the contemporary surge of urban studies focused on urban development from a social-ecological point of view. Additionally, such an overview can shed light on the changing understanding of the urban realm and its complexities.

Scott et al. (2016) propose a categorization of some of the main urban theories and models based on three main parameters; the approach or lenses through which the urban environment is understood and thought about, the spatial configuration and integration of urban functions, and the typology of solutions applied. The diagrammatic representation of the study illustrates the evolution of urban theories and practices from segregated and dispersed to compact and integrated morphologies and from a social-technical to a social-ecological perspective, materialized through the operationalization of nature-based solutions10, rather than mechanical ones.

Image 08 - The city-nature relationship evolution Data Source: Scott et al., 2016:271 This work understands nature-based solutions as defined by European Commission. Nature-based solutions are “actions which are inspired by, supported by or copied from nature” (European Commission, 2015: 5). According to Scott et al. (2016:268), “nature-based solutions has emerged as a term used to encompass the multiple ways by which the evolving relationship between nature and the city is being imagined, (…) and therefore encapsulates inter alia green infrastructure, blue infrastructure and biomimicry as urban design and planning tools for ecologically sensitive urban development.”

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2.1. The relationship between city & nature

Rethinking the City

Urban movements and theories proposed in the twentieth century were a reaction to the poor conditions of industrial cities. Generally, hygienist and beautification interventions to cities were the starting point of an alternative understanding of nature as not only a supplier of material resources and a “sink” for industrial by-products, but also as a mitigation tool for environmental hazards produced by industrial activities and as an agency to achieve increased life quality and better living spaces in urban centers.

Further urbans models, however, as the Garden City (1898) proposed by Ebenezer Howard, completely rejected the existing industrial model and proposed new types of urban morphologies as an attempt to better deal with urban densities and the backsets of production urban spaces. The model proposed by Howard aimed at reconnecting the city and its population to nature through a specific typology of polycentric self-sufficient, low-density settlements (Wheeler, 2004). Each settlement would have a concentric configuration of zoned areas for housing, leisure and work related activities, mediated by green buffers, eradiating from a green core. Each settlement should host a limit of 38.000 inhabitants.

Clustering of garden cities was imagined also within a concentric model, in which six satellite settlements would be connect between themselves and to a central core, hosting up to 58.000 inhabitants, though a network of roads and rails. Greenbelts of agricultural land would surround each settlement and provide basis for food production and self-sufficiency for the cities (Howard, 1898). The Garden City model proposed an alternative to the degrading reality of industrial urban centers and aimed at creating an urban utopia by reintroducing a sensibility related to the pastoral (Hagan, 2015), explicitly evidenced on the garden city´s three magnets diagram.

The Garden City underlines a re-conception of cities through a re-signification of the role of nature and a recognition of the benefits of greenspaces in urban spaces. Scott et al. (2016: 271) highlight how the Garden city model puts forward “an approach to urban problems that seeks to acknowledge and employ, rather than reject nature in an urban context.” However, despite the implementation of principles from the garden city theory in town and neighborhood planning in North America, South America, Oceania, Africa and Asia, its required low density and its incapability to provide solutions for high-density urban centers rendered the applicability of this urban model.

The debate over the new urban morphology of the Functional City arouse during the 1920s and 1930s (ibid.). The structural

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principles of this urban model, which would deeply influence urban planning after the World War II, were published in the Athens Charter during the 1933 CIAM´s (Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne) meeting.

The Functional City model defended a rational planning of city spaces and functions as to achieve productive and fulfilling urban environments. Alike the Garden City model, the Functional City also proposed an alternative relationship between city and nature. However, the modernist city conceived nature as the background upon which the urban environment would be built. Nature was to be ordered, controlled and zoned in specific areas of the city, predetermined by the architect and urbanist.

The Modernist Movement understood the issue of city planning through a scientific and machinery-like rationale, putting forward the utopia of order in urban realms. Spaces and building typologies were derived from pre-conceived human needs and zoning of functions was proposed as an ordering tool for maximum performance. The movement positioned architecture and urban planning not as a reflection of determined cultures and local specificities, but rather as a universal model capable of shaping societies.

Unlike the Garden City model, the Functional City model posed a solution for high density and productive urban environments. Principals from the Functional City were vastly applied on the reconstruction of European cities after the World War II. However, the intense zoning and standardization of programs and needs resulted in fragmented cities unable to respond to demands of local inhabitants. Additionally, the “machinery aesthetic” employed in the Functional City, its heavy infrastructural approach and the prioritization of automobile flows compromised the walkability, human scale and the sense of belonging in these urban centers.

Parallel to the proposal of the Functional City model, an alternative model was proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1932. The Dispersed City model, as the Garden City model, sought a solution to the bad conditions of urban centers by reintegrating city and nature. However, instead, Wright did not restrict the size of the city by a surrounding green belt. The Dispersed City proposed a complete dissolution of the city into a matrix of rural areas, structured and interconnected by a grid of highways (Scott et al. 2016). Alike the Functional City, the Dispersed City model relied on an extensive mobility infrastructure to sustain the urban model.

Despite the intentions of the Garden City, Functional City and Dispersed City models to reconnect city and nature as a means to overcome the negative impacts of overpopulated and polluted industrial centers, all theories relied on socio-technical systems as infrastructural basis for urban development. Additionally, these models proposed a tabula rasa and denied any connection of the urban realm to the existing landscape morphology and geology.

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Reclaiming the City

As a response to the negative outcomes of modernist city models, the limitations of implementability of the Garden City and the increased understanding of resource depletion emerged by the 1970s oil crisis, new urban models were proposed. These models strived for urban configurations that were attractive, demanded fewer resources and were less harmful to the natural environment. In an attempt to understand the morphological attributes that made historical urban cores so appealing, planners and designers rediscovered the qualities, characteristics and spatial configuration of traditional cities (Scott et al.

2016). The Compact City model, therefore adopted an opposite approach than the ones used in the models presented above.

The Compact City did not refute concepts of the traditional city, but rather extracted urban patterns and principles, which made non-industrial traditional cities pleasant and more efficient in terms of land-use, as well as in terms of time and energy demanded for displacements within the city. The mobility infrastructure favored public transportation upon privately own vehicles and the distribution of services and facilities aimed for a mix of functions, creating a “city of short distances”.

The Compact City model was a paradigm shift in city planning and placed the concept of compactness at the center stage of urban planning and design regarding sustainability (Howley et al. 2009).

“As recorded by Jenks et al. (2000) many hopes for sustainable urban futures rest on the belief that compact cities, produced through a process of urban intensification, can provide benefits in terms of: conservation of the countryside (Gillham, 2002); less need to travel by car, thus reduced fuel emissions (Haughton & Hunter, 2003); support for public transport and walking and cycling (Banister, 1997); more efficient utility and infrastructure provision (Burton, 2003) and revitalization and regeneration of inner urban areas (Mills & Lubuele, 1997).” (Scott et al., 2016: 273)

Alike the modernist urban models, the Compact City, due to its density, relied on heavy hard infrastructure to sustain the functioning of the city. However, unlike the other models, the Compact city does not propose a new relationship between city and nature and does not apply the availability of green space as criteria for urban quality. Green spaces are usually proposed as small local parks.

Re-naturalizing the City

Despite the contribution of the Compact City theory to the debate and practice of sustainable forms of urban development, the model did not address issues such as urban adaptation and flexibility to environmental stress, the role of urban pattern in assuring the preservation of natural processes and the potential of natural landscapes as service providing entities.

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Research and debate in urban planning and design during the last decades of the XX century and beginning of the XXI century lead to a re-framing of urbanism and the understanding of cities. Theories such as Landscape Ecology, Landscape Urbanism and Landscape as Infrastructure re-positioned the city from a socio-ecological perspective as a complex hybrid system of natural and artificial structures, with multiple interrelated response loops that regulate the system´s operation (Hagan, 2015).

2.2. Urbanism from an Ecological Rationality

Landscape Ecology

According to Dramstad et al. (1996), the founding stones of Landscape Ecology as a discipline dates back to the 1950´s, when geographers, soil experts, climatologists and natural history researches construed the “natural history and physical environment patterns of large areas.” The term Landscape Ecology started being used once the access to aerial photographs of landscapes began widely diffused.

Landscape Ecology focuses on the understanding of the landscape, a kilometer-wide heterogenic mosaic containing diverse land-uses, land- covers and specific ecosystems, from an ecology perspective, the study of interactions between organisms and their environment (ibid). Landscape ecology is concerned with the connections and interactions that occur and shape the natural landscape and the effects of both natural and human disturbances on the landscape. The principles of Landscape Ecology can be both applied to natural, semi-natural and atrophic environments.

The ecological outlook puts forward alternative theoretical and analytical tools to understand the complexities of landscapes, including natural and anthropic environments and the intricate relationship among them related to functioning and ecological processes (Picket et al., 2004).

Alike a living organisms, the landscape exhibits and can be describe by three main characteristics; structure, functioning and change. Structure consists of the spatial configuration of landscape elements. Functioning relates to the movement and flow of materials, animal species, plants, water and energy through the landscape structure. Change refers to the dynamics and modifications on the structure and functioning over time (Dramstad et al., 1996).

The Landscape Ecology theory highlights the crucial role of spatial morphology, since it determines and controls how functioning and change will occur through time. To understand the physical pattern of landscapes, the last can depicted into three elements, those being: patches corridor and matrix. Patches are relatively homogenous areas that differ from its

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surroundings and provide a multitude of functions such as “wildlife habitat, aquifer recharge areas, and sources and sinks for species or nutrients” (Ahern, 2007). Corridors are linear areas that differ from its surroundings in terms of a certain type of land-cover and its spatial pattern (Foreman, 2015).Corridors are conduits for the functioning of the landscape, enabling flows of biotic and abiotic elements. Matrix refers to the dominant land-cover type in terms of size, continuity, connectivity and control over the dynamics of the landscape (Ahern, 2007; Forman and Godron, 1986; Dramstad et al., 1996).

Landscape as Urbanism

Landscape Urbanism is a theoretical field of urban planning that advocates best practices in city planning through the design of the urban landscape rather than its buildings. It re-defines the understanding of the urban realm as a cultural and social ecology. Urban and natural are to be understood as co-exiting, inter-related systems. Therefore, the study and planning of cities excluding biotic and abiotic components of the landscape in which they are nested lack to grasp the complexities of urban environments and the necessary tools to proposed morphologies which enable and synergize structuring functions of the natural and anthropic realms.

Landscape as Infrastructure

The Landscape as Infrastructure theory redefines the meaning of infrastructure. From the conventional idea of infrastructure, composed of heavy engineering works, this theory proposes landscape itself is an infrastructure. It reformulates “landscape as a sophisticated, instrumental system of essential resources, services, and agents that generate and support urban economies.”

The Green Infrastructure Approach

Bacchin (2015) highlights the ability to adapt to a “landscape of risk” as the intrinsic challenge of the 21st century urbanization process. Increased uncertainty and unpredictability towards the future demand new approaches to urban planning.

Within this context, the Green infrastructure (GI) approach to urban planning and design has become increasingly popular and has been promoted, together with the concept of Ecosystem Services (ES), as a mean to jointly improve urban quality while enabling environmental functioning and preservation (Hansen & Pauleit, 2014). The concern regarding urbanism from a socio-environmental perspective is intrinsically entwined with the concept of sustainable development; the menaces of climatic changes, natural resources depletion, exponential demographic growth; future unpredictability; and the inability of traditional urban grey systems to cope with rampant demands and peak pressures.

In this context, the Green Infrastructure theory proposes, through the conceptualization of hybrid networks of natural, semi-natural and atrophic spaces, a holistic tool for spatially organizing the urban environment as to enable a range of

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ecological and cultural functions (Ahern, 2007). Green Infrastructure diverges from traditional functional approaches as it borrows and merges concepts from Landscape Ecology, Ecosystem services, Hydraulics, Biology and Geography to the planning and design process in an attempt to better understand the complex interrelations and dynamics occurring in the socio-ecological system of urban landscapes.

The European Commission (2013) defines Green Infrastructures (GI) as a “strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services.” However, Hansen & Pauleit (2014:516) point out that rather than being a completely new theoretical frame and design perspective, Green Infrastructure planning is a “synthesis of different planning approaches” and a combination of “innovative planning approaches in the field of nature conservation and green space planning.”

GI stands as an alternative or complementary solution to grey infrastructures, especially in water management, allowing for more flexibility and adaptability. Eight main principles related to spatial pattern and functioning, and governance models are the foundation to the successful implementation and performance of Green Infrastructure from ecological, social and economic perspectives.

Image 09 - Cascade model – Ecosystems and human well-being Source: Hansen & Pauleit (2014: 519)

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Image 10 - Green Infrastructure Principles Source: Hansen, R., and Pauleit, S. (2014:, 517)

Image 11 - Ecosystem Services classification Source: Marine Ecosystem Services - MA (2005)

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In order to operationalize GI planning, strengthen its theoretical framework and facilitate the transposition from theory to practice, it important to understand the distinctions and interfaces of ecosystem processes, functions and services. Ahern (2007:268) defines ecological processes as the “mechanisms by which landscapes function – over time, and across space (…).” According to the Ecological Society of America, ecological functions are those that provide “services” such as climate remediation and water and air purification, among others (ESA, 2006). The Ecosystem Services (ES) cascade model by Haines-Young and Potschin (2010) illustrates the distinction and relations between these concepts.

According to Hansen & Pauleit (2014: 518), ecosystem functions (”e.g. slow passage of water”) are directly derived from environmental biophysical structures and processes (“e.g. wetlands or net primary productivity”). These functions might present opportunities for human use. When that is the case, these functions give a basis for ecosystem services (“e.g. food protection”), which will result in benefits for human life. The human willingness to invest in the services is the direct outcome of a valuation process, which most often includes cost and socio-economic-environmental analysis.

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and the Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity studies (2010), ecosystem services can be further classified into four categories: supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services.

Supporting services relate to services that are vital to the integrity and existence of the ecosystem and to the provision of other services (e.g. habitat for species and nutrient cycling). Provisioning services include natural resources (e.g. fresh water, food and raw materials). Regulating services are mediation-control processes and factors (e.g. climate regulation and water purification). Cultural services are non-material, social-interaction and well-being related services (e.g. education, recreation, mental and physical health). (VALMER Project, no date).

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PART II

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3. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK 3.1. About Brasília 3.1.1. The role of the ‘street’ 3.1.2. The four scales 3.1.3. Brasília & the ‘satellite-cities’ 3.1.4. Brasília: design and reality 3.1.5. Brasília: the environmental dimension 3.2. Operationalizing Green-Infrastructure principles in Brasília 3.2.1. Water Management in the Federal District 3.2.2. Operationalizing a GI approach in Brasília 3.2.3. The Macro Scale 3.2.4. The Meso Scale 3.3. Governance Model and Stakeholders

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3. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter presents a site analysis of the Federal District and Brasília from social, ecological and spatial perspectives.

The site analysis was aimed at identifying the drivers which led to the city´s current water crisis; as well as highlighting the outcomes in all three mentioned realms. However, the analysis was not conducted with the sole objective of identifying water related challenges in the city. Based on the prime principles of multifunctionality and integration of the Green-infrastructure approach, the analysis also intended to identify social issues derived from either the city’s urban design project or the urban expansion | governance model implemented inside the Federal District from the 1960s. In order to ensure an optimum performance of the network, the design phase aimed to tackle a multitude of challenges inside the city, as to achieve “more from less in any investment” (Bacchin et al., 2014:7). The analysis from a spatial perspective also aimed at identifying the prime principles and physical elements that structure and characterize Brasília’s architectonic and urbanistic heritage. The status of Brasília as an UNESCO and National heritage site demands any intervention to carefully understand the existing landscape in order to evaluate areas that should be completely preserved and areas that need to be rendered flexible in terms of heritage control, providing conditions for adaptability in the cityscape.

Due to Brasília’s spatial singularity and the extreme dichotomy between the principles that structure the Green-Infrastructure (GI) approach and the principles that structured the design and construction of Brasília, a need for alternative methods was identified. These methods enabled the planning and design of a multifunctional GI network in the city without compromising the city’s original design. These methods were aimed at understanding the designed and existing spatial and social reality of Brasília; as well as identifying the optimum locations for the network inside the Pilot Plan from a multifunctionality point of view. It also aimed at determining the level of flexibility of each space in the city to host changes regarding water sensitivity without endangering the city’s urban heritage.

For the understanding of the spatial character of Brasília and the identification of optimum spaces for the implementation of a GI network in the city, this chapter explores a set of concepts and the agency of mapping these concepts within two dimensions; an environmental, and a spatial-social dimension. Within the environmental dimension the concepts addressed were: connectivity, fragmentation, ecosystem functioning, patch, corridor and matrix. Within the spatial-social dimension the concepts addresses were: density, dispersion, fragmentation, eccentricity, vitality, porosity and flexibility.

The analytical framework set in this chapter encompasses the three prime domains of literature review, data review and research by design. The research was conducted through a multi-scale and multi-temporal approach, as presented previously in section 1.3. Methodology.

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3.1. About Brasília

“Brasília could not and should not be a common city, equal or alike so many others in the world; it must constitute the irradiation base of a pioneer system which would bring, to civilization, an unrevealed universe; it should be, forcibly, a unique metropolis, which ignores the contemporary reality and focuses, with all its founding elements, to the future.”

Author’s Translation of the original fragment in: Kubitschek (2000:71-72)

Image 12 - Brasília and the utopia of a better life Photography by Alberto Ferreira

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The city of Brasília, from its inception to present day, is drenched in symbolic significance. In fact, the city´s symbolisms constitute the foundation of its recognized cultural value. The singularity of the city´s architectonic and urbanistic ensemble is undoubtedly a determining factor for Brasilia being recognized as a national historical heritage and as a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. However, to understand the principles and ideologies that underlie Brasília´s subversive urban design is to unveil the city´s substance and grasp its essence. Therefore, this section will analyze and identify the core elements that characterize and structure Brasília´s landscape and the intentions behind the city´s spatial composition.

President Juscelino Kubitschek´s quote highlights the expectations surrounding the construction of Brasília. The transfer of the capital city from the South-east of the country to the Center-west hinterland crossed the boundaries of political and economic strategies, and reflected a desired future for the country. The city would constitute the materialization of a ‘possible’ new Brazil, mirroring the country´s and its people´s capacity (Queiroz, 2007).

As such, it only made sense that the winning project for the city´s design competition presented a completely new urban ambience and a new way of life. According to the jury committee, the design presented by Lúcio Costa “had the spirit of the XX century; it is new, free and open; it is disciplined without being rigid” (Costa, 1991: 35). The design had its foundations on the ideals and principles of the Modernist Movement, which saw the subversion of the traditional city´s planning conventions as the key for creating a new urban reality and shaping a new society. Spatial planning and design, therefore, acquired a messianic character, as the transforming agent to a modern set of social-order, deeply characterized by the pursuit of social equity in the urban space (Holston, 1989). The spatial implications of this aspired social-urban utopia were profound: “(…) to rethink the city, to destroy the past and begin anew, it (the modernist planning) turns preindustrial urban order inside out by eliminating the street system of circulation. Producing a new type o cityscape with this inversion, it attempts to preclude class-based spatial differentiation through the agencies of total planning and architectural standardization. Having eliminated discriminations between public space and private building as a basis of urban order, it organizes its city of objects on the basis of a concept of zoned functions. (…) modernist ideology sets out to reduce architectural discriminations as a means of reducing social discriminations. This correlation is based on the vision of an egalitarian society in which status differences traditionally associated with the private domain of family and residence do not determine an individual´s right to the city (…).” (ibid.:147, 153)

As a means of refuting the traditional city and the social order it represented, Brasília proposed a new public-private relation and a new way of living and working through: i) the elimination of the traditional corridor street and the redefinition of the urban function of traffic; ii) the organization of the city in sectored zones of exclusive functions; and iii) the proposal of a novel residential typology, embodied in the concepts of the superquadra (superblock) and the unidade de vizinhança (neighborhood unit). Brasilia’s design materialized an ideal place suited for the ‘new’ Brazil and conducive for individual and collective progress. (QUEIROZ, 2007) As such, thousands of migrants left their homes1 and went to Brasília, in search of

1

The migration flows to Brasília came mainly from the country´s Northeast region and the states of Minas Gerais and Goiás (de Campos Gouvêa, 1995).

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3.1.1. The role of the 'street'

“(…) there was the intention to apply the frank principles of highway engineering - including the elimination of intersections - to the urban planning technique (…)”

Author’s translation of the original fragment in: (Costa, 1991:22)

Image 13 - Brasília, a highway engineering rationality Photography by Alberto Ferreira

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An analysis on Brasília´s spatial configuration, Lúcio Costa´s report on the Pilot Plan and his recommendations presented in the 1987 Brasília Revisitada (Brasília Revisited) document2 exposes the fundamental role highway infrastructure plays as a structuring concept of the city´s design and as the “integrating framework of the (city´s) various urban scales” (Costa, 1988:4). Brasília is structured along and by the crossing of two highway axes, which compose the main circulation system inside the Pilot Plan. Each axis, however, is characterized by a specific type of flow, determined by the functions located on its surroundings, the morphological character of the road infrastructure itself and, as we will see later in section 3.2., the topological integration of the road within the whole mobility system.

The arched axis, named the Eixo Rodoviário Residencial (Residential-Highway Axis) connects the city from north to south and hosts the main circulation function of the mobility system. It is composed by a central set of six high-speed lanes and a twofold side set with a total of eight local-traffic lanes. The side set roads (Axis L and Axis W)3 connect the prime mobility system to the residential superblocks by an intricate set of ramps, underground passages and cloverleaf interchanges. The complex system of connections between the north-south and west-east road axes stresses the prominent role played by the traffic function in the city´s urban structure and the design´s concern in facilitating unimpeded traffic flows by eradicating road intersections. Auxiliary avenues and vias (ways or paths) parallel to the Residential-Highway Axis further structure and connect the different urban zones and sectors of the city. These roads are named and numbered from L1 to L5 and W1 to W5, according to the city´s singular address toponymy. The Eixo Monumental (Monumental Axis) connects the city from east to west and is composed by a set of 12 high-speed lanes, 6 in each direction, separated by the overwhelming Esplanada dos Ministérios (Esplanade of the Ministries). Auxiliary vias complement the east-west traffic system and connect the sectors through different hierarchy axes.

Brasília´s mobility network configuration not only emphasizes the function of traffic, but also redefines it and its interrelations with residence, work and leisure. This redefinition relies not only on the morphology of the road system but also on its character and role. Traditionally in city planning, the street designates not only the space of traffic flow, but rather the whole system of public spaces and public life in the cityscape (Holston, 1989). It is along and through the street system that inhabitants work, live, move and encounter others. The street is, more importantly, the stage through which inhabitants experience the urbs and civitas of urban territories.

The “system of information” regarding the meaning and articulation of “public and private domains” is deeply related to the figure-ground relationship of voids and solids in cityscapes. That is to say; it is related to the composition and proportions between constructed and unconstructed areas of the city. Within this proportion, either solids or voids will be perceived as a continuum (ground), while the other is perceived as a standing-out punctum (figure). In traditional cities, the dense

Document written by Lucio Costa containing a synthesis of structural elements and concepts of Brasília’s landscape and a series of propositions for the complementation, preservation, densification and expansion of the city. This study was annexed to the city preservation regulations: GDF Decree nº 10.829 / 1987 and Iphan Decree nº 314/92.

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The address toponymy proposed in the city relies on a set of codes, acronyms and numbers. Regarding the road system, the addresses take the Residential-Highway axis and the Monumental axis as central elements. All roads west from the Residential-Highway axis receive the letter W and a number starting from 1 depending on their proximity to the central highway axis. Likewise, roads east from the Residential-Highway axis receive the letter L (from the word leste, which in Portuguese means east) and a number starting from 1 depending on their proximity to the central highway axis. Following the same logic, roads located north from the Monumental axis receive the letter N and roads located south from the axis receive the letter S. Additionally, they are assigned number starting from 1 depending on their proximity to the Monumental axis.

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Image 14 - Lucio Costa's sketch - the mobility system of Brasília Source: Costa (1991:23,25)

The NOVACAP - Companhia Urbanizadora da Nova Capital do Brasil (Company for the urbanization of the new capital of Brazil) was founded in 1956 with the sole purpose of managing and coordinating the construction of the Federal District and Brasília. Due to the fact that Brasília is until present days ‘unfinished’ according to the city´s design, the NOVACAP still exists and is one of the main public stakeholders when it comes to urban developments inside the Pilot Plan 4

By Brasilia’s expansion, this document refers to the urban developments within the limits of the Administrative Region I of the Federal District, executed according to the recommendations of Lúcio Costa in the Brasília Revisitada document. These expansions have maintained the highway engineering rationality and system hierarchy presented in the original design of the city. As presented by de Holanda et al. (2002), expansions outside the Brasília´s boundaries (the satellite-cities) have altered the centrality of the Pilot Plan within the Federal District and the topological integration of the Residential and Monumental axes regarding the territorial mobility system.

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composition reveals buildings to be the ground upon which streets and public spaces standout. However, as an artifice to exacerbate the importance of certain public and religious buildings, this ground-figure relationship is often shifted; presenting the block as the figure and the public space as ground. If a correlation of property ownership and dimensions is imposed over this ground-figure relationship, it can be said that the traditional city is mainly private, for its continuum is mainly composed by privately owned properties. The public space is in return confined and delimitated by the private domain.

“As an architectural configuration, the street is comprised of a space open to the sky and the physical frame that contains and shapes it, that is, the façades of the buildings, and a floor. (…) As a selectively porous divider, (…) the street façade constitutes a liminal zone of exchange between the domains it holds apart (the private and public domains). It not only serves the need to negotiate boundaries, but also stimulates our fascination with liminality in that its passageways are usually marked by special public attention. (…)

The most important attribute (architectural attribute that characterizes the street as a domain of public life) is the opposition between the street´s frame and its space (…). This opposition is itself the basis of a fundamental convention into a coherent and predictable pattern of solids (buildings) and voids (spaces). What is important about this convention for the study of cities is that it organizes the perception of solids and voids into a system of information, a legible code, about what the relations between them signify. In the case of the preindustrial city, this is a system of information about the meanings of public space and private building, and more generally about the articulations between the public and the private domains of city life.” (ibid.:109, 118–119)

São Paulo - 1940 (Brazil) Photography by: Hildegard Rosenthal

The Pelourinho - Salvador (Brazil) Source: http://www.panoramio.com

São Paulo - 1940 (Brazil) Photography by: Hildegard Rosenthal

Image 15 - The 'traditional' street as a structural axis of public life in historical urban centers Holston stresses the existence of a planning tradition originated in Greece, disseminated to Northern Europe by the Romans and later implemented in Latin America by the Spanish and the Portuguese, in which streets with continuous façades of commerce and residence structure the city. It is in the voids between solid blocks that public spaces are formed. The figural void of the street not only conduces to but also connects these voids, structuring the system of public spaces and public life in the cityscape. The same urban planning street convention was implemented in Brazilian cities, as Holston highlights in the case studies of the preindustrial cities of Rio de Janeiro and Ouro Preto 6

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Image 16 - Figure-ground plan of Parma, 1830 Source: Holston (1989:124)

Image 17 - Figure-ground plan of BrasĂ­lia, 1960 Source: Holston (1989:124)

Urbs designates the city from the point of view of its materiality. Civitas designates the set of the city´s inhabitants, governed by laws and by an administrative entity 7

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By overturning the relationship between ground and solid, the modernist city seeks to redefine the relationship between private and public. Therefore, the urban landscape of the modernist city is characterized by a massive amount of free public areas upon which buildings are constructed. This spatial ‘language’ is a reflection of the Modernist Movement’s pursuit of social equality. A city in which the ground is public and its dimension overweight that of privately own properties, puts forward the discourse that the city is mainly public and, therefore, belongs to all.

In addition to the artifice of redefining the role of the ‘street’ and overturning the public-private relationship in the cityscape, Brasília´s design also makes use of the concept of the pilotis to ensure the right to city and the free access to all city ground.

However, despite the discourse and intentions behind the design of the modernist city, the ‘real’ Brasília did not manage to fully succeed on its intentions of a diverse urban and social reality. As it will be presented in section 3.1.1.4., Brasília underwent several modifications, some triggered by the estrangement caused by the radical design on its new inhabitants and others related to the inability of the plan to respond to people´s actual wants and needs (de Holanda, 1998; de Holanda et al., 2002; de Holanda, 2012; Leitão & Ficher, 2012). Additionally, the perception of Brasília as a unique urban landmark, which should be preserved at any cost, led to exclusion of several social groups. As a result, Brasília is commonly known as a capital of social segregation, a reality completely opposed to the initial principles that founded the city´s design (de Campos Gouvêa, 1995; Júnior & Alvim, 2015; Oliveira, 2008).

Despite the original plan´s intent to integrate pedestrian flows within the city´s mobility system, the applied highway engineering rationality secluded pedestrians to either the limits of their neighborhood unit or to underground passages connecting Brasília´s west and east sectors. However, the lack of activities and constant flow of people through these passages led to a common feeling of fear and insecurity among the population. As a result, pedestrian mobility between the west and east sectors of the city is compromised, forcing residents to either make intensive use of cars to move around or to create alternative paths, such as unsafely crossing the Residential-Highway Axis. In the modernist city, therefore, the car became the sovereign of the urban ground and the pedestrian´s position as the city explorer (as the flâneur) became extinct.

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3.1.2. The four urban scales

“It is the game of three scales that will characterize and give meaning to Brasilia (...) the residential or daily scale, (...) the so-called monumental scale, in which man acquires a collective dimension, and (…) finally the gregarious scale, where dimensions and space are deliberately reduced and concentrated in order to create a climate conducive to grouping (…) We can also add another fourth scale, the bucolic scale of open areas intended for weekends on the lake or the countryside.”

Author’s Translation of the original fragment in: Costa (1961)

Image 18 - Brasília: the four urban scales Photography by Joana França

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“The keys to urbanism are to be found in the four functions: inhabiting, working, recreation (in leisure time), and circulation. Urbanism expresses the condition of an era. Until now, it has tackled only one problem, that of traffic circulation. It has been content to open up avenues or lay out streets, thus forming blocks of buildings whose purpose has been left to the haphazard [96] ventures of private initiatives. This is a narrow and inadequate view of its mission. Urbanism has four principal functions. First, to assure mankind of sound and healthy lodging, that is to say places in which space, fresh air, and sunshine — those three essential conditions of nature — are abundantly available. Second, to organize places of work in such a way that instead of being a painful subjugation, work will once more regain its character as a natural human activity. Third, to set up the facilities necessary to the sound use of leisure time, making it productive and beneficial. And fourth, to establish links between these different organizations by means of a traffic network that provides the necessary connections while respecting the prerogatives of each element. These four functions, which are the four keys to urbanism, cover an enormous area, since urbanism is the outcome of a way of thinking, integrated into public life by means of a technique for action.” (Corbusier & Eardley, 1973: 95-96)

As presented previously, the modernist movement rejected the traditional industrial city, attributing to its urban spatial system the echo of an ill society governed by private interests and the origin of unhealthy living conditions (ibid). In addition to the spatial strategies of redefining the role of the ‘street’ and the public-private relationship in the cityscape, the modernist movement proposes a novel way of living and working by the implementation of a machinist rationale to urban environments. “(…) This new city would be organized not as a metaphor of the machine but quite literally as a machine, a “machine for living in” (as Le Corbusier once described the house). In this organization, the city would be broken down into its essential functions. These would be taylorized, standardized, rationalized, and assembled as a totality. Thus, the totalizing scope of the modernist planning derives from its conception of the city as a machine. For a machine is never partially designed or partially constructed; only its completeness guarantees its functional, working order.”

(Holston, 1989:50)

Following the modernist rationale, Brasília proposes a new social and urban ambiance through a strict spatial separation of functions. The zone, subsequently divide into sectors, constitutes the main structural unit of the city. However, despite being analogous to modernist precepts, Brasília´s urban structure presents singularities specific to its character as the capital city of a country (de Holanda, 1998). Lúcio Costa refers to the prime structural areas of the Pilot Plan as residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic scales of the city. However, to avoid misunderstandings regarding the meaning of urban scales adopted in this paper, the term typologies will be used to address these four structuring elements of Brasília’s urban landscape8.

De Holanda (1998) has adopted a similar nomenclature. However, the author does not consider the bucolic scale as a proper urban typology. In this paper, however, all residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic dimensions of the city area considered as proper urban scales, in accordance to their description in the Pilot Plan report. The word scale will simply be replaced by the word typology for didactic reasons. Generally, in urbanism the word scale is used to refer to different areas or elements regarding their physical dimensions. Therefore, an urban plan usually conducts analysis from regional, city and neighborhood scales. Given that in the Pilot Plan design, residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic elements are all nested inside the same city scale, it makes sense to address them as typologies rather than proper scales.

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The Residential Typology

Image 19 - The residential scale of BrasĂ­lia Source:buzzfeed.com, 2014

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Along the arched highway axis, the residential areas of the city are concentrated. The superblock represents the basic unit of this spatial typology. Each superblock measures approximately 62.500m² and is composed by a set of six-storey, multifamily, residential buildings, built over pilotis, and a number of one-storey buildings hosting public services and functions (such as public kinder-gardens and elementary schools). The predominance of open to built-up spaces is a fundamental characteristic of the superblock, with a maximum 15% occupancy rate allowed. Together with a densely vegetated perimeter buffer, the opens spaces constitute the green matrix upon which the residential blocks are built. The road system is characterized by a tree-shaped composition, with one single entrance/exit, as to avoid bypass traffic inside the residential units. Four-by-four the residential superblocks compose one neighborhood unit. This neighborhood unit displays all services necessary to the function of living9, including local commerce sectors, and entrequadras (areas between the superblocks) designated for cultural, leisure, educational and public service facilities.

Two rows of shops, separated by a service road, structure the local commerce sectors of the neighborhood units. Solidifying the idea of self-sufficiency related to the neighborhood units, local shops should have their entrances and displays facing the superblocks. This layout further denied the traditional concept of streets and the local marketplace (Holston, 1989). In accordance to the machinery rationality, “(…) local shopping was supposed to be used only by residents in the superblocks close to the commerce. Modernistic designers believed in the autonomy of bits of the urban tissue as a real, or at least desirable, fact concerning both functional and sociological attributes of city structure.” (de Holanda, 1998:7)

Furthermore, according to Lúcio Costa, the superblock model would constitute the base of an equalitarian urban society, in which both the State minister and his chauffer could afford to live in the Pilot Plan (Jabur, 2007).

“Social gradation can be easily dosed by assigning greater value to certain superblocks. (...) However, their grouping, four-by-four, provides a degree of social groups coexistence, thus avoiding undue and undesirable social stratification.”

Author’s translation of the original fragment in: (Costa, 1991:32)

However, as it will be presented in section 3.1.1.3, the spatial singularity of the Pilot Plan´s, its proposed new way of life and the exacerbated concern to preserve its principles and urban integrity fostered a segregationist approach to lower social groups and settlements inside Brasília´s boundary (de Campos Gouvêa, 1995; Júnior & Alvim, 2015; Oliveira, 2008).

“Here, because the land was basically state-owned, segregation was political from the very start.

It is ironic that this has been so. It was once believed that state ownerships of land would guarantee a more democratic urban spatial structure. The analysis of Brasília demystifies this by revealing that state and public interest only coincide in specific political circumstances.” (de Holanda et al., 2002:16)

The Modernist movement believed that men could be reduced to a limited set of needs in the same way that a city could be broken down into its elementary functions. This would allow urbanists to plan both functional and fulfilling urban environments. As later criticized in the post-modern movement, this reductionist view excessively simplified and typified human beings and social dynamics, rendering the capacity of cityscapes to accommodate diversity.

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Image 20 - Lucio Costa's sketch - the residential scale Source: Costa (1991:33)

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The Monumental Typology

Image 21 - The monumental scale of Brasília Photography:Joana França

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Image 22 - Lucio Costa's sketch - the monumental scale Source: Costa (1991:29, 31)

The Monumental Axis symbolizes Brasília´s peculiar character as a capital city. As such, the architectonic and urbanist composition of this axis, through the Esplanada dos Ministérios (Esplanade of the Ministries) and the Praça dos Três Poderes (Square of the three powers), alludes to the power and importance of Brasília as the chair of government.

Buildings related to administrative and governmental activities are concentrated along the Monumental Axis. Additionally, the cultural and amusement sectors and the defense sector, together with the sports centre and the train station are also situated along this axis.

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The Gregarious Typology

Image 23 - The Bus platform of Brasília Source: postcard of the city of Brasília

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Image 24 - Lucio Costa's sketch - the gregarious scale Source: Costa (1991:23, 27, 31)

The gregarious typology is manifested at the intersection of the residential and monumental axes. A complex four level system, in which the city´s bus platform is the central node, is present at this junction. The bus platform plays a fundamental role in the architectonic composition of the city, as the integration and articulation point between the systems of pedestrian flow and urban public transport.

Additionally, it is the gateway and connection between the ‘satellitecities’ and the Pilot Plan (Costa, 1987).

Located around this intersection, is the proper urban core of the city, in which sectors of banks, commerce, offices, hospitals, radio and television, hotels and amusement facilities are concentrated.

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The Bucolic Typology

Image 25 - The bucolic scale of Brasília Photography: Joana França

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For reasons presented previously, vast, unimpeded, vegetated areas have a structural importance to the city´s urban landscape composition. These areas constitute the continuum upon which the buildings of each sector are built, within the framework of the traffic infrastructure.

In Brasília, however, the vegetated landscape plays key role in connecting, separating and signifying each of the above-mentioned typologies. This work puts forward the hypothesis that a greeninfrastructure network can be implemented in Brasília without jeopardizing its cultural heritage through the identification of the structuring elements that shape the urban landscape of Brasília and the understanding of the different roles played by the bucolic in characterizing the residential, monumental and gregarious typologies,

Vegetation density, rhythm and size confer diverse characters to different cityscapes and reinforce the identity of each urban typology.

Vegetation type, scale and pattern are, therefore, at the core of the landscape identity and heritage in the city. Understanding the changing relationships between the bucolic and other urban typologies in the Pilot Plan is vital to grasp concepts, principles and urban qualities of the original design for the city; and to propose spatial interventions that respect and reinforce the existing landscape heritage.

Inside the linear, repetitive system of residential blocks, greenery plays a trifold role as peripheral buffer that isolates residential areas from main traffic and service roads; as connector and conduit of pedestrian movement inside and through different neighborhood units; and as counterweight to the austere, monumental scale of modernist architecture, re-stablishing the human scale to the residential architectonic ensemble.

The dimensions, type and pattern of vegetation inside the monumental typology are completely different from the vegetation inside the

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The dimensions, type and pattern of vegetation inside the monumental typology are completely different from the vegetation inside the residential typology. Fundamentally, the role of greenery between the two typologies is distinct. While in the residential typology, greenery confers the ensemble the human scale; in the monumental typology, greenery is planned to enhance the monumentality of the architectonic and urban ensemble (especially in the Esplanade of Ministries). In the section of the Monumental Axis between the bus platform and the Squared of the three powers, greenery is characterized mainly by grassland cover, with few, punctual interventions of arboreal and shrub vegetation. In the section of the Monumental Axis between the bus platform and the train station, this character is changed. Although, grassland cover remains dominant, denser vegetated masses, gradually varying from the bus platform onwards, characterizes this section of the Monumental axis as an urban park.

Inside the gregarious scale, vegetation should have the role of assuring the gregarious function. That is, socialization and encounter. However, this character has progressively declined within this typology in the city. This can be noticed, for instance, in the north commercial sector, the north and south bank sectors and autarquias sector (sector of government authorities and agencies). An exception can be seen in the south commercial sector, in which the spatial morphology, combined to creation of public squares and the typology of certain buildings with a central corridor over pilots affords activities of socialization and contemplation. In light of this progressive reduction of arboreal areas in the central areas of the city, the Brasília Revisitada document proposes a revision of the urban design of the central sectors, especially the ones not completely built, as to assure the gregarious function through diversification of uses and the construction of pedestrianized paths, with shading vegetation.

3.1.3. Brasília and the 'satellite cities"

“The cyst of slums must be prevented, both in urban and rural periphery. It is up to the Urbanization Company of the New Capital (NOVACAP) to promote, within the proposed scheme, decent accommodations for the entire population.”

Author’s Translation of the original fragment in: Costa (1974:26)

Brasília was designed to host a population of 500.000 inhabitants. Once the city´s capacity was met, a concept of urban expansion based on satellite nuclei, built around 25km away from the urban core, was to be implemented (de Holanda, 1998). However, even before the city´s inauguration, in 1960, a process of slum eradication inside the Pilot Plan´s boundary and construction of ‘satellite-cities’10 to host low-income population was implemented. This process started in 1958, with the relocation of the Sarah Kubitschek slum (located along the Brasília-Anápolis road) to the satellite-city of Taguatinga (de Campos Gouvêa, 1995).

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In 1956, the NOVACAP (Urbanization Company of the New Capital) was founded. The company had the role of supervising the construction of the city and assuring everything occurred in accordance to Costa´s design principles. However, in the 70s the reality of Brasília was considerably different from the one imagined on paper. Like many other metropolises in Brazil, the problems of poverty, social inequality and slums started to grow inside the boarders of the city.

“That year (1969), a seminar on social issues in the Federal District was held, in which the amount of slums in the city was pointed out as one of its most serious problems. This caused in that same year the creation of a Working Group that would result in the creation of the CEI - Company for the Eradication of Invasions, which would strongly act throughout the 70s relocating clusters of slums in satellite cities (...).”

Author’s translation of the original fragment in: JÚNIOR & ALVIM (2015: p.14)

The strategy adopted by the CEI of relocating the poor in satellite nuclei outside the boarders of the Pilot Plan led to many of the social-economic problems encountered in the city today. A significant part of the relocated population was moved against their will to places far from Brasília and, in many cases, without the basic infrastructure for decent living conditions, besides lower in family income and a dearth of job opportunities (de Campos Gouvêa, 1995; Oliveira, 2008).

The construction of a ring road delimitating the Paranoá River Basin and what was then considered to be the boundaries of the Pilot Plan11 served as an instrument to delimitate a buffer, or a ‘sanitary ring’ as referred to in the PLANIDRO document12 of 1970, around the new city. This ring road, called Estrada Parque do Contorno - EPCT (Perimeter park road) also served as an instrument to relocate certain social groups far away from the Pilot Plan. According to Oliveira (2015), the delimitation of the EPCT road and sanitary ring set-up the basis of social segregation in the capital, since it was the element by which authorities determined the parts of the population that would stay inside or outside the ring; a decision mostly based on purchasing power. According to de Campos Gouvêa (1995) and Oliveira (2008), the actions taken by the CEI went beyond eliminating slums; they had a clear intent of selecting the social strata that would compose the population of Brasília, segregating certain social layers and hindering their access to the city.

One of the most significant cases resulting from the slum eradication policy adopted by the government within the EPCT ring is the one of the relocation of 82.000 people living in the IAPI Villa. The Villa was initially a temporary core planned by the government to house parts of the population removed from slums spread out through the Pilot Plan. Over time, several small settlements started to agglomerate near the Villa, configuring the largest slum in the city during the 70s (OLIVEIRA, 2008).

Despite the fact that the government planned the original settlement, authorities considered the IAPI Villa as an invasion and in 1971, its population was transferred to a new satellite city called Ceilândia. What is more striking about the Villa IAPI case is the amount of people relocated, the lack of infrastructure in the new satellite-city and the effects of the removal on the local population.

According to the political-administrative organization of Brazil and its Constitution, Brasília´s ‘satellite-cities’ are actually not cities. They are Administrative Regions (RAs) of the Federal District. The Federal District is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is the only one that does not have municipalities. Rather, it is divided in 31 administrative regions. The Administrative Region 1 (RA-1) encompasses the urbanized area designed by Lucio Costa and the National Park of Brasília. The RA-I, was named Brasilia from 1960 until 1989, when it became known as the Pilot Plan (Plano Piloto). However, it was renamed Brasília from 1990 until 1997, when its name was changed again to Pilot Plan. This document understands both Brasília and the Pilot Plan as the area encompassed by the 1st Administrative Region of the Federal District.

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Image 26 - EPCT perimeter - Brasília 1970 Source: Image adapted from Junior & Alvim (2015:6)

the local population. Data collected by de Campos Gouvêa (1995) and Oliveira (2008) shows that, despite being a lowincome area, the IAPI Villa presented, before its removal, well-defined streets, areas with vegetation and a good level of infrastructure. Even studies carried out during the relocation classified the spatial configuration of the Villa as contributing to social encounters and city life. However, the government decided to shift the community based on the argument that such a dense urban concentration inside the EPCT boarders, so close to the Pilot Plan, would cause contamination of the Paranoá river basin; presenting a threat to the population as a whole (OLIVEIRA, 2008).

Nevertheless, as shown by de Campos Gouvêa (1995), while people were being transferred from the IAPI Villa to Ceilândia, a new neighbourhood to host an equal amount of people (called Guará) was being constructed inside the EPCT boundaries.

This new neighbourhood was intended for middle-class population. According to the graphic 01, it is evident that the majority of satellite-cities created at early years of the capital were meant to host low-income population, whereas neighbourhoods inside the Pilot Plan were destined to house the middle and higher classes.

The governmental policy of eliminating slums from inside the Pilot Plan and relocating them further away from the city led not only to social stratification, but also to an array of urban challenges related to the public mobility system and the availability of jobs and urban services in the Federal District. The Federal District is currently composed of thirty-one regiões administrativas (administrative regions). The map of administrative regions clearly shows the dispersed urban configuration of the city; a direct consequence of the satellite-city concept of expansion. Additionally, the map shows the expansions to

The current boundaries of the Pilot Plan and Brasília are not the same as when the city was constructed. The Federal District, in which the Pilot Plan is inserted, is one of the 27 federal units of Brazil. Within the Federal District are thirty one administrative regions, some also known as satellite-cities.

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This document addressed matters of pollution, water and sewage within the limits of the EPCT road and established guidelines for occupation density and activities to preserve the Paranoá River basin.

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the Pilot Plan which remained inside and outside the EPCT ring road. The current effects of the slum eradication policy on social stratification and dynamics in the city can be seen on the presented maps of income distribution, density and pendular movements in the city.

Currently, the Pilot Plan hosts less than 10% of the Federal District´s population (Governo de Brasília, 2015). However, approximately 70% of all jobs opportunities are concentrated inside the Pilot Plan (Governo de Brasília, 2012). This concentration leads to intense pendular movements from other administrative regions on a daily basis, putting a strain on the existing road infrastructure inside and outside the Pilot Plan, and highlighting the need for an efficient public transportation system. However, the urban configuration of the Federal District hinders accessibility to the Pilot Plan and the possibility of implementing an affordable public transportation system, further rendering the quality of life of those living outside its borders low. In order to understand this urban configuration and its impact on traffic and the quality of life in the Federal District, clarifications on four concepts are necessary: density, dispersion, fragmentation and eccentricity.

De Holanda (2010) presents a thorough analysis of Brasília´s and the Federal District´s urban ensemble from a Space Syntax perspective and the effects of the topological relationships between the axes and polygons of the system of public spaces (including the mobility system) on the daily lives of local inhabitants. I shall, respectfully, make use of his work and findings to demonstrate the need of strategies inside the Pilot Plan, which not only deal with water management, but also aim to enable a denser occupation of this administrative region and a diversification of social groups in Brasília.

Image 27 - Urbanization process inside the Federal District Source: PDOT 2012 0

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Density Despite the development of intricate forms of calculations for different types of densities in cityscapes13, this paper treats the concept of density as simply, the ratio between the number of people inhabiting a certain area and the surface of the area inhabited. In urban design this relationship is usually normalized and used as a parameter to analyze the extent to which an urban environment is populated and the optimum relations between urban density, urban quality and urban economic viability. Among the eleven capital cities in Brazil analyzed by de Holanda (2010), the Federal District presents the least dense urban configuration (23 hab./ha). A significantly lower density than the 108.8 hab./ha displayed by the city of São Paulo. A singularity of the Federal District is the acute disparity of densities between the administrative regions, varying from less than 5 hab./ha in the wealthiest ones to 90 hab./ha in the poorest ones. Social stratification leads to a unique situation in the Federal District, in which the central areas are less dense than the periphery (in contradiction to the reality of most cities).The low density of Brasília is highly rooted in the porous character of the city and its original design. This character will be further analyzed in section 3.2.

Dispersion Dispersion can be determined by calculating the average distance between inhabitants and the urban center. In the case of the Federal District, considering Brasília as the urban center, this distance is 20.2km. A long distance, considering the concentration of jobs in Brasília and the need for daily commutes from the majority of the Federal District´s population.

De Holanda presents a more intricate form of dispersion calculation (proposed by Bertaud & Malpezzi). In this method the existing city is compared to a hypothetical compact city , with the same area and population. To the most compact city the value 0 is designated, while to the most dispersed the value is 1. Within a sample of sixty cities around the world, Brasília has the second highest dispersion factor, with a value of 0.80.

High dispersion means longer distances to be covered to reach the urban center. The combination of urban dispersion and urban low density renders implementing an optimized system of public transport quite difficult. As a result, Brasília presents one the highest bus fares in the country (de Holanda et al., 2002).

Fragmentation From a Space Syntax perspective, fragmentation and integration are inherently bounded to the mobility system of a city and are related to number of inflexions to get from a part of system to all other parts of the system. Higher the number of inflexions necessary, the less integrated (more fragmented) a city is. The more fragmented a city, the ´harder’ it is to access its parts, for longer distances are needed, as well as more directional changes. Fragmentation is also closely related to the experience of the urban space and its use, with a clear reflection on the city´s perception and how spaces are

This study recognizes the existence of intricate methods to calculate density in cityscapes, such as the one presented by Berghauser Pont & Haupt (2010).

However, the method of calculating the ratio between the number of people inhabiting a certain area and the surface of the area inhabited presented by de Holanda (2010) was adopted in this work.

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appropriated. The more fragmented the system of streets, the more complicated it is to grasp the composition of the whole urban ensemble.

Based on a comparative research on 164 cities worldwide, de Holanda assigns the value 0 to the most fragmented city and 100 to the most integrated city. In this study, Brasília presented an average of 18.77; a value lower than the average for Brazilian cities (23.04) and international cities (31.17). In Brasília, this fragmentation translates in longer distances to be covered by citizens of the other administrative regions to reach their work place.

Section 3.2. will further explore the spatial integration of the mobility axes inside the Pilot Plan and how this spatial configuration affects the implementation of a green-infrastructure network in the city.

Eccentricity As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, eccentric is the quality of not being “placed centrally or not having its axis or other part placed centrally.” De Holanda relates the concept of eccentricity to the urban configuration of Brasília. Despite the fact that Brasília is usually taken as the central node of urban development in the Federal District, in reality it is not so. Analyzed from geometrical, morphological and demographical perspectives, the Federal District has three different centers, none of which is in the Pilot Plan. Brasília is only the center of the Federal district if considered from a functional point of view.

Image 28 indicates the Federal District´s functional centre (the CDB), the mass center (the demographic center), and the morphological center (physically the most accessible point in the system, considering all the points in the system). This urban eccentricity highlights the woes emerging from the satellite-nuclei model of urban expansion adopted in Brasília and the stratified manner in which society was distributed in the territory. The long distances between these centers aggravates the situation.

Considering that more than three-fourths of the population of the Federal District live outside the Pilot Plan, that 38% of the employed population makes use of the public transportation system to go to work, and that the city´s mobility system is fragmented; it is only logical to conclude that the long distances between administrative units, the long time necessary to reach work and the high costs of the public transportation have a profound impact on the quality of life in the city.

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The mobility system can be analyzed from the scope of vehicular traffic or pedestrian flow.

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Image 28 - The Pilot Plan eccentricity Source: de Holanda (2010:61)

3.1.4. Brasília: design and reality

Despite the normative character of the design and plan for Brasília and its expansion presented by Lúcio Costa in 1957, the city underwent several transformations (de Holanda, 1998; Holston, 1989 and Leitão & Ficher, 2012). Some of these transformations were planned and/or approved by Lúcio Costa himself; as a result of needed alterations or additions to the original plan. On the other hand, several modification completely denied the original character of the design as a result of social the appropriation of the city. The first change to the original plan was already presented in section 3.1.1.3. The plan proposed that, once Brasília had reached its 500.000 inhabitants limit, the expansion of the city would be done via satellite nuclei, located outside the perimeter of the Pilot Plan. However, as describe previously, the expansion of the city through the construction of satellite nuclei started in the city´s initial years as a strategy to keep out slums and lower income population groups from outside the Pilot Plan.

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A second modification to the original design of the city was the implementation of additional residential sectors to the ones originally foreseen. The original six-storey building, with elevator and over pilotis typology imagined for the residential superblocks presented itself too expensive for the lower income civil servants. Consequently, a new row of residential superblocks with alterative building typologies was implemented to the plan. The 400 superblocks presented two building typologies, which, despite different from the initial typology thought for residential buildings in the city, still respected the Pilot Plan’s principles. The three-storey building, over pilots and with no elevator; along with the three-storey building, with no pilotis and no elevator provide opportunities for lower income groups to live inside the Pilot Plan.

Additionally, another row of residential areas was implemented; the 700 superblocks. These superblocks were very different from the others, and presented a typical typology of row, single-family houses. However, rarely two-storey buildings were allowed in the area. However, intense land speculation is currently leading to the gentrification of these superblocks, resulting in the removal of lower income parts of the population from inside the Pilot Plan. The city presents a peculiar situation, despite availability of land due to the fact that many superblocks are still empty and unbuilt, the market does not invest in new constructions inside the Pilot Plan (of course, with some focal exceptions). Since the six-storey typology is expensive to build and there is not a market demand for so expensive residential apartments in the city, the available plots remain vacant. The lack of new residential facilities, consequently leads to an intense speculative process of the existing residential areas (which in return gain an uncommon amount of interest). The real state companies, then, do not see any benefit in building lower standard apartments in the Pilot Plan, because their land gains value by the day only by being vacant.

In order to reduce the social segregation and gentrification inside the Pilot Plan new housing areas need to be implemented, with alternative building typologies which render a more diversified social mix inside Brasília possible. A densification of the Pilot Plan could bring not only social benefits, but could also reduce the high costs of maintaining such a low density and dispersed urban morphology.

A third modification to the plan revolves around the layout and use of the commercial areas along the W3 Avenues and the local commerce streets. Regarding the local commerce streets, the plan proposed that all shops be opened towards the superblocks and only service and supply traffics be concentrated on the road and the façades facing the roads. However, in contradiction to the plan’s guidelines, local merchants applied the logic of traditional cities, opening the shops towards the street and not the superblock. As a result, a residual character has predominated over the areas behind the commercial blocks, and the local commerce streets inside the Pilot Plan are some of the areas with the most vitality in the city. Despite the design’s intentions, social appropriation of space intended to rescue the traditional role of the street in this commercial part of the city.

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Likewise, the W3 Avenue faced the same transformation. Initially the avenues was planned to be a service road, supporting wholesale establishments, which in return would serve the local commerce strips. However, the early construction of the 700 blocks and the later construction of the local commerce sectors, led to an appropriation of the W3 Avenues and its commerce as the prime source of shopping and socializing in the city. Consequently, this road became one of the most active places in the city. Despite its current decay, the avenue is still an important place of commerce, flows and socialization in Brasília. However, the strict zoning of exclusive residential use in the buildings facing the avenue in the 700 blocks reduces vitality of this axis in the city.

Finally, the last space upon which social appropriation caused a diverse character than the one imagined in the 1957 Pilot Plan report, was the section of the Monumental axis between the Bus Platform and the TV tower. Contrary to the plan, the bus station became not only the traffic core of the city, but also the gregarious core of the city. The platform receives hundreds of thousands of people every day. According to de Holanda (1998:8), the bus platform is “the place in the urban centre of Brasília where the presence of people is most dense, varied, continuous and prolonged.”

Despite the lack of activity attractions in the area, the TV tower has become another core of urban vitality in the city. The privileged view of the whole city from the TV tower and the presence of a landscape set of fountains have led to the appearance of a spontaneous artisan’s market around the tower. The market gained importance and is one important cultural spot in the city. The TV tower became naturally the place of meeting and gathering, especially for lower income groups. “(…) With time, the use of this green space between the Tower and the Road Platform became very dense, particularly on weekends, and one of the main reference points for leisure to the lower income population if the whole Federal District (…). From an inquiry we made, it was clear that the main reasons for the intense presence in the place was “to see people”, the “lack of alternatives” in the rest of the city, and the “beauty of the place.” (ibid.:9)

In 2009, constructions began to remove the artisan’s market from the surroundings of the TV tower. The market was relocated still close to the tower, but on a lower platform, facing the west of the monumental axis (the original market mainly faced east of the axis and was located on the elevated platform of the TV tower). This spatial reconfiguration has reduced the amount of people’s flow and permanence in the area. Nonetheless, it is still an importance vitality node in the city.

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3.1.5. Brasília: the environmental dimension

Choosing the site

The geographical, political and administrative transition from Rio de Janeiro to the new capital of Brasilia, although controversial, was originally envisioned when Brazil was still a Portuguese colony. The relocation of the political capital gained legal validity decades later, in the Constitution of 1891. However, it was during Juscelino Kubitschek’s presidential term that the actual transfer took place.

Nevertheless, the process of choosing the optimum location for the construction of Brasília in the country’s centre-west region dates back to the 1870s, with the publication A questão da capital: marítima ou no interior (The issue of the Capital City: Maritime or inland) by Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, the Viscount of Porto Seguro. In the article, Varnhagen describes his expedition through Brazil´s hinterland and highlights the defense and climate factors as critical for choosing of a location to build the new capital (Iphan, 2016).

However, the 1894 Relatório Cruls (Curls’ Report) was the first official governmental document aimed at studying and delimiting the area of the future Federal District. The report not only conducted an interdisciplinary analysis and description of area, but also delimitated a quadrangle in the centre of the territory, which was used in official maps to indicate the Federal District´s areas. Additionally, the suggestion of creating a dam and an artificial lake, later implemented in the construction of Brasília, was made in the Curls’ Report. The proposal was based on the natural hydrological and topographic features of the area and on the potential qualities a lake could bring to the capital city, from the perspectives of landscape composition, leisure and pisciculture.

Finally, in 1953, President Getúlio Vargas authorized new studies to determine the exact location for the Federal District and the construction of Brasília. These studies culminate in the Relatório Belcher (Belcher Report) which further detailed a ranking of possible areas to host the Federal District based on the following criteria: soil and subsoil types, geological characteristics; hydrological resources and availability of drinking water; soil features and suitability for agricultural production; supply capacity based on the availability of natural resources and prospects of agriculture; climatic features; topography; the existence of beautiful natural landscapes; and the possibility of implementing transport infrastructures (Tavares, 2004). Based on the categorization of the Belcher report and the criteria set to identify the optimum location for the new capital, in 1954, a polygon shaped area named área castanha (the brown area) was chosen for the construction of Brasília.

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Natural Conditions

Brasília is located in Brazil´s center-west region, on high plateau lands, with an altitude between 1.000 and 1200m over the sea level. The Federal District is completely within the Cerrado Biome and encompasses a strategic hydraulic region.

According to the EMBRAPA (Brazilian agricultural research agency), the Cerrado is the second largest biome in the country, covering 21% of Brazil’s territory and crisscrossing the country from northeast to southwest (Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento, 2007).

In addition to its vast dimensions, the Cerrado also hosts an average of 33% of all biological diversity in Brazil. It is home to a multitude of fauna and flora species. It is estimated that around 10.000 plant, 159 mammal, 837 bird, 180 reptile and 113 amphibian species are found in the Cerrado. This biodiversity is related to the liminal character of the Cerrado, bordering five other Brazilian biomes. This physical proximity led to the migration of diverse fauna and flora species from other biomes to the Cerrado (ibid.). A mosaic of vegetation, with multiple plant species and physiognomies, composes the Cerrado landscape. Different species are spread through three main vegetal formations: the forest, savanna and grassland (campestre). The forest formations can be of two types, wet forests occurring along watercourses or dry forests occurring in interfluvial areas. It englobes four main types of vegetation: the Mata Ciliar, Mata de Galeria, Mata Seca and Cerradão. The savanna formation encompasses four main types of vegetation, those being: Cerrado sentido restrito, Parque de Cerrado, Palmeiral and Vereda. The grassland formation englobes three main types of vegetation: the Campo Sujo, Campo Limpo and Campo Rupestre. The main physiognomic differences between the vegetation types of each formation can be seen on image30.

The Cerrado species acquired, through thousands of years, a strong endemic character. Regarding the flora, this characteristic enabled the local vegetation to adapt to the strong seasonal climate of the region. The climate is defined by two prominent seasons; one extremely dry and the other extremely wet. Approximately 90% of all annual rainfall precipitates between October and April (Klink &Machado, 2005), leading to prolonged periods of draught. The Cerrado vegetation is commonly addressed to as an ‘upside-down forest’, for two-thirds of its structure is below ground; forming an intricate system of deep roots. This root system is responsible for absorbing water and recharging deep underground water tables and aquifers (de Andrade et al., 2016). The deep roots also enable the vegetation to acquire water from the underground water table and perform evapotranspiration during the dry seasons (Spera et al., 2016). Therefore, the native Cerrado vegetation has a fundamental role in the hydrological cycle of the territory. However, it is estimated that from 40 to 50% of all native vegetation of the Cerrado biome has been cleared (Klink &Machado, 2005). Moreover, studies indicate that the effect of this deforestation go far beyond the boundaries of the Cerrado biome.

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“As Cerrado vegetation is cleared, fragmented, and replaced with croplands, the water balance is modified as water leaves the system through runoff and ground water rather than being recycled as evapotranspiration (ET). (…) Air masses moving westward over the Cerrado transport evapotranspired water over the Amazon Basin, where it contributes to rainfall (Spracklen et al.

2012). Large-scale deforestation of the Cerrado has the potential to reduce the amount of rainwater that reaches the Amazon (Malhado et al. 2011). Models suggest that deforestation of the Amazon and Cerrado may increase Cerrado dry season length by up to a month (Costa & Pires 2010, Yin et al. 2014). Moreover, climate modeling experiments have shown that preserving remnant Cerrado is essential to climate stability in this region and in the Amazon downwind (Biggs et al. 2006, Malhado et al, 2010, Pires & Costa 2013, Coe et al. 2013). Feedbacks between land-cover changes and climate have the potential to reduce precipitation, increase precipitation variability, and ultimately threaten the sustainability of agricultural production in both the Cerrado and the Amazon (Nobre et al. 1991, Wang et al. 2008, Malhado et al. 2010, Butt et al. 2011, Spraklen et al. 2012, Lee et al. 2012, Oliveira et al. 2013, Knox et al. 2015).” (Spera et al., 2016:6)

Image 29 - Different Biomes in Brazil Source: http://origin.guiadoestudante.abril.com.br

The situation inside the Federal District is no different.

The intense urbanization process and expansion of the agribusiness in the region has led to vast deforestation of natural Cerrado land cover. An aerial mapping of the city shows that approximately 60% of the natural vegetation landcover has been removed and either replaced by urban settlements or agricultural fields. Furthermore, data from the Federal District´s Zoneamento Ecológico-Econômico – ZEE (Ecological-Economic Zoning) highlights in depth the threats of further native vegetation loss; including treats of soil erosion and loss of aquifer recharge capacity.

Image 30 - The Cerrado Biome - Vegetation types Source: Embrapa Cerrado

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It is, in fact, the deforestation of significant amount of native vegetation combined to the rising demands on water supply from both urban settlements and the agriculture business the main reason of the current water crisis in the Federal District.

The current depletion of water resources in the Federal District has a direct impact on the hydrological cycle and capacity of the water system on the other regions of Brazil. The Federal District´s territory comprises seven watersheds, which are a part of three national macro basins: the Paraná River basin, the São Francisco River basin and the Tocantins River basin. Therefore, alterations and impacts on the hydrological cycle of the Federal District directly impacts the hydrological conditions of these macro basins and the country´s north, northeast south and southeast. Hence, the hydrological position of the Federal District makes it indispensable to apply strategies regarding water management toward water-security15 in the region.

“According to Barbosa (2014), the level of groundwater is decreasing and it would be impossible to regenerate the Cerrado in the short term. The destruction of the biome, in terms of vegetation, triggers a series of events that affects the large-scale water cycle. One-third of the structure of the Cerrado plant is above ground, the other twothirds are located underground, and it is precisely this extensive and complex system of roots that absorbs water and feeds deep underground tables and aquifers. Millions of years of evolution have made the vegetation of the biome have a high degree of specialization and adaptation to a soil of difficult handling and poor in nutrients. (...) Introduced vegetation has no natural adaptation to the biome and because its roots are much more superficial than the ones of native species, they do not have the capacity to properly infiltrate water. Without this supply, the level of the water table decreases and, consequently, (also the levels of) aquifers and rivers.” (de Andrade et al., 2016:4)

Image 31 - The Cerrado Biome - Underground aquifer recharge

As previously stated in Chapter 1, this document understands water security as defined by the United Nations (2013), that being: “the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of and acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.”

15

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3.2. Operationalizing Green-Infrastructure principles in Brasília

3.2.1. Water Management in the Federal District Historically, a grey infrastructural approach has characterized water management in the Federal District. To this day, this approach has been implemented to address matters of water supply and drainage in the cityscape. However, as proven by the current water crisis, the grey infrastructure approach does not possess the flexibility and agility to respond to growing water supply and peak drainage demands. This approach also lacks strategies to retrofit the local ecosystem and its functioning, as well as the region´s hydrological capacity and performance. Therefore, alternative forms of water management, which not only allow for optimum use and distribution of water resources, but also promote the restoration and proper functioning of local ecosystems, are necessary for in the Federal District.

In this context, the Green-infrastructure (GI) and the Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) approaches put forward opportunities to manage water through a set of green and blue spaces in the city.

“Decentralized measures, such as Water Sensitive Urban Design - WSUD (Water Sensitive Cities, 2014), help to alleviate and adapt to floods and droughts and at the same time support the recovery of biodiversity levels and ecosystems. Key to this concept is to manage water above ground rather than below, and to utilise green and blue rather than/ or complementary to traditional piped (grey) infrastructure. Particularly in developing cities, where the pace of urbanization vastly reduces the availability of natural green areas, the retrofitting of WSUD could potentially deliver storm water management performance objectives along with urban amenity regeneration (e.g. Ashley et al, 2013).” Bacchin et al., 2014:3

Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) can be understood as an “integrated design of the urban water cycle, incorporating water supply, wastewater, stormwater and groundwater management, urban design and environmental protection” (WBM, 2009:11-12). In designing and running urban developments, WSUD proposes an integrated approach that combines potable water, wastewater, stormwater quantity and stormwater quality management. It presents a major change in terms of the methods used to incorporate water, water infrastructure and associated natural resources in the planning of cities or towns, at any scale or density.

The diagram below by Brown & Clarke (2007) highlights the paradigm shift of water management in cityscapes in relation to social-political drivers (which generate a specific set of demands) and the service delivery function (which characterizes each of the water management models). The current water management model of the Federal District is somewhere in between the Drained city and the Waterways city models, presenting a robust set of underground piped infrastructure

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and water treatment stations aimed at water supply, distribution, drainage, collection and treatment. However, as already stated, the inability of these models to respond to increased demand, coupled to the alarming depletion of water resources in the territory, puts forward the need to transition the Federal District towards a water-sensitive model.

Image 32 - Water management transition in urban scapes Source: Brown & Clarke (2007)

Despite the advantages of the WSUD approach regarding water management in cityscapes, its operationalization lacks a systemic approach. Water sensitive urban design is mainly used as a framework for focal interventions through diverse urban scales, but is rarely implemented as continuous network, i.e. functioning as a green-blue infrastructure. Therefore, this work focuses on a Green-Infrastructure approach to achieve water sensitivity in urban landscapes though the systemic implementation of green-blue spaces, configuring a network for water management, ecosystem conservation, as well as flooding and drought remediation.

The Green-Infrastructure (GI) theory, however, has as some of its founding principles the concepts of connectivity and integration. Through the principle of integration, GI seeks to incorporate and re-configure the existing urban structure and landscape through a paradigm shift regarding the understanding of infrastructure in cityscapes. Through a landscape as infrastructure perspective, nature is looked upon as a complex system of resources, services, and agents that simultaneously engender and support urban economies (BĂŠlanger, 2009). Additionally, through the principle of multifunctionality, GI seeks

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to combine and deliver a multitude of ecological, social and economic functions as part of an “integrated and synergistic perspective” aimed at getting “more from less in any investment” (Bacchin et al., 2014:7).

An overview of Landscape Ecology principles highlight connectivity as a fundamental factor regarding ecosystems’ functioning, as the former comprises the flows and movements of biotic and abiotic elements inside an ecosystem’s structure (Dramstad et al., 1996). The level of connectivity of a landscape determines an ecosystem´s performance and integrity, for several properties and processes singular to a specific ecosystem rely upon the movement and transfer of matter, wild life and flora, among others.

However, in cityscapes, urbanization processes and dynamics recurrently lead to habitat loss and isolation, due to reduced connectivity and resulting ecological fragmentation. In these contexts, the urban tissue can play a key role in affording or impeding ecological connectivity, and therefore functioning, through its spatial morphology. According to Ahern (1995: 270), “the pattern: process dynamic is arguably the fundamental axiom of landscape ecology because the spatial composition and configuration of landscape elements directly determines how landscapes function, particularly in terms of species movement, nutrients and water flows.” Hence, considering the current hydrological crisis faced by the city of Brasília, this paper puts forth the following argument:

The implementation of a green-infrastructure network in Brasília can enable better water management in the cityscape, can provide conditions for better ecosystem functioning regarding hydrological processes; and afford opportunities to recover and re-signify the fundamental principle of social equity from the original Pilot Plan design, through the construction and assured access to public spaces and common goods and the implementation of strategies which afford social diversity inside the limits of the Pilot Plan.

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3.2.2. Operationalizing a GI approach in Brasília

Traditionally, the design of GI networks in urban environments takes advantage of the existing mobility infrastructure as a conducive element of social life and cityscapes. According to Ahern’s (1995) classification of planning strategies’ typologies, both green-infrastructure and water-sensitive strategies are mainly characterized by the employment of an opportunistic approach. Opportunistic in the sense that both green-infrastructure and water-sensitive strategies seek to identify suitable locations within the cityscape, which present nested optimal conditions for the implementation of systematic or punctual GI interventions. Such interventions aim to achieve maximum abiotic, biotic and cultural (ABC) cross-benefits for ecological preservation and water management, as well as for social and economic uplifting of urbanized areas. However, considering the parameters of connectivity, integration and multifunctionality, the previously presented analysis of Brasília indicates that the most integrated axes of the city´s mobility system are not the best suited for the implementation of a green-infrastructure network. In Brasilia, the main road infrastructure was conceived as the linking frame, rather than the structural activity frame, between functional areas of the city. The implementation of a GI network in these axes could partially enhance the city´s capacity to respond to threats associated with water management, such as flooding and drought. However, this intervention would only highlight the residual character of open spaces along these mobility axes; would fail to provide spaces for social appropriation in the city; and would flounder to promote multifunctional activities and services.

The spatial specificity of Brasília, therefore, requires alternative methods to identify potential spaces and suitable strategies for GI implementation. The following sections present a set of existing as well as innovative methods in GI planning and design methods used to identify, in the specific case of Brasília, the optimum locations for the implementation of a Greeninfrastructure network based on the parameters of multifunctionality, connectivity and integration. The outcome will be the indication of an optimum GI network configuration for the city and a set of strategies aimed at tacking the main ecological, physical and social challenges of the city, while preserving the city´s landscape singularity regarding its architectonic and urbanistic heritage ensemble. From an ecological perspective, the prime parameters used to access optimum location for green infrastructures and interventions are entwined with three structural concepts and principles of GI planning, those being: integration, multifunctionality and connectivity (Hansen & Pauleit, 2014).

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3.2.3. The Macro Scale Starting from a Landscape Ecology perspective, the state of the ecological systems in the territory was depicted. A set of analysis regarding the remaining native Cerrado vegetation was conducted in order to identify the level of connectivity or fragmentation of the existing ecosystems. This analysis concluded whether ecological corridors were needed to reestablish ecosystem functioning and, if so, where these corridors would be most suited.

Image 33 indicates the existing green-blue systems of the Federal District, highlighting networks of greenery and water based on Forman´s patch-corridor-matrix model (1995). The model of the Federal District is composed of a large matrix of agricultural lands and diverse patches of Cerrado vegetation. However, natural vegetation patches are fragmented by multiple urbanized patches, most of which do not present connecting ecological corridors. Image 34 analyzes the ecological connectivity of the three Cerrado vegetation formations (forest, savanna and grassland). Together with the information of optimum areas for aquifer recharge, it is possible to conclude that all three ecosystems are fragmented and that natural ecological corridors, crisscrossing the urbanized centers, are necessary to reestablish ecosystems connectivity and, therefore functioning. Additionally, it can be concluded that natural vegetation reforestation is necessary in the areas of interest for aquifer recharge.

Image 35 relates the existing water system to local topographical conditions and watershed units as a basis to understand natural water flows and dynamics in the territory. The calculation of water runoff using the Rational Method and data regarding maximum one-hour rainfall intensities for the return periods of 10 and 25 years, combined with a calculation of water surplus based on the levels of soil permeability and infiltration capacity indicates the current demand for additional surfaces for water infiltration, detention and storage inside the ParanoĂĄ watershed. This data served as input for the further dimensioning of a green-infrastructure network inside the Pilot Plan.

Image 36 presents the soil typologies in the region and their main characteristics. A cross-analysis between soil typology and the existing green-blue systems enabled an understanding of where each type of Cerrado formation occurs. This information also served as an input for the further development of a green-infrastructure network inside the Pilot Plan.

The study of soil typologies in the Federal District concluded the need of two distinct approaches on the macro and meso scales regarding water management and ecosystem recovery. At a macro scale, opportunities for underground water table and aquifer recharge are present. Therefore, the main strategy adopted was to restore ecosystem connectivity and enable aquifer recharge through proposed reforestation areas coinciding with the areas of interest for aquifer recharge. At a meso scale, the type of soil restricted the capacity of significant underground water infiltration and aquifer recharge. Therefore, the main strategy adopted for a green-infrastructure network inside the Pilot Plan was to provide spatial conditions to reduce and slow runoff from upstream to downstream and enable public space hierarchy within the Pilot Plan.

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Image 37 synthesizes the current environmental challenges in the Federal District, both responsible and resulting from local ecosystems’ fragmentation. These challenges result from: the dispersed urbanization system adopted in the Federal District, the intense demographic growth faced by the region, the expansion of local agribusiness, the removal and substitution of native vegetation for either exotic species or impermeable landcover materials, the increasing demand for water supply and the contamination of soil and water courses due to urban and agriculture activities.

Based on the conclusions of the analyses on the state of local ecosystems in the Federal District, the main environmental challenges faced by the region and the local specificities of soil and geology, an overall strategy at the scale of the Federal District was proposed. This macro scale strategy set a framework within which a green-infrastructure network was proposed for the Pilot Plan area.

Image 33 - Patch-corridor-matrix Federal District Data Source: CODEPLAN , PDOT 2012, PDAD 2015

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Cerrado forest formation

High density urbanization

Cerrado savanna formation

Medium density urbanization

Cerrado grassland formation

Low density urbanization

Water bodies

Very low density urbanization

0

6.5

20km

N

Cerrado forest formation

Cerrado savanna formation

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Cerrado grassland formation

National macro-basins boundary

Image 34 - Ecosystem connectivity analysis - Federal District Data Source: CODEPLAN , PDOT 2012

Area of Interest for Aquifer recharge Water bodies Urbanized areas

0

Cerrado vegetation formation

Overall Analysis Lack of large-sized forest patches. Patches mainly located along rivers and streams (benefits: silting and erosion control + water oxigenation). However, lack of significant forest patches close to main water bodies might compromise ecological performance and local water quality; Significant amount of medium and large-sized savanna patches. Concentration of patches inside natural preservation areas or inside the Tocantins Macro-basin. Historically, this watershed has undergone less urbanization dynamics. Reduced physical connecivity of savanna patches, especially towards south, east and west.

Presence of numerous medium and large-sized grassland patches. High grassland connectivity levels where there is a large concentration of patches. However, high fragmentation levels on the east. Also fragmentation between north and south, and towards south, east and west

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6.5

20km

N

Tocantins Macro-basin

ParanĂĄ Macro-basin

Concentration of medium and largesized forest patches;

Reduced amount of medium and large-sized forest patches;

Mix of small, medium and smallsized savanna patches. High level of physical connectivity of these patches;

Presence of two large-sized savanna patches (preservation areas) Descontinuity between south and north savanna formation networks;

Presence of few medium and largesized grassland patches. Large amount of small-sized patches providing stepping stones.

Need to enhance physical connectivity and patch restoration inside areas of interest for aquifer recharge (forest and grassland formations); Need of aditional savanna and grassland corridors going through urbanized areas, enabling not only connectivity but high circuitry between patches.

SĂŁo Francisco Macro-basin Reduced amount of large-sized forest patches. High level of physical connectivity along rivers and streams, with vegetated corridors and numerous stepping stones.

Beneficial pattern for ecosystem processes along waterways;

Large amount of grassland patches connected through vegetated corridors. However, the urban fabric presents a barrier, desconnecting significant areas. Existing grassland patches inside urbanized areas, which could be used as stepping stones if more patches were incorporated. Large amount of grassland patches, with internal connectitvityinside the areas of interest for aquifer recharge.

Presence of three main savanna corridors; however, not connected among themselves.Generally, low level of physical connectivity;

Need of enhanced physical connectivity and patch restoration, especially inside areas of interest for aquifer recharge (forest and savanna formations);

Need to restore savanna patches inside areas of interest for aquifer recharge. Need to improve connectivity, specially inside the urban tissue

Need to restore forest corridors along streams, in order to avoid silting and erosion;

Possible need of establishing other preservation areas for savanna formations, in order to prevent agricultural expansion from further degrading the natural landscape;

Need to improve connectivity for savanna and graslland patches. High fragmentation caused by the urban tissue.

Presence of few isolated grassland patches.High level of spatial fragmentation of grassland patches.

Need to restore forest patches connectivity where the corridor gap is too big and impedes species movement

Need of increased grassland connectivity. Need to restore and incorporate grassland patches inside areas of interest for aquifer recharge.

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Maranhão River Watershed

São Bartolomeu River Watershed Paranoá Lake Watershed

Preto River Watershed

Descoberto River Watershed

Corumbá River Watershed

São Marcos River Watershed

National macro-basins boundary

Cerrado forest formation

Sub-catchment areas

Cerrado savanna formation

Contour lines

Cerrado grassland formation

Water bodies Urbanized areas high

low topography

Rainfall Runoff and Water Surplus Calculations Paranoá Lake Watershed (The Rational Method) Q = Cf CI A 10 years return period Q = 112.080,00 ft3/s

25 years return period Q = 123.288,00 ft3/s

Input for Design Water Surplus: 459.437 m3/h Demanded area to eliminate water surplus: A = 918.875,00 m2

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Image 35 - Topography and Hydrology in the Federal District Data Source: CODEPLAN , PDOT 2012, EMBRAPA Cerrado, IBRAM

0

6.5

20km

N

Contour lines

Latosols

Water bodies

Combisols

Urbanized areas

Hydromorphic soils

high

low

Image 36 - Soil types in the Federal District Data Source: EMBRAPA Cerrado

0

Argisols

6.5

20km

N

Nitosols

topography

Prime Soil types in the Federal District

Latosols

Cambisols

Hydromorphic Soils

The Latosols comprise 54% of the Federal District´s area. It comprises two categories of soil; the Red Latosol (38.92% of the area) and the RedYellow Latosol (15,58% of the area).

Latosols are deep soils, deeper than to 2mm. They are mineral soils, with low percentages of silt (from 10% to 20%).

The percentage of clay varies from 15% to 80%. Chemically, more than 95% are dystrophic and acidic.

The Cambisols occupy 30.98% of the Federal District´s area. They range from shallow to deep soils, from 0.2m to 1m depth. Chemically, they are dystrophic according to material composition and local climate. Cambisols present varied texture, from very clayey to sandy-loam, with or without gravel.These soils are found in steeper, shallow refliefs and, therefore, should be preserved.

The Hydromorphic soils comprise 3.98% of the Federal District´s area. They generally occupy landscape depressions subject to flooding. They present two types drainage: poorly drained or very poorly drained soils. Because they are water-conserving systems, close to springs and watercourses, it is important to preserve hydromorphic soils as not to compromise the water reservoir of the region.

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Very high risk of erosion

Very high risk of water depletion

High risk of erosion

High risk of water depletion

Average risk of erosion

Average risk of water depletion

Images 37 - Risk of soil erosion & Risk of waterground table depletion Data Source: ZEE-DF 2017

3.2.4. The Meso Scale Within the presented macro scale strategy, a green-infrastructure network was proposed. Due to this research’s limited time span, the coverage area of the design was restricted to the preservation areas ZP1A and ZP3A16 of the Pilot Plan heritage ensemble. According to the Portaria nº 166 (2016:6) document, the preservation area ZP1A “comprises part of the urban set described in the 1957 Pilot Plan Report of Brasília, constituting the area of greatest symbolic, morphological and urbanistic representation of the CUB (Brasília´s urbanistic ensemble).”

This area was chosen as to be within the scope of this study for its strong symbolic character, its crucial role in preserving the modernist landscape of Brasília and the fact that all the four urban typologies17 of the Pilot Plan are comprised inside its boundaries. This work argues that the methodology for identifying and assessing optimum locations for the implementation of a green-infrastructure network in this area while preserving the heritage character of the Pilot Plan can later be translated in design explorations for the rest of Brasília. Parts of the preservation area ZP3A were also included in the scope of this study for their spatial location is crucial in connecting the proposed green-infrastructure network to upstream natural patches at the meso scale.

In addition to the social and environmental challenges faced by the city at a territorial scale, the Pilot Plan itself struggles with issues of spatial and social order. These issues result from four main factors: the design of the city; the fact that the city to date has not been completely built (according to the 1957 Pilot Plan design); the concentration of jobs and culture facilities in the city center; and the intense earth displacements carried out during the city´s construction (a consequence of the design’s highway infrastructure rationale and the desire of specific visual compositions in Brasília).

Regarding the city´s urban design, the subversive character of Brasília’s design in terms of certain urban planning conventions has been presented previously. The sections also presented the impacts and the level of acceptance of this diverse urban ambience by local inhabitants in their daily lives. As a consequence, mainly in the W3 Avenue and the Localcommerce sectors, inhabitants and local merchants have denied the design’s intentions in an attempt to reestablish the street as a meeting place and as a structural axis of social life in the city. However, despite the effects on the neighborhood scale, in the scale of the Pilot Plan, the excessive zoning and separation of functions have led to a city of reduced vitality.

Additionally, the vast amounts of open public spaces, without a set of attractive activities and without a structural guiding element (the traditional street) has led to a desertification effect of Brasília´s public spaces. Even in public spaces properly designed as squares for permanence and social encounters, the effect is the same. This is a consequence of the priority given to the traffic system rather than the pedestrian system, the lack of proper shaded paths in the monumental and gregarious typologies and the separation between the public space and the activities in the surrounding sectors (Holston, 1989).

Area classification according to the one presented in the Portaria nº 166, elaborated by the Iphan- Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (Institute of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage). The document presents legal validity and presents a set of parameters regarding the preservation of the Pilot Plan ensemble. Together with the Pilot Plan, the Candangolândia, Sudoeste|Octogonal and Cruzeiro Administrative Regions were divided into two main preservation macro areas (according to their attributes, morphology and roles in structuring the urban landscape of Brasília). These two macro areas were divided into seven preservations zones (according to urban specificities found in each zone) 16

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Ecological corridors proposed by the government

Image 38 - BrasĂ­la 2030 - Macro-scale strategy

Poposed G.I. network Existing vegetated patches

0

13

40km

N

85

Scope area Preservation area ZP3A

Scope area Preservation area ZP1A

Brasília Administrative boundary

Image 39 - Area of study

Another factor that has added to the general reduced social life vitality in the Pilot Plan and use of public spaces is the concept of the superblock. The concept of the neighborhood unit, when combined to the city´s highway-infrastructure rationale, configures a new form of socialization in the city: that of “indoors biased urban life” (de Holanda, 1998). Holston (1989) also highlights the effects of the city´s design on socialization based on the narratives and impressions of local inhabitants.

“In Brasília, however, he (an official of the capital´s development corporation-NOVACAP) found that the lack of corners (i.e., of the street system of public spaces) had an interiorizing effect; it forced people to remain in their apartments and replaces the spontaneity of street encounter with the formality of home visits.” (ibid.:107)

According to de Holanda (1998), the concept of the superblock and the its spatial morphology also led to a certain extent of social exclusion (regardless of the slum eradication policy adopted by the government), for it reduces the opportunities for natural encounters and socialization in the cityscape. To the high and middle classes, this does not render their possibilities of socializing difficult, for their lifestyle includes private leisure and encounter facilities, such as private clubs and country houses. However, the lifestyle of lower income groups is very different. Their socialization relies more on spontaneous encounters with the neighbors and depends on public transportation.

The four main typologies are addressed to in the Pilot Plan report as the four main scales of the city, those being the residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic scales.

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“For these people, the morphology (of the superblocks) is not positively assessed. They complain about the indirect relation with the public space, about the lack of movement in the open areas, about the unpleasant routes they have to go through as pedestrians in this city.” (ibid.:13)

In addition to the above mentioned challenges and the hydrological crisis in the city (a result of water scarcity and draught), the pilot plan struggles with focal nodes of flash flooding during the rainy season. This issue is closely related to the intense dislocation of earth during the city´s construction, altering the local topography. Flash flooding occurs especially in the tesourinhas, the cloverleaf system designed for the mobility infrastructure. This solution results in steep topographies, speeding runoff velocity from upstream to downstream. The city´s grey-infrastructure drainage system is not able to cope with peak pressures and vast areas are constantly flooded. Based on the social and ecological challenges presented at both the macro and meso scales and the potential of multifunctionality of green-infrastructures, the proposed GI network inside the Pilot Plan presents goals within the two main spheres of ecological and social uplifting. The incorporation of the social dimension to water-sensitive solution is characteristic of integrated green-infrastructure design and proves a step forward in the landscape as infrastructure approach18.

The prime objectives of a green-infrastructure inside the Pilot Plan area are to:

Improve water management in the Pilot Plan, by:  Increasing the capacity of water infiltration  Reducing and slowing down rainfall runoff  Providing spatial opportunities for water infiltration, conduction, detention and reuse it in the cityscape

Promote opportunities for enhanced urban vitality and and social appropriation of public space, by:  Establishing a hierarchy inside the existing public spaces  Connecting and Reinforcing the existing corridors and nodes of urban vitality  Providing conditions for the implementation of pedestrian and cycle networks (balacing the extreme prioritization of vehicles in the city)

Provide conditions for social inclusion, by:  Constructing a network of public spaces accessible to all  Providing opportunities to preserve existing common goods and to create others  Providing strategies for the diversification of social groups living inside the Pilot Plan

The Landscape as infrastructure approach has been criticized for primarily focusing on the environmental benefits and dimensions of reconsidering the landscape as an infrastructural agent. The Green-infrastructure approach, through the concept of multifunctionality, highlights the potential of this infrastructure as a social uplifting agent and its multiple social benefits in the cityscape.

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3.2.4.1. Brasília: a green-infrastructure network design As mentioned previously, the spatial configuration of the Pilot Plan and the disparities between the main principles that have shaped Brasília and the principles that structure the Green-Infrastructure approach put forth the need for alternative methods for implementing a green-infrastructure network in Brasília without endangering its architectonic | urban heritage.

More importantly, methods that enable the identification of optimum locations for the implementation of a GI network are needed; as well as methods to determine the level of interventions and the flexibility of space, given the city´s heritage character.

Image 40 indicates the axial topological analysis of the mobility system at the level of the preservation areas ZP1A and ZP3A. If traditional Green-infrastructure methodology were to be applied, the GI network would be implemented through the Residential-Highway axis and the Monumental axis. However, a closer look at this infrastructure highlights the unsuitability of the Residential-Highway axis to host a GI network. The axis’ spatial morphology and complete functional segregation from the rest of the city’s urban tissue renders the possibility of implementing a multifunctional network in this axis impossible.

This work proposes the mapping of porosity, vitality and flexibility as alternative tools for identifying optimum locations for GI interventions and designing a GI network in the Pilot Plan area.

Image 40 - Axial map of the Pilot Plan of Brasília Source: de Holanda (2010:52)

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Vitality As highlighted by Holston (1989), one of Brasília’s characteristics when it comes to social life is a certain lack of crowds.

He refers not to the lack of massive amount of people in the city, but rather to a lack of urbanity usually encountered in traditional urban centers.

This paper understands urbanity as a characteristic exclusive to urban environments and intrinsically related to urban vitality. It is the movement of people in the streets, the transactions occurring in the public space. It refers to a “particular type of place that only cities have” (Holston, 1989:105). Therefore, urbanity also has a significant spatial component, for it is the unique way voids and solids are structured in the cityscape and the manner in which activities are distributes within the space that encourages or impedes the behavior of socialization and of exploring the urban space. Therefore, this paper also understands urbanity as a unique spatial trace of socially vital urban environments that are friendly spaces and are receptive to the populace (de Aguiar, 2013).

The importance of mapping vitality in Brasília lies in identifying the best areas in the city to implement a green network that both enhances the city’s capacity to manage water above ground and structures its public space system. In order to guarantee the network’s role as a public space framework in the city, it is crucial to recognize the places inside the Pilot Plan which already present a certain level of vitality, and the places which present no vitality (and therefore need to be improved).

The extremely porous character of Brasília, combined with the intense zoning of activities generates polarities of attractive and deserted areas in the city. Additionally, the singularity of the mobility infrastructure in the city and the pattern of land use distribution on the urban tissue in Brasília highlights a diverse spatial location of vitality nodes. Places of attractiveness are not located along the most integrated streets in the city. Therefore, the act of mapping vitality intended to identify the most suitable places for the implementation of the green network such that possible synergies between water management and social benefits were maximised.

This study adopts the definition of vitality as proposed by Montgomery (1998:93): “Vitality is what distinguishes successful urban areas from the others. It refers to the numbers of people in and around the street (pedestrian flows) across different times of the day and night, the uptake of facilities, the number of cultural events and celebrations over the year, the presence of an active street life, and generally the extent to which a place feels alive or lively. Indeed, successful places appear to have their own pulse or rhythm, a life force or elan vital.”

The identification of places possessing high or low vitality inside the Pilot Plan was carried out based on the following parameters: i)the diversity of services and activities, and ii) its spatial attractiveness, (calculated through the volume of

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people flow and permanence in the area). To determine the diversity of service, a land use mapping of the Pilot Plan was carried out. A level of attractiveness (ranging from dark to light red) was given to each land use type considering the types of flows and permanence the place generates. For example, a parking lot might attract a lot of people and flows, however these types of flows do not afford social appropriation of space. Parking lots were, therefore, assigned the lightest shade of red.

Office buildings attract many people; however, they do not produce permanence in the public space, but rather, inside private spaces. Additionally, office buildings promote flows usually only during the day, not generating flows and permanence during noncommercial hours. Therefore, office building were assigned an intermediary shade of red (medium level of vitality).

Mixed-use buildings, offering both residential and commercial activities generate both flows and permanence in public spaces that lead to social appropriation. Additionally, these type of buildings usually promote flows and permanence through different times of the day, generating different idiorhythms19. Therefore, mixeduse buildings, either combining diverse commercial activities or commercial and residential activities, were assigned the darkest shade of red (high level of vitality).

Other land use activities were categorized following the same logic. Additionally, my personal experience as one of the city’s inhabitants led me to empirically assign levels of vitality for the public spaces of the city based on the volume and types of flows and permanence generated.

Image 41 indicates vitality hotspots inside the Pilot Plan (in the preservation areas ZP1A and ZP3A ). It can be concluded from the map that the W3 avenue, along with the strips of local commerce inside the residential neighborhood units are the most vital areas of the city. These areas are, therefore, the most suitable for the implementation of a green infrastructure network from the perspective of multifunctionality and the premise of the network functioning as a framework for the city’s public space system. The map also shows that the monumental axis presents a large concentration of non-vital places, with hardly any social appropriation of space. This axis vitality, therefore, needs to be improved. However, despite its low vitality, the monumental axis presents spots of high urban vitality, like the TV tower, and the bus platform that can contribute to instigating vitality in other areas of the axis.

VITALITY PARAMETERS

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Porosity Porosity is a concept used frequently in the field of Geology. Porosity refers to the ratio of pores or voids of a material when compared to the total volume of the mass. Within the study of the porous character of rocks, porosity is distinguished into three types: primary porosity, secondary porosity and effective porosity. Primary porosity refers to the amount of empty spaces resulted from the process of creation of the rock itself. It is, therefore, an inherent characteristic of the material.

Secondary porosity refers to the amount of voids (such as cracks) created by external agents. These events are known in Geography as moments of rupture. Finally, effective porosity refers to the amount of interconnected empty spaces inside the material, allowing the movement of fluids through the pores.

In cityscapes, porosity refers to the ‘porous’ features of spatial morphologies, which enable cities to accommodate changes and fractures to the existing urban system. Porosity is generally perceived as a structural quality, conferring adaptability to the cityscape (del Castillo, 2016). For instance, in their influential work on the La Ville Poreuse, in which a vision for the Grand Paris is explored, Secchi and Viganò (2011) propose through guaranteed porosity and permeability the creation and redistribution of social, cultural and spatial capital (Boano & Astolfo, 2014).

However, an analogy to the field of Geology highlights how excessive porosity renders the system unsustainable. Just like excessive porosity in a rock might lead to decreased mechanical resistance of the material; excessive porosity in the cityscape can lead to spatial fragmentation, underused urban spaces and increased residual areas. As it can be noticed from Map 27, Brasília presents a significant case of porosity excessiveness, with a continuum of public ground. The lack of a framework which structures and conducts the system of public spaces in Brasília leads to a lack of hierarchy of the system.

Ironically, in a city where almost all space is public, the social value of public spaces is diminished. Public space becomes banal. This character, combined with the extreme zoning of functions in the city, leads to a lack of attractiveness of most public spaces in the city (as shown in the map of vitality in the Pilot Plan).

In order to establish enhanced social value and appropriation of public spaces in Brasília this work argues that a hierarchy inside the system of public spaces needs to be established. Additionally, a guiding framework connecting and conducting flows through this hierarchical system must be established, in combination with a densification of the highly dispersed urban tissue (along this guiding framework) and with the implementation of services and activities that attract inhabitants to use the public space.

Therefore, a mapping of porosity in the Pilot Plan urban area was conducted in order to identify available spaces that could host functions related to a green-infrastructure and water-management above ground in the city. The mapping aimed to identify what types of porosity exist in Brasília and which types would be most suitable for the implementation of the GI network from both water management and social space appropriation perspectives.

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This study adopts the understanding of urban porosity as defined by Pellegrini when reflecting upon Bernardo Secchi’s intellectual legacy (Boano & Astolfo, 2014:7): “The notion of porosity, borrowed form physics but also from literature, i.e.Benjamin, is as well analytical as a design toll, and refers to the percentage of open spaces in relation to built space and to the possibility to have different flows (of people, public transport, water, activities, practices, differences and vegetation). Porosity does not only include green areas and agricultural land, or abandoned, vacant and under-used lots; it rather implies the possibility to re-signify non-built areas as a whole, especially the space for mobility. Furthermore, porosity is strongly related to permeability, represented by the single connections the pores. A porous city is widely accessible thanks to a new structure of public transport (a network described by the metaphor of a sponge) and highly sustainable new biological corridors, as well as, more space for the water network/wet lands.”

In the Pilot Plan two distinct types of porosity were identified and mapped; an inherent porosity and an acquired porosity.

Inherent porosity refers to urban voids or empty spaces that were proposed in the original Lúcio Costa Design for the city.

The vast open vegetated spaces, the road infrastructure, the system of parks and squares, and the existing empty spaces inside private lots (demanded by local regulations) compose the city´s inherent porosity. Acquired porosity refers to urban empty spaces which were not foreseen in the original design for the city. On the contrary, these spaces were planned as built-up areas. However, due to social and economic dynamics (fractures) in the city, these spaces were never occupied and remain vacant to this day.

Porosity of streets Porosity of public spaces Porosity of residual areas Porosity inside private plots Porosity of unbuilt plots

Image 42 - Different porosities in the Pilot Plan cityscape

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The different types of porous spaces of the city were mapped and indicated with a specific color (ranging from dark to light orange), indicating their capacity to generate social attraction. For example, the vast spaces along the road axes are pores inherent to the city’s design. However, the location and functional segregation of these spaces render the capacity of these spaces to attract flows and people low. These spaces were, therefore, assigned the lightest shade of orange. On the other hand, spaces on the 300 superblocks, the entrequadras, were originally designed to host educational, cultural or public service functions. However, the low demographic occupation of the Pilot Plan rendered the occupation of these spaces unnecessary. These spaces are today, acquired pores to the city’s original design. Nevertheless, these spaces possess a great potential to attract people and flows, due to their proximity and connectivity to the W3 Avenue and the local commerce strips. These spaces were, therefore, assigned the darkest shade of orange. Other porous spaces were categorized following the same logic.

From the porosity map, if can be concluded that inside the residential zone of the city, several spots of inherent and acquired porosity can be requalified and re-signified to host water management and social functions. These areas are mainly concentrated along the vitality axes of the W3 avenue and the local commerce strips. The monumental axis, on the other hand, is the one which hosts most of the inherent porosity related to leisure and culture public spaces. However, as far as vitality is concerned, this axis has one of the lowest vitality rating in the city. Especially because of the incompletion of the cultural and amusement sectors of the city, the extreme use zoning in this area’s sectors and the monumental dimensions of these public spaces (lacking the human scale and, therefore, being less inviting for permanence and socializing).

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Image 43 - Porosity Map low

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Flexibility Regarding the prime challenges faced by contemporary economies, such as demographic growth, depletion of available natural resources and extreme climate dynamics (flood and draught), Bacchin (2015) emphasizes the fundamentals of inbuilt flexibility in every plan and design towards water-sensitivity in urbanscapes. The need for flexibility results from the intrinsic contingent character of modernity.

Unpredictability has become an integral background note of the Modern stage. Berman, in 1982, already described the complex dynamics and contradictions of the modern experience. The work’s title “All that is Solid melts into air” embodies the ephemeral and uncertain character of Modernity. The overwhelming set of phenomena and dynamics, which result from, occur through or impact the urban environment demand approaches that deliver malleable solutions that are able to re-adjust and re-signify themselves to emerging demands. Secchi (2006), and Secchi and Viganò (2011) highlight the 21st century landscape character of extreme uncertainty which challenges architects and urbanists to mobilize collective knowledge and imaginative capacities.

In this work, the level of adaptability of the green-infrastructure network proposed was determined by its multifunctionality (the amount of social, environmental and economic services and benefits hosted and enabled by the network) and level of flexibility the existing urban tissue presents. The flexibility of the urban tissue, in the specific case of the Pilot Plan of Brasília, was determined by the rigidity of the existing heritage protection regulations in the city and by the possibility of loosening them.

In order to do so, a review of the existing policies, regulations and guidelines, which control and guide the urban development inside the Federal District and Brasília was conducted. The documentation was categorized in three domains: i) informing documents for the overall territorial management policies; ii) territorial management reports, guidelines and regulations related to the spatial urban configuration; and iii) territorial management guidelines and regulations related to water resources. Within each domain, the documents were organized based on their hierarchy.

The documentation in the informing documents for the overall territorial management policies domain present a thorough analysis and diagnosis of the Federal District´s social, economic, environmental and urban dynamics and challenges. The documentation also presents forecasts, guidelines and suggestions, which foster the development planning of the city and the regulations, policies and guidelines in the second and third domain. The only exception being the Plot Plan Report and the Brasília Revisitada report. Both documents were elaborated before any of the documentation inside the first domain was produced, and therefore, do not obey or refer to the guidelines presented in these documents.

The territorial management reports, guidelines and regulations related to the spatial urban configuration domains include

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documentation which controls and guides the urban development of the city, based on the diagnosis and guidelines of the documents presented in the first domain and the concepts and guidelines presented in Costa’s Pilot Plan and the Brasília Revisitada reports.

The territorial management guidelines and regulations related to the water resources domain include documentation regarding water management (supply, drainage, sewage and reuse) inside the Federal District area. These documents respond to the social, economic, environmental and urban characterization and diagnosis presented in the first domain, as well the forecast of demographic growth and prospects of environmental issues related to urban expansion, natural resources exploitation and climate change.

This paper focused on documents that have a direct impact on either the diagnosis or the control over the urban development of the Pilot Plan. The guidelines and parameters set in these documents and the level of compliance of the strategies proposed in this work to these guidelines were used as the bases for the design evaluation (presented in chapter 4).

A second stage was taken in identifying the level of flexibility of the urban landscape of the Pilot Plan to host multifunctional water-sensitive strategies. For flexibility, this work adopts the definition presented in Bacchin (2015:27): “In-built flexibility in the design of open spaces addresses uncertainties regarding both climate and urbanisation futures. This form of flexibility enhances the unit/ system capacity to adapt or respond to a future event, i.e. to manifest resilience. Processes of co-creation (co-design/ engineering) are critical in engaging society in the construction of shared and multifunctional environments. The framework/ approach developed in this work assist these processes by shaping an alternative (future) perspective of the contemporary landscape as an instrument of inquiry.”

The mapping of spatial flexibility inside the Pilot Plan consisted of a thorough review of the heritage and urban development control policies and regulations in practice in the city. As a result, a set of physical elements and concepts that characterized the singular landscape of Brasília were identified. Later on, a categorization of the level of flexibility allowed in each of these elements and concepts was conducted inside a color scale (from dark to light yellow). For example, the city’s traffic infrastructure is identified in the heritage protection documents as one of the prime characterizing and structuring elements of the city’s urban landscape. Additionally a set of restrictions regarding interventions in the original spatial configuration of this mobility infrastructure is present in the heritage protection documents of the city.

Therefore, the level of flexibility of the existing mobility system is low, when compared to other elements in the city. On this basis, the mobility system was given the lightest shade of yellow (low flexibility). Just like the mobility system, the architectonic and urbanistic ensemble of the Praça dos Três Poderes (Square of the three powers) is also highlighted as an essential trace of the Pilot Plan landscape. However, several strict regulation guidelines restrict spatial interventions in this public space. Therefore, the Square of the three Powers was also designated the lightest shade of yellow. On the other hand,

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the open public green spaces of the city, despite being crucial for the preservation of the city’s characteristic landscape, present less restrictive guidelines towards spatial interventions. Therefore, these open green spaces (with the exception of the lawn of the Esplanade of the Ministries) was assigned the darkest shade of yellow (high flexibility). The rest of the public spaces in the city were characterized following the same logic.

Structural elements to the Pilot Plan Landscape

The set of physical elements and concepts that guided the evaluation of the level of flexibility of each public space are presented below, according to their reference document. These elements and concepts were extracted from four prime documents, those being: the Pilot Plan of Brasília report (Costa, 1991); the Brasília Revisited document (Costa, 1987), the heritage protection legislation elaborated by the IPHAN (National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute), which presents a set of definitions and criteria for any spatial intervention in the urbanistic ensemble of Brasília (Portaria nº 166, 2016); and the PDOT 2012 document (Territorial Master Plan of the Federal District territory), which is the basic legal instrument regarding territorial policy and development of the Federal District (Lei Complementar nº 854, 2012).

The Pilot Plan & Brasília Revisited Reports A. The structuring features of the Pilot Plan  The interaction of the four scales, which translate the urban concept of Brasilia, those being: monumental, residential, gregarious and bucolic scales;  The road infrastructure - “functioning as an integrating framework of the various urban scales”;  The residential question - “concentrates the population close to the centre (Residential-Highway Axis) by creating neighborhood areas” of multi-family housing;  The Paranoá Lake margins - without built barriers along the water. Waterfront freely accessible to all, except in the case of private clubs.  Landscape architecture - the landscape volumetry acts as an integrating agent of the four urban scales;  The sky - “incorporation to the city of the immense sky of the Brazilian central plateau, as an integral and ubiquitous part of the urban conception itself - the voids are filled by it.”

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The Portaria nº 166, 2016 document A. RESIDENTIAL B.1. Essential features for preserving Brasília’s architectonic and urbanistic ensemble:

SQS (south superblocks) & SQN (north superblocks) 100, 200, 300 and 400:  Predominance of the residential function;  Road structure, characterized by a single individual entrance | exit point for automobiles (100,200 and 300 superblocks);  Road structure, characterized by a single shared entrance | exit point for automobiles (400 superblocks);  Densely vegetated perimeter buffer;  Maximum 15% occupancy rate of the superblock area;  6-storey, multi-family residential blocks, over pilotis (100,200 and 300 superblocks);  3-storey, multi-family residential blocks, over pilotis (400 superblocks);  3-storey, multi-family residential blocks, without pilotis (400 superblocks);  Guaranteed free pedestrian flow and access through the whole superblock area;  Maximum 30% occupation rate of the residential blocks’ pilotis;  Maximum 30% occupation rate of the residential blocks’ roof;  Maximum 1-storey buildings hosting public service functions inside the superblocks;  Maximum 2-storey buildings hosting religious function inside the 400 superblocks.

CLS (south local commerce) & CLN (north local commerce):  Predominance of the commercial and service functions;  Typology of the existing buildings;  Maximum 3-storey buildings (only valid for the CLN);  Maximum 2-storey buildings (only valid for the CLS);  Guaranteed free access and flow through the commercial blocks;  Exclusive occupation of the roof level for the implementation of technical facilities.

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EQS (south entrequadra) & EQN (north entrequadra) 100,200 and 300:  Diverse uses and activities (with the exception of residential and light industrial functions);  Maximum 3-storey buildings (except for plots hosting religious function);  Maximum 12 meter-height buildings hosting religious function, located inside the EQN/EQN 300;  Minimum 75% visual permeability for any plot enclosure.

EQS (south entrequadra) & EQN (north entrequadra) 400:  Diverse uses and activities (with the exception of industrial function);  Maximum 3-storey buildings.

EQS (south entrequadra) & EQN (north entrequadra) 100/300 and 200/400:  Diverse uses and activities (with the exception of industrial function);  Maximum 2-storey buildings.

EQS 500 (south entrequadra - plot A- facing the W3 Avenue):  Diverse uses and activities (with the exception of residential and industrial functions);  Maximum 3-storey buildings.

EQS 500 (south entrequadra - plot B) and EQN 500 (south entrequadra – plots A and B):  Diverse uses and activities (with the exception of residential and industrial functions);  Maximum 2-storey buildings.

SCRS 500 (south residential commerce sector) and SCRN 502 (north residential commercial sector):  Diverse uses and activities;  Spatial voids between the mix-use blocks;  Main façades facing the W3 Avenue;  Preservation of the existing canopies on the façades facing the W3 Avenue;  Maximum 4-storey buildings.

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SHIGS (sector of individual row houses south) SHCGN (sector of individual row houses north):  Predominance of the residential function;  Preservation of the park character of the residential superblocks;  Guaranteed free pedestrian flow between the residential blocks;  Maximum 2-storey single-family houses (maximum 8.5 meter-height).

B.2. Interventions allowed (CLN - north local commerce and CLS - south local commerce)  Residential function on the upper floors of the commercial blocks, as a complementary use (only valid for the CLN);  Occupation with tables and chairs of the lateral areas of the commercial blocks;  Extension of the commercial blocks by 6 meters over the limit of the façades facing the superblocks (only valid for the CLS).

B.3 Interventions not allowed  Construction of walls or barriers along the Residential-Highway axis; as well as along the L and W roads;  Creation of new plots and projections in addition to the ones planned inside 100, 200, 300 and 400 superblocks;  Enclosing of the residential pilotis;  Implementation of public service infrastructures that have over ground distribution lines.  Expansions on the sides of the local commerce blocks.

A. GREGARIOUS & MONUMENTAL C.1. Essential features for preserving Brasília’s architectonic and urbanistic ensemble (Gregarious Typology):  Diverse uses and activities;  Non-uniform building Heights, however, respecting the maximum height in the gregarious typology sectors of 65 meters;  Guarantee of the gregarious function by the establishment of continuous and qualified axes of pedestrian movement and meeting places;  Maintenance of the Galeria dos Estados (Gallery of the States) as a connector between the South Bank Sector to the South Commercial Sector.

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C.2. Essential features for preserving Brasília’s architectonic and urbanistic ensemble (Monumental Typology):  The Three Powers Square, together with its architectonic, urbanistic and landscape ensembles;  The Planalto Palace, Federal Supreme Court and National Congress buildings, together with their architectonic and landscape ensemble of gardens and water-mirrors;  The buildings and architectural ensemble of the National Flag Mast, Homeland Pantheon, Symbolic Homeland Fire Monument, Historical Museum of Brasilia, Tea House and Lucio Costa Space;  The Itamaraty and Justice Palace buildings, together with their architectonic and landscape ensemble;  The architectonic ensemble of the Ministries’ buildings, with a 10-storey typology and exclusive destination for ministerial activities;  The architectonic ensemble of the Ministries’ annex buildings, with a 4-storey typology exclusive destination for ministerial activities;  Brasília’s Metropolitan Cathedral building and its architectural and urban ensemble;  The Monumental Axis’ road structure, as presented in the Pilot Plan report;  The extensive vegetated central plots of the Monumental Axis, designed as an urban park (from the Congress building until TV tower);  The predominance of cultural function buildings inside the North and South cultural sectors;  The public passage configured by the Touring Club building, connecting the Bus station’s upper platform to the South Cultural Sector;  The north and south Cultural Sectors’ main road access through the Monumental Axis;  The TV tower building, together with its architectonic and landscape ensemble;  The Bus Platform building, together with its architectonic and urbanistic ensemble;  The character of the Bus Platform ensemble as a central element of articulation inside the city’s public mobility system;  The predominance of commercial and service function buildings inside the North and South amusement sectors;  Maintenance of existing building heights inside South and North amusement sectors;  The Buriti Square as the seat of the district’s public authorities.

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C.3. Interventions allowed (Gregarious and Monumental typologies):  Expansions related to ministerial activities, respecting existing building heights (when needed);  Construction of 1-storey commerce or service buildings between the Ministries buildings;  Re-configuration of unbuilt plots inside the Cultural propagation sector, while maintaining the predominance of the cultural function and a maximum 30% occupancy rate;  Creation of new, discontinuous plots, from the Cruzeiro square until the EPIA highway, while maintaining the predominance of the cultural and |public administration functions;  The amount of new plots creation cannot surpass as 10% occupancy rate of the sector’s areas.

C.4 Interventions not allowed (Gregarious and Monumental typologies):  Construction of new buildings and insertion of new sculptural elements in Square of the three Powers and its surroundings;  Any type of aboveground constructions in the central plots of the Monumental Axis (water fountains are an exception);  Construction of fences around squares, parking lots and public areas and plots;  Creation of new plots or projections in the Esplanade of the Ministries, except for the small commercial and service buildings mentioned previously;  Construction of underground parking lots in the central plots of the Monumental Axis. Construction is only allowed when no suppression of the arboreal vegetation occurs;  Implementation of public service infrastructures that have over ground distribution lines.

From the identification of the prime physical elements that structure the landscape of Brasília and their classification according to their level of flexibility, the Pilot Plan area was mapped. This mapping intended to identify areas more conducive to the implementation of the green-infrastructure network and water-sensitive design strategies. The areas in dark yellow were considered the most flexible and therefore, the most suitable for the implementation of the GI network, as can be gleaned from map 29.

A conclusion map, consisting of the superposition of the vitality, porosity and flexibility map was created in order to conclude the optimum locations for the implementation of a multifunctional green-infrastructure network. As showcased in map 30, the best places for the implementation of a GI network in the Pilot Plan are the W3 avenues, the local commerce axes, and the monumental axis.

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Image 44 - Flexibility Map

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Image 45 - Conclusion Map - Suitable locations for GI Interventions

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3.3 . Governance Model & Stakeholders In addition to the mapping of existing regulations guiding urban development inside the Pilot Plan, the main stakeholders and their level of interest and power in the implementation of the proposed vision and strategies was researched. Different stakeholders, their level of power and level of interest were identified based on two parameters. The first one related to the bureaucratic processes necessary for the approval and implementation of the interventions proposed in this work. This survey pinpointed the main governmental agencies involved in the approval of urban developments in the city and their hierarchy, within the Federal District domain. The second parameter derived from a process of identifying the benefits and impacts of implementing the proposed strategies. Through both logical and empirical approaches, different levels of interest of each stakeholder in preventing or implementing the presented strategies were proposed. Further participatory methods, including interviews with the stakeholders were not conducted, due to the limited timespan for the elaboration of this study.

As discussed in chapter 6, a thorough research of each stakeholder level of power and interest would be necessary for the planning and implementation of a green-infrastructure network in Brasília.

Three main groups of stakeholders were mapped, those being: civic society, the private sector and the public sector. Within the public sector, eight main governmental agencies were identified: the SEGETH (Secretariat of Territorial Management and Housing), the SEMA (State Secretariat for the Environment), the IPHAN (Institute of the National Historical and Artistic Heritage) , the AGEFIS (Agency of Inspection of the Federal District), the NOVACAP (Company for the urbanization of the new capital of Brazil), the TERRACAP (Real-Estate Company of Brasília) , the Regional Administrations, and the CAESB (Company of Environmental Sanitation of the Federal District).

The SEGETH is responsible for approving design and giving permissions to construct, based on diverse environmental, social and urban guidelines regulations. Within the SEGETH, the CAP (Department of Approval of Plans) and the SINC (Subsecretariat of Information, Regulation and Control) are responsible, respectively, for the approval of plans and the issuance of the certificate of compliance to the existing threshold limits. The IPHAN and the SEMA are the agencies responsible for the issuance of environmental licenses inside the Federal District territory. Within the SEMA, the IBRAM (Brasília Environmental Institute) is the responsible sub-secretariat for executing and enforcing environmental and water resources policies inside the Federal District. Also within the SEMA, the ADASA (Agency of water, energy and sanitation regulation of the Federal District) is the regulatory agency in charge of the management of natural water bodies, of basic sanitation services, and of the monitoring of water use and demand inside the Federal District. The AGEFIS is the agency responsible for issuing the habite-se (a certificate confirming the construction was executed to plan). The Regional Administrations are responsible for giving business licenses. The TERRACAP is a state owned company, which owns most of the public land inside the Federal District. The NOVACAP is the agency responsible for monitoring of urban intervention inside the Pilot Plan area and ensuring they occur according to the premises lay out in Costa’s 1957 plan for Brasília.

Within the civic society group, the following stakeholders were identified: Residents Associations, Associations of each

N

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Administrative region of the Federal District, and Associations of Organized Professionals. The Residents Associations stakeholders represent the parcel of civic society residing inside the Pilot Plan´s superblocks. The Associations of each Administrative region represent the section of civic society residing in all thirty-one Administrative regions of the Federal District. The Associations of Organized Professionals represent the part of civic society whose professional fields are related to the implementation of a green-infrastructure network in Brasília (such as Associations of architects, urbanists, geologists, and biologist, among others). This work assumed that the implementation of any intervention in Brasília should have the participation of all described stakeholders and that all should have their voices equally heard, for strategies to foster social inclusion of disadvantaged social groups inside the Pilot Plan were proposed. Therefore, this study, considered all civic society stakeholders to have the same level of power.

Within the private sector, two prime types of stakeholders were identified: local businessperson and real-estate corporations.

The local businessperson stakeholders represent the merchants and liberal professionals residing in the Federal District.

The real-state corporations represent companies focused on commercial and residential real-estate markets. Despite this work’s belief that the civic sector should have a higher power level than the private sector in decisions concerning the implementation of a green-infrastructure network in Brasília; it also recognizes the existing power distributions inside the governance model of the Federal District. Therefore, the real-estate stakeholders were considered to have higher power than the civic society stakeholders’ groups.

The level of power of each stakeholder group was determined by their agency and capacity, regarding the implementation of the vision proposed in this study. Agency relates to the stakeholder´s ability and legitimacy to act. In Brazil, politically and culturally, governmental agencies have high legitimacy to implement or imped the implementation of urban development policies and plans. However, many times, governmental agencies do not have the capacity, that is the means, to engage in the urban development policies and plans. Therefore, the level of power of governmental agencies and public sector agents is affected by their agency-capacity relation. The level of power of stakeholders in the public and private sector also considered their agency-capacity relationships, regarding the vision and strategies proposed in this chapter.

Image 47 presents a matrix in which stakeholders were positioned according to their level of interest and power related to the implementation of the vision of a Water-sensitive Brasília in 2030 presented in this work.

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Image 46 - Existing Regulations and Guidelines for the Pilot Plan and the Federal District

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Image 47 - Stakeholders interest x power matrix

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4. DESIGN PROPOSAL & EVALUATION 4.1. Concept and vision 4.2. Network design, strategies and evaluation 4.2.1. The Residential Typology

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4. DESIGN PROPOSAL & EVALUATION

This chapter presents the proposed concept and vision for a green-infrastructure network inside the Pilot Plan area of the Federal District. Based on the analyses, conclusion and objectives set out and elaborated in chapter 3, this chapter presents a general layout of the network (at the Pilot Plan scale) and two zoom-in details of the network inside the Monumental and Residential typologies of the city. However, the proposed design of the network is not normative. Therefore, possible spatial strategies were proposed for each prime space inside the Monumental and Residential typologies. These strategies possess an incremental character, that is, their stage-wise implementation through the proposed timespan would result in the achievement of the presented vision: a water-sensitive Brasília - 2030.

Despite the intent of this study to propose water-sensitive solutions that respect the landscape of Brasília and the existing heritage protection legislation and guidelines, this work puts forward strategies that do not completely comply with the existing regulation. These proposals were based on possible ecological and social benefits that would be generated by the implementation of the strategy without, however, endangering the architectonic and urbanistic heritage ensemble of the city.

The strategies, in addition to indicating possible spatial solutions to host water-sensitivity in Brasília, also highlight the need to revise or make more flexible certain parts of the existing heritage legislation.

4.1. Concept and vision Based on the findings presented on maps 26 to 30 and on the prime objectives of a green-infrastructure inside the Pilot Plan from a social and environmental point of view (presented in section 3.2.4.), a spatial concept and vision of a water-sensitive Brasília for the year 2030 was proposed.

This vision considers 2030 as a target year because of the existing demographic and water supply demand in the city foresee 2030 as the end of their time span. Additionally, 2030 is set to be the limit period for the implementation and consolidation of the water management drainage plan for the city (Projeto Drenar DF). A time span of more than ten years was adopted in the proposed vision for a water-sensitive Brasília due to the need of a temporal span for the development of the vision. It is practically impossible and extremely unrealistic to imagine that the city can be adapted over night to water-sensitivity. The implementation of a green-infrastructure network in Brasília depends upon several governmental agents and actions, as well as on private and civic society stakeholders. More importantly, the concept of realizing a green-infrastructure network at once, as a closed normative project, renders the system’s capacity of adaptation impossible. It is through a phased implementation of the vision that benefits and performance can be analyzed, as well as flaws and points that need improvement. A temporal implementation of the network enables revision and co-construction of the vision for Brasília as a water-sensitive city, as it allows for the incorporation of social, economic and environmental dynamics in the evaluation of the design.

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Taking into consideration the topography of the city, the existing spatial pattern of natural vegetation patches and the optimum areas for the implementation of the network (from a multifunctional and integration perspective), the proposed green-infrastructure network layout is composed of two main axes and several secondary ones. The main axes are located, respectively, on the W3 Avenue and on the Monumental axis of the Pilot Plan. The W3 Avenue is a prime location in terms of urban vitality and in terms of its topographic position on upstream lands. These characteristics enables the incorporation of social functions to this part of the network, maximizes the possibility of social appropriation of the proposed spaces and enhances the capacity of water absorption upstream, reducing runoff and flash flooding on mid and down streams. More importantly, the green-infrastructure network axis implemented along the W3 Avenue configures the linkage corridor between the north and south macro scale natural vegetation patches presented in chapter 3.

The Monumental Axis is a prime location in terms of its geography inside the Pilot Plan urban fabric, the massive availability of free, green spaces, and the existence of several cultural, leisure and working spaces in its surroundings. This axis crosses the entire city from east to west, from upstream to downstream lands. This gives the network a capacity to manage water on all topographic conditions, implementing different strategies to infiltrate water and reduce the pressure of runoff downstream. Additionally, the challenge of drought in Brasília requires diverse water-sensitive solutions than the ones implemented in sites struggling with flooding issues. Flood protection strategies, inside the urban scape, usually rely on numerous small-scale interventions, which together form a network of green and blue spaces. Despite following the same logic, drought remediation strategies rely on bigger surface areas to enable significant absorption and storage of water, recharging the underground water table and enabling alternative water reservoirs. Moreover, the presence of significant encounter places, such as the Bus platform and the TV tower, along with this axis, enables the incorporation of social functions to this part of the network and provides the opportunity to increase the vitality and use of several deserted spaces. More importantly, the green-infrastructure network axis implemented along the Monumental Axis configures the linkage corridor between the east-west macro scale natural vegetation patches (presented in chapter 3) and the Paranoá Lake.

Several smaller east-west axes link areas up, mid and downstream, through the local commerce roads. These axes mainly connect the existing urban park patches upstream to the Paranoá Lake downstream. New reforested patches were proposed both upstream and downstream, aimed at increasing water infiltration capacity upstream; as wells as decreasing soil erosion on Paranoá Lake’s margins and enabling water filtering and oxygenation as runoff reaches the lake on downstream.

Like the geographical position of the Monumental axis, the local commerce roads present the potential capacity of managing water on all topographic conditions. Additionally, the local commerce sectors are hotspots of urban vitality in the city, with diverse activities and intense pedestrian flows. The incorporation of these sectors in the green-infrastructure network enables not only water management benefits, but also urban quality uplifting and the social fruition of these spaces. In addition to water management, culture and leisure functions, the strategies proposed for the green-infrastructure network incorporated solutions to enhance pedestrian and cycling mobility in the city; as well as solutions to densify the residential sectors and enable a diversification of social groups inside the Pilot Plan.

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This work puts forward a vision for BrasĂ­lia in 2030 as a water-sensitive city. An urban landscape that embodies the potential of spatial patterns to infiltrate, store, purify and reuse water above ground and inside the cityscape. A water-sensitive BrasĂ­lia constitutes the materialization of a paradigm shift in water management in Brazil, especially inside the Federal District territory, in which hydrological processes, ecosystem integrity, and urban social functions are understood as complex dynamic systems and are planned interdisciplinarily so as to synergize cross-benefits between them. A water-sensitive BrasĂ­lia in 2030 will enable conditions to reestablish the integrity of local Cerrado ecosystems and will provide a healthy and socially inclusive urban environment, offering a range of ecological, social and economic benefits through the implementa-

e venu W3 A

tion of a green-infrastructure network in the city.

ential

Resid Mon

ume

ntal

Axis

Axis

Image 48 - Design concept

Entrequadras 300 Local commerce Design goals: Reduced runoff

Water storage Enhanced vitality

0

2

4km

N

Public space hierarchy

Increased infiltration

Social appropriation of urban space

Runoff deceleration & detention

Social Mix

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Image 49 - BrasĂ­la 2030 - A water-sensitive city

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BrasĂ­lia: a water-sensitive city - 2030 An urban landscape that embodies the potential of spatial patterns to infiltrate, store, purify and reuse water above ground and inside the cityscape. A water-sensitive BrasĂ­lia in 2030 will enable conditions to reestablish the integrity of local Cerrado ecosystems and will provide a healthy and socially inclusive urban environment, offering a range of ecological, social and economic benefits through the implementation of a green-infrastructure network in the city.

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4.2. Network design, strategies and evaluation

Based on the understanding of the governance model regarding heritage protection and urban development inside the Pilot Plan (see section 3.3.); and of the existing environmental and social challenges currently faced by the city, a concept for a green-infrastructure network inside the Pilot Plan was proposed (as detailed in section 4.1.).

In order to better explain how this network is structured, which functions it hosts and which are possible design solutions for each of the network’s spaces, this section presents two detailed zoom-ins; one of the Monumental typology and another of the Residential typology areas. These zoom-ins encompass the prime spaces of the network and enable the understanding of the green-infrastructure system as a whole. For each space inside the network, three levels of strategies were proposed, showcasing several design solutions. The level of each strategy varies according to the extent of spatial modifications and interventions proposed and the rate of compliance to existing heritage protection regulations. The presentation of strategies was proposed in this manner, as a way to allow an evaluation of the environmental and social benefits gained through the implementation of each strategy. By comparing the extent of the interventions proposed, to the amount of benefits gained and to the extent of compliance with the existing legislation, public, private and civic society stakeholders in Brasília can engage in a debate regarding the need to revise certain parts of the heritage protection regulations.

For didactic reasons aimed at facilitating the understanding of the design, both strategies and design evaluation are presented in this section. The evaluation of the network was carried based on two parameters: the fulfillment of environmental and social objectives laid out for each area of the network, and the compliance with existing heritage protection legislation in the city. From the environmental point of view, performance was evaluated through a quantitative approach: through calculation using the Rational method, of both the rainfall runoff and water surplus and the capacity of the proposed strategies to reduce water surplus. The capacity of the whole network to extinguish water surplus was then considered as a parameter of satisfactory performance. The inability to do so was a signal for the need to revise the proposed network dimensioning.

From the social perspective, performance was analyzed through a correspondence method, in which social inclusivity was measured both through the capacity of the proposed strategies to densify the Pilot Plan and diversify its population group and through the capacity of the proposed strategies to generate a sense of place (leading to social appropriation of the space). To measure the capacity of the network to produce a sense of place, a correspondence between place and vitality was done, based on Montgomery’s definition of place. Therefore, the networks ability to increase vitality was analyzed through its capacity to promote activity (one of the prime elements presented by Montgomery to the production of place).

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4.2.1. The Residential Typology

The Residential typology axes cross the city from east to west, conducting water upstream to downstream. A set of multifunctional spaces, hosting hydrological, social and cultural functions structure these corridors. Upstream areas host strategies to enhance water infiltration and storage. Midstream and downstream areas englobe strategies to slow and reduce runoff by water infiltration, percolation and storage. Strategies related to social and economic activities were also proposed for each area, depending on their existing activities, position in the city’s system of public spaces and level of vitality.

The axes are composed of three main spatial typologies: the W3 Avenue, the Entrequadras and the local commerce sectors.

Due to Brasília’s rational spatial planning, the strategies proposed to one Residential Typology axis can be implemented in other axes in the city by using the same logic but with different design solutions. It is important that the spaces within the green-infrastructure network possess a range of activities and singularities, which encourage the social appropriation of space. Additionally, due to specificities of each axis, such as topographical slope, commercial block typology, façade directions, level of the shops compared to the level of the sidewalk, among other, different design solution suitable for each location should be considered in more depth.

The following sections present the different strategies proposed for the W3 Avenue, the Entrequadras and the local commerce areas; as well as the main goals adopted in each space regarding water-management and social functions. Possible design solutions to achieve the goals are presented, in order to afford a spatial visualization of each space inside the vision of a water sensitive Brasília by 2030. Finally, an image representing a possible spatial output of the vision is presented for each area.

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W3 Avenue

Image 50- W3 Avenue - 1960 Source:correioweb.com.br, 2013

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The W3 Avenue was designed to be a service road, supporting wholesale shops along its southern margin. However, the incorporation of the 700 blocks to the Pilot Plan design and the delayed construction of the local commerce sectors transformed the character of this avenue. Despite the orientations of the Pilot Plan design, local businesspersons opened the shops with the main façade facing the road. The proximity to the residential areas and the availability of different activities and services transformed the W3 Avenue into the main axis of commercial and social life in Brasília in the 1980s.

However, the construction of other commerce areas in the city, along with shopping centers, decreased both the competitiveness of this road for businesses and its local vitality. Low maintenance of the buildings and public spaces left the avenue in a state of decay. Nonetheless, despite the reduction of activities along this axis, the W3 Avenue is still a place of vitality, flows and encounters in the city. Plans to revitalize the Avenue and restore its vitality were put forward by the local government. However, these plans have not been implemented yet.

Based on the W3 Avenue position on upstream areas and on its fundamental role in the city’s mobility system, the following goals were set for the spaces along this road: i) to reduce runoff, ii) to increase water infiltration, iii) to enhance urban vitality, v) to promote pedestrian and cycle mobility, and vi) to promote a hierarchy within the public spaces of the city.

Image 51 - W3 Avenue - Existing situation

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Design goals:

Reduced Runoff

Increased Infiltration

Enhanced Vitality

Public Space Hierarchy

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W3 AVENUE STRATEGIES

Strategy 01

Strategy 02

Punctual interventions for increased Infiltration and water detention

Integrated mobility and water m increased infiltration.

This first-level strategy does not require a reconfiguration of the W3 Avenue

This second-level strategy proposes th

spatial configuration. However, the implementation of design solutions, which

connecting BrasĂ­lia form north to south. U

enable water infiltration, detention and purification in the central plots of the

recommends a reconfiguration of the W3 a

avenue and in the public green spaces between the 700 housing blocks were

spaces in the central plot, incorporation of

proposed. Additionally, the strategy recommended the incorporation of open and

road and the incorporation of bike lanes. In

closed gutters on the perimeter of the road and the central plots of the avenue.

spaces proposed, it is vital that native Cer

The gutters collect water runoff, and direct it to both the existing drainage system

water in deep water tables be planted. This

and the proposed system of performative green areas along the avenue.

existing dense arboreal vegetation and the

conditions for the reestablishment of natu

and natural ecosystem corridors in the Fed

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management solutions for

Strategy 03 Integrated mobility and water management solutions for increased Infiltration and diversification of uses for increased vitality.

he implementation of a cycling network

In addition to the spatial and functional reconfiguration of the W3 Avenue layout

Unlike the first level strategy, this strategy

presented in Strategy 2, this thirdlevel strategy proposes a diversification of uses

avenue layout, with the removal of parking

and building typologies in the 700 buildings facing the avenue. Mix-use buildings,

f vegetated surfaces along the center of the

hotel, commerce and service related activities are proposed, aimed at increasing

n order to guarantee the performance of the

diversity of activities and people in the area. Currently, the 700 blocks are allowed to

rrado vegetation, with capacity to infiltrate

host residential functions, exclusively. However, many informal commerce shops,

s strategy proposes the maintenance of the

beauty salons and small hotels functions can be seen in the area, especially on

e incorporation of new species, promoting

the buildings facing the W3 Avenue. According to de Holanda (1998), the lack of

ural Cerrado patches inside the Pilot Plan

commercial and service related activities on both sides of the avenue is one of the

deral District scale.

prime factors, which impedes an increased vitality in the area.

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Entrequadras 300

Image 52- Entrequadras 300 Source: correioweb.com.br, 2013

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The Entrequadras (100,200,300 and 400) were designed to host functions related to culture, leisure, education, religion and public services. The activities promoted in these areas, together with the superblocks, the local commerce sectors and schools inside the superblocks provide for all the basic needs of inhabitants living inside a neighborhood unit. However, a combination of the urban expansion model used in Brasília and the fact that the city was never finalized and that it has overreached its demographic capacity, has led to numerous vacant entrequadras in the city. The low density and low social mix inside the Pilot Plan renders the construction of more public schools and facilities inside the Pilot Plan unnecessary or less urgent (considering the demands inside the other Administrative regions of the Federal District). Therefore, a revision of the role of these areas and the activities allowed in these spaces is necessary. This study understands the Entrequadras 300 areas (directly connected to the W3 Avenue) as potential spaces for the implementation spatial solutions, which host watermanagement, leisure and cultural functions. Additionally, due to the proximity of these areas to the residential superblocks and their supporting infrastructure, this work also envisions great potential in these areas to host additional residential and commercial activities, generating conditions for social diversity inside the Pilot Plan and social appropriation of the proposed leisure and cultural spaces. Based on these understandings, and on the geographical position of the Entrequadras 300 inside Brasília’s urban tissue, the following goals were set: i) to reduce and slow down runoff, ii) to increase water infiltration, iii) to promote conditions for social appropriation of space, iv) to promote conditions for a more balanced social mix inside the Pilot Plan area, and v) to promote a hierarchy within the public spaces of the city.

Image 53 - W3 Avenue - Existing situation

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Design goals:

Reduced Runoff

Reduced Runoff

Social appropriation of urban space

Social mix

Enhanced Vitality

Public Space Hierarchy

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ENTREQUADRAS 300 STRATEGIES

Strategy 01

Strategy 02

Punctual interventions for increased Infiltration and water detention

Integrated mobility, leisure, and for increased infiltration and w

This first-level strategy does not require the reconfiguration of the overall unbuilt

This second-level strategy proposes the im

character of the Entrequadras 300. However, the implementation of design

to the ones structured along the W3 Avenu

solutions, which enable water infiltration, detention and purification inside these

through the local commerce sectors w

urban voids were proposed. Gutters were proposed aimed at collecting water

mobility in BrasĂ­lia in the east-west dir

surplus from the W3 Avenue and directing it to both the existing drainage system

highway engineering rationality implemen

and the proposed system of performative green areas inside the Entrequadras

interchanges solutions, rendered the pede

300. Additionally, the layout of existing parking spaces in front of the Entrequadras

directions difficult.

300 was preserved, with, however; the implementation of paving materials that allow enhanced water infiltration.

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d water management solutions water detention

Strategy 03 Integrated mobility and water management solutions for increased Infiltration and water detention, aligned to a diversification of functions for increased social appropriation of space and social inclusion

mplementation of cycling lanes connected

The third level strategy proposed a set of diverse uses and functions in

ue. These cycle paths and their continuance

the Entrequadras 300. The construction of small urban parks or squares,

would enable better pedestrian and bike

complemented by commercial and residential buildings were proposed in order

rections. As presented in Chapter 3, the

provide conditions for social inclusion and diversification inside the Pilot Plan. The

nted in the city, together with the cloverleaf

presence of commercial activities would attract people, flows and permanence

estrian mobility in the city in the east-west

to these public spaces during different times of the day. Complementarily, the incorporation of residential functions, with different and less expensive building typologies, would provide opportunities for other social groups to live inside the Pilot Plan. A diverse and inclusive urban space, with constant flows and activities, would create conditions for social appropriation of the Entrequadras 300.

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Local Commercial Streets

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Image 54 - Local commerce streets - 1980s Source: correioweb.com.br, 2013

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The local commerce sectors of BrasĂ­lia present a diverse character than the one imagined in the 1957 plan for the city.

The sectors were designed to be commercial and service areas, composed of two strips of blocks, crossed by a central service road. Shops were supposed to have their entrances facing the residential areas. However, as businesses started to settle in, shops were built with the main façades facing the road. This resulted in a residual character of the areas behind the commercial blocks (today serving no social function in the city) (ibid; Holston, 1989). Nonetheless, due to their geotopographic location and vitality, these axes configure optimum locations for the implementation of performative green spaces. Additionally, the challenges of flash flooding in the city occur along these axes. Therefore, measures to infiltrate and slowdown runoff along these axes were proposed. This would enable less water surplus in the cloverleaf interchanges, reduce the pressure on the existing drainage system of the city and diminish the chances of flash flooding in the local commerce areas. Additionally, underused areas behind the commercial block have the potential to be rethought, in order to host mixed residential and commercial activities. The implementation of such activities would increase the use and vitality of these residual areas, in addtion to enable residential opportunities to diverse social groups inside the Pilot Plan. Based on the information of areas most prone to flash flooding in the city and on the potential character of the local commerce areas to manage water, increase urban vitality and enable social inclusion in the Pilot Plan, the following goals were set: i) to reduce and slow down runoff, ii) to increase water infiltration and detention, and iv) to promote conditions for a more balanced social mix inside the Pilot Plan area.

Image 55 - W3 Avenue - Existing situation

134

Design goals:

Reduced Runoff

Increased Infiltration

Social mix

135

LOCAL COMMERCE STREETS STRATEGIES

Strategy 01

Strategy 02

Punctual interventions for increased Infiltration and water detention

Integrated mobility and wate increased infiltration and water

This first-level strategy does not require the reconfiguration of the overall layout

This second-level strategy proposes the r

of the Local commerce sectors. However, the implementation of paving materials

commercial blocks and the implementatio

that allow enhanced water infiltration in the parking areas was proposed.

water infiltration, and detention along the l

Additionally, the strategy recommended the incorporation of open and closed

implementation of open and closed gutte

gutters. The gutters collect water surplus and runoff from the Entrequadras 300

runoff to the new vegetated infiltration patc

and direct it to the existing drainage system.

and less dense spatial configurations wer

character of these sectors and to ensure th

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er management solutions for r detention

Strategy 03 Integrated mobility and water management solutions for increased Infiltration and water detention, aligned to a diversification of functions for increased social inclusion

reduction of parking areas in front of the

This third-level strategy proposes a complete reconfiguration of the road layout of

ons of design solutions, which will enable

the local commerce sectors, in addition to the incorporation of new buildings and

local commerce roads. The complementary

functions in the residual areas between the commercial strips and the residential

ers allows for better conduction of water

superblocks. This strategy proposed the removal of most of the parking spaces

ches. Vegetation with lower vertical profiles

and the implementation of design solutions, which enable water infiltration

re proposed in order to preserve the visual

and detention. Punctual spaces for parking were maintained for accessibility

he visibility of shops faรงades and headlights.

of elderly and inhabitants with special needs. Additional parking areas were proposed inside the surrounding superblocks. These parking areas would serve the commercial blocks, and the residential and mix-use buildings proposed behind the commercial blocks.

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Permeable Paving

Bioswales

Gutters

Street vegetation

Private gardens

Ditches

Detention Basin

Green Roofs

Possible design solutions

Source: http://www.urbangreenbluegrids.com

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Overall Analysis - The residential axis The W3 Avenue

According to the level of impact of each proposal to the spatial configuration, visual landscape and activity distribution of the Pilot Plan’s landscape, each strategy was characterized regarding their level of compliance to existing heritage legislation.

Three categories of compliance were observed, those being: completely within, borderline and partial compliance. These comply with the parameters and restrictions presented in the current heritage regulations. A set of prime elements regarding the protection of Brasília’s heritage landscape was presented in chapter 3. Image 56 presents a correspondence of each strategy proposed and their levels of compliance to these prime elements. The level of compliance to the existing heritage legislation, combined with the capacity of each strategy to reduce water surplus and to host different functions and social groups, can contribute to the existing debate in Brasília of whether or not heritage protection needs to be made more flexible in the city. Possible level of engagement of local stakeholders in the implementation of each strategy are also presented in image 56. The level of engagement was assessed based on the interest of each stakeholder regarding the implementation of the strategy and on possible benefits promoted by its implementation. Regarding the implementation and success of each strategy, image 57proposes a series of necessary prime actions.

Strategy 01

Strategy 02 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CIVIL SOCIETY

Strategy 03 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

IPHAN

CIVIL SOCIETY

PRIVATE SECTOR

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

IPHAN

PRIVATE SECTOR

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

COMPLETE COMPLIANCE

BODERLINE COMPLIANCE

CIVIL SOCIETY

IPHAN

PRIVATE SECTOR STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

PARTIAL COMPLIANCE

Image 56 - The W3 Avenue - Stakeholder interest and policy compliance PARTICIPATORY PROCESS to identify desired SERVICES & FUNCTIONS for the intervention area

TECHNICAL report indicating the exact impact of a greeninfrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

DESIGN OF AN INTEGRATED CYCLE NETWORK for the city

DETAILED PLAN and DESIGN of a green-infrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

POLICIES that foster urban vitality

Approval of SPATIAL MODIFICATIONS ON the W3 avenue, the 700 superblocks, the Entrequadras 300 and the local commerce roads

Image 57 - The W3 Avenue - Potential necessary actions of stratgies' implementation and success

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The Entrequadras 300 – Strategy Evaluation

According to the level of impact of each proposal to the spatial configuration, visual landscape and activity distribution of the Pilot Plan’s landscape, each strategy is characterized regarding their level of compliance to existing heritage legislation.

Three categories of compliance are observed, those being: completely within, borderline and partial compliance. These categories would comply with the parameters and restrictions presented in the heritage current regulations . A set of prime elements regarding the protection of Brasília’s heritage landscape was presented in chapter 3. Images 58 presents a correspondence of each of the proposed strategy and their level of compliance to these prime elements. The level of compliance with the existing heritage legislation, combined with the capacity of each strategy to reduce water surplus and to host different functions and social groups, can contribute to the existing debate in Brasília on whether heritage protection needs to be made more flexible in the city. Possible level of engagement of local stakeholders in the implementation of each strategy are also presented in umage 58. The level of engagement was assessed based on the interest of each stakeholder regarding the implementation of the strategy and on possible benefits promoted by its implementation. Regarding the implementation and success of each strategy presented, image 59 proposes a series of necessary prime actions and governmental policies.

Strategy 01

Strategy 02 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CIVIL SOCIETY

Strategy 03 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

IPHAN

CIVIL SOCIETY

PRIVATE SECTOR

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

IPHAN

CIVIL SOCIETY

PRIVATE SECTOR

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

PRIVATE SECTOR

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

COMPLETE COMPLIANCE

IPHAN

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

BODERLINE COMPLIANCE

PARTIAL COMPLIANCE

Image 58- The Entrequadras 300 - Stakeholder interest and policy compliance PARTICIPATORY PROCESS to identify desired SERVICES & FUNCTIONS for the intervention area

TECHNICAL report indicating the exact impact of a greeninfrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

POLICIES that foster urban vitality

Approval of SPATIAL MODIFICATIONS ON the existing unbuilt plots designed for educational facilities between the 300 superblocks

DESIGN OF AN INTEGRATED CYCLE NETWORK for the city

DETAILED PLAN and DESIGN of a green-infrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

Image 59 - The Entrequadras 300 - Potential necessary actions of stratgies' implementation and success

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Local commerce sectors

According to the level of impact of each proposal to the spatial configuration, visual landscape and activity distribution of the Pilot Plan’s landscape, each strategy was characterized regarding their level of compliance with existing heritage legislation.

Three categories of compliance were observed, those being: completely within, borderline and surpassing compliance. A set of prime elements regarding the protection of Brasília’s heritage landscape was presented in chapter 3. Image 60 present a correspondence of each strategy proposed and their level of compliance to these prime elements. The level of compliance to the existing heritage legislation, combined with the capacity of each strategy to reduce water surplus and to host different functions and social groups, can contribute to the existing debate in Brasília on whether heritage protection needs to be made more flexible in the city. Possible level of engagement of local stakeholders in the implementation of each strategy are also presented in image 60. The level of engagement was assessed based on the interest of each stakeholder regarding the implementation of the strategy and on possible benefits promoted by its implementation. Regarding the implementation and success of each strategy presented, image 61 proposes a series of necessary prime actions and governmental policies.

Strategy 01

Strategy 02 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CIVIL SOCIETY

Strategy 03 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CIVIL SOCIETY

IPHAN

PRIVATE SECTOR

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CIVIL SOCIETY

IPHAN

PRIVATE SECTOR

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

PRIVATE SECTOR

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

COMPLETE COMPLIANCE

IPHAN

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

BODERLINE COMPLIANCE

PARTIAL COMPLIANCE

Image 60 - Local commerce roads - Stakeholder interest and policy compliance PARTICIPATORY PROCESS to identify desired SERVICES & FUNCTIONS for the intervention area

TECHNICAL report indicating the exact impact of a greeninfrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

Approval of densification of the green strips between the residential neighnorhoods and the local commerce roads

Approval of SPATIAL MODIFICATIONS ON the local commerce sectors.

Approval of HOUSING related activites on the South Wing commercial sectors

DESIGN OF AN INTEGRATED CYCLE NETWORK for the city

DETAILED PLAN and DESIGN of a green-infrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

Image 61 - Local commerce roads- Potential necessary actions of stratgies' implementation and success

141

VISION

Existing Urban Park

Image 62 - The Residential Axis - VIision 2030

142

The W3 Avenue

Entrequadras 300

Local com

mmerce sectors The Paranoรก Lake Margin

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4.2.2. The Monumental Typology

The Monumental typology axis crosses the city from east to west, conducting water upstream to downstream. A set of multifunctional spaces, hosting hydrological, social and cultural functions, structure this corridor. This axis is composed of two main spatial typologies, those being: the Esplanade of Ministries, and the section between the Bus Platform and the train station. These sections were identified based on their visual character and on specific guidelines presented in the heritage protection legislations of the Pilot Plan.

The following sections present the different strategies proposed for each spatial typology of the Monumental Axis ecological corridor; as well as the main goals adopted in each space regarding water-management and social functions. Possible design solutions to achieve the goals are presented, in order to afford a spatial visualization of each space inside the vision of a water sensitive BrasĂ­lia by 2030. Finally, an image representing a possible spatial output of the vision is presented.

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The Esplanade of Ministries

Image 63- The esplanade of ministries Photography: Joana Franรงa

145

The Esplanade of Ministries is the section of the Monumental axis with the most prominent symbolic character (Costa, 1991; Portaria nÂş 166, 2016). It hosts the prime administrative governmental buildings, such as the National Congress and Senate, and the national Ministries, among others. One of the main visual characteristics of this section is the overwhelming monumental scale of the urban ensemble. Local topography was redesigned so as to enhance the grandeur and symbolic importance of the governmental buildings, as an analogy to the important role of running the Brazilian nation. Vast unbuilt, green, open spaces in the central plots of the Monumental Axis promote an unobstructed view of the whole esplanade from the Bus station platform, and enhances the monumental character of the proposed urbanistic ensemble.

Due to the singularity of and high symbolic character in the city’s design, this worked proposed strategies that could increase water-management and social appropriation in the area, without, however, harming the Esplanade of Ministries’ visual and symbolic landscape. Therefore, the following goals were set for the spaces along this section: i) to increase water infiltration and storage, ii) to promote pedestrian and cycle mobility, and vi) to promote conditions for social appropriation of space.

Image 64 - Esplanade of Ministries - Existing situation

146

Design goals:

Water Storage

Increased Infiltration

Social appropriation of urban space

Enhanced Vitality

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ESPLANADE OF MINISTRIES STRATEGIES

Strategy 01

Strategy 02

Punctual interventions for increased Infiltration and water detention

Integrated mobility and water for increased infiltration and wa appropriation of public space

This first-level strategy does not require the reconfiguration of the Monumental

This second-level strategy proposes the im

Axis spatial and landscape configuration. However, the implementation of design

the city in the east-west directions. The p

solutions, which enable water infiltration, detention and purification in the

network system proposed for the city throug

central plots of the highways were proposed. The proposed design solution for

the local commerce residential axes. This s

this section aimed at increasing water infiltration, detention and storage, without,

presented in chapter 3. In addition to the

however, compromising the existing visual landscape of the area. Therefore,

slight landscape reconfiguration of the ce

intensification of dense vegetated spaces were proposed, highlighting the park

with the implementation of wide sidewalk

character of this area.

the use of these spaces, the implantation

along the sides of the central plots. Despi

landscape, the design solutions propose

Esplanade of Ministries and enhances its p

148

Strategy 03

r management solutions ater detention and social

mplementation of cycling lanes connecting

proposed cycling lanes are a part of a cycle

gh the W3 Avenue, the Monumental axis and

strategy answers to local mobility problems

e cycling network, this strategy proposes a

entral plots of the Esplanade of Ministries,

ks and meeting places. In order to enable of dense vegetation patches was proposed

ite the reconfiguration of the central plots’

Integrated mobility and water management solutions for increased infiltration and water detention and social, aligned to a diversification of functions for increased urban vitality and social appropriation of public space

In addition to the spatial landscape reconfiguration of the central plots of the Esplanade of Ministries, this third-level strategy proposes a diversification of uses in the ministries’ area. This diversification is already foreseen in the existing heritage protection regulation for the Pilot Plan. One-storey commercial or service related buildings, located between the buildings of the Ministries were proposed. The implementation of these buildings could enhance the diversity of activities in this area, induce more pedestrian flows and provide conditions for more permanence in the public spaces of Esplanade of Ministries.

ed preserve the monumental scale of the

perspectives from the Bus station platform.

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The Monumental Axis

Image 65- The monumental axis Photography: Joana Franรงa

150

151

The section of the Monumental axis between the Bus Platform and the Train station includes a set of diverse functions. It also encompasses many public spaces, such as the TV tower, the Buriti Square, the Juscelino Kubitschek memorial, the Cruzeiro Square, among others. However, despite the vast amount of urban land hosting social functions, the majority of spaces in this section of the Monumental Axis is underused, with the exception of the TV Tower, presented in chapter 3 (de Holanda, 1998; and Holston, 1989). The overwhelming scale of the urban ensemble of the Monumental axis, combined with the extreme functional segregation of the road system from the cultural, commercial, leisure, hotel, and administrative sectors surrounding it, rendered low, attraction of the Monumental Axis to pedestrian flows, permanence and social appropriation of public spaces (ibid). Unlike the Esplanade of Ministries section, the stretch of the Monumental Axis from the Bus Platform and the Train Station has less strict rules regarding the possibility of landscape and urbanistic interventions. The main character of this section is its park like ambience, in contrast to the monument like ambience of the Esplanade of Ministries (Costa, 1987; Costa, 1991; Portaria nÂş 166, 2016). Therefore, it is possible to propose broader water-management, cultural and leisure urban strategies in this section of the Monumental Axis.

Considering the singularities of this section of the Monumental Axis in the city’s design, this worked proposed the following goals for the spaces along this section: i) to increase water infiltration and storage, ii) to promote pedestrian and cycle mobility, vi) to promote conditions for social appropriation of space, and v) to enhance urban vitality,

Image 65 - The Monumental Axis- Existing situation

152

Design goals:

Water Storage

Increased Infiltration

Social appropriation of urban space

Enhanced Vitality

153

MONUMENTAL AXIS STRATEGIES

Strategy 01

Strategy 02

Punctual interventions for increased Infiltration and water detention

Integrated mobility and water for increased infiltration and wa appropriation of public space

This first-level strategy does not require the reconfiguration of the Monumental

TThis second-level strategy proposes the i

Axis spatial and landscape configuration. However, the implementation of design

the city in the east-west directions. The p

solutions, which enable water infiltration, detention and purification in the

network system proposed for the city thro

central plots of the highways were proposed. The proposed design solution for

and the local commerce residential axes

this section aimed at increasing water infiltration, detention and storage, without,

problems presented in chapter 3. In add

however, compromising the existing visual landscape of the area. Therefore,

proposes a slight landscape reconfiguratio

intensification of dense vegetated spaces were proposed, highlighting the park

Ministries, with the implementation of wid

character of this area.

the reconfiguration of the central plots’ la

this strategy preserve the monumental sca the Monumental axis.

154

r management solutions ater detention and social

implementation of cycling lanes connecting

proposed cycling lanes are a part of a cycle

ough the W3 Avenue, the Monumental axis

s. This strategy answers to local mobility

dition to the cycling network, this strategy

on of the central plots of the Esplanade of

de sidewalks, and meeting places. Despite

andscape, the design solutions proposed in

ale and the park character of this section of

155

Detention Basin

Gutters

Street vegetation

Green Roofs

Private gardens

156 Storage boxes

Source: http://www.urbangreenbluegrids.com

Bioswales

Permeable Paving

Ditches

Possible design solutions

Overall Analysis - The Monumental axis The Esplanade of Ministries and the Monumental Axis

According to the level of impact of each proposal to the spatial configuration, visual landscape and activity distribution of the Pilot Plan’s landscape, each strategy was characterized regarding their level of compliance to existing heritage legislation.

Three categories of compliance were observed, those being: completely within, borderline and surpassing compliance. A set of prime elements regarding the protection of Brasília’s heritage landscape was presented in chapter 3. The diagrams below present a correspondence of each strategy proposed and their level of compliance with these prime elements. The level of compliance with the existing heritage legislation, combined with the capacity of each strategy to reduce water surplus and to host different functions and social groups, can contribute to the existing debate in Brasília on whether heritage protection needs to be made more flexible in the city. The possible level of engagement of local stakeholders in the implementation of each strategy is indicated in the diagrams below. The level of engagement was assessed based on the interest of each stakeholder regarding the implementation of the strategy and on possible benefits promoted by its implementation. Regarding the implementation and success of each strategy presented, image 67 proposes a series of necessary prime actions and governmental policies.

Strategy 01

Strategy 02 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

CIVIL SOCIETY

Strategy 03 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

IPHAN

CIVIL SOCIETY

PRIVATE SECTOR

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

IPHAN

PRIVATE SECTOR

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

IPHAN

PRIVATE SECTOR

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

COMPLETE COMPLIANCE

CIVIL SOCIETY

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST

BODERLINE COMPLIANCE

PARTIAL COMPLIANCE

Image 66- Stakeholder interest and policy compliance PARTICIPATORY PROCESS to identify desired SERVICES & FUNCTIONS for the intervention area

TECHNICAL report indicating the exact impact of a greeninfrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

DESIGN OF AN INTEGRATED CYCLE NETWORK for the city

DETAILED PLAN and DESIGN of a green-infrastrcuture network in the Pilot Plan

POLICIES that foster urban vitality

Approval of SPATIAL MODIFICATIONS ON the central plots of the Monumental axis and the construction of commercial building blocks next to the Ministeries

Image 67 - Potential necessary actions of stratgies' implementation and success

157

VISION

Image 68 - The Monumental Axis - Vision 2030

158

159

PART III

160

5. CONCLUSION & REFLECTIONS 5.1. Conclusion 5.2. Reflections 5.2.1. Supply and demand analysis 5.2.2. Green network design 5.2.3. Hydrological conditions in BrasĂ­lia and the benefits of a G.I. network

161

5. CONCLUSION & REFLECTIONS 5.1. Conclusion

This study was a reflection on the ongoing hydrological crisis in the city of Brasília. This work aimed at contributing to the ongoing debate regarding water management and security in the Federal District of Brazil. The study included research on the state of natural and urbanized tissues in the city, along with the water management and urban planning models implemented in the region.

This study was a first step in exploring possible strategies for water-sensitivity in Brasília and the potential role of spatial morphology in affording soft water management solutions in the Pilot Plan landscape. The study explored the greeninfrastructure network as a base system for the functioning of cities and their surrounding ecosystems, as a propeller of sustainable and holistic forms of water management in urban areas and as a possible agent of social inclusion in urbanized territories.

Due to Brasília’s spatial singularity, alternative methods for transferring principles of Green-Infrastructure (GI) theory to cities characterized by extremely dispersed urban fabrics and by stringent heritage protection regulations were proposed.

The methods and tools presented can be applied to the analysis and design process of other urban landscapes typologies and can, hopefully, contribute to the debate of water-sensitivity in the fields of architecture and urbanism.

The environmental, spatial and social analyses of Brasília were conducted using different methods, such as literature and data review and spatial mapping. The proposal of a green-infrastructure network for the city was carried out through a research by design approach. Literature and data review were also used for input in the research by the design phase. In addition to the methods mentioned, multi-scale and multi-temporal approaches were also implemented in this research, especially in the analytical, design and planning phases.

In addition to highlighting the potential role of urban spatial patterns to host transdisciplinary solutions regarding watermanagement in the urban landscape of Brasília, the study also proposed a toolbox of methods for GI planning and design in dispersed, heritage sites.

In spite of the insights presented, owing to the limited time spam of this research, further analysis and methodological adaptations are required for sound implementation proposals regarding a green-infrastructure network in Brasília and the adaptation of the city towards a water-sensitive urban environment. Possible avenues for future research are discussed in section 5.2.

162

5.2. Reflections 5.2.1. Supply and demand analysis

The spatial strategies proposed in this study were based on goals derived from literature research on landscape ecology principles, ecosystem services theory, green-infrastructure theory and water-sensitive urban design principles. Additionally, the strategies were derived from a diagnosis of the main environmental and social challenges faced by Brasília and the extent to which the city’s urban landscape could be modified to host water-sensitive measures to manage water above ground. The diagnosis was built upon a two literature streams: one on the existing policies and regulations related to heritage protection in the city, and the other on social, economic and environmental reports and guidelines regarding the Federal District area.

Moreover, a spatial analysis of the social and environmental challenges faced by the city was conducted, in order to visualize potential risk areas.

However, further analysis regarding the characterization of the existing ecosystems in the Federal District territory, their integrity and capacity for providing ecosystem services is necessary. Additionally, further research on the actual demands regarding ecosystem services is necessary to assure that the proposed strategies answer local demands.

Hansen & Pauleit (2014) present an allegory of possible methods and frameworks for assessing and quantifying ecosystems based on their integrity, services’ supply capacity and demand. This allegory includes methods such as the one developed

by Burkhard et al. (2012) in which ecosystem services supply capacity (based on indicators of ecosystem integrity) and ecosystem services demands are correlated to CORINE landcover types. Also regarding the assessment of demands, Davis et al. (2006) propose a set of standards for green space planning, which define maximum and minimum distances between parks and nature reserves. These standards can be spatialized in maps and assist in the assessment of demand coverage.

However, while they will provide further input for proposals regarding environmental and social uplifting in the Federal District region, the implementation of the frameworks proposed by Burkhard et al. (2012) and Davis et al. (2006) require adaptations to enable their application to non-Europeans case studies.

According to Burkhard et al. (2012), ecosystems have different functions depending on their structure and processes (depending on their integrity). Therefore, each ecosystem has a specific capacity to supply services that are used by humans.

An ecosystem’s capacity to provide certain services are related to two factors; its natural conditions (including natural landcover type, soil condition, hydrology, fauna, among others), and the human impacts on this ecosystem (including changes to natural landcover, pollution, etc.). By combining data related to both factors, the authors propose a matrix in which specific landcover typologies identified in the CORINE satellite-based land cover data are normalized with values from 0 to 5. These value ratings are related to the capacity to afford specific regulating, provisioning and cultural services; in addition

163

to processes related to the ecosystem’s functioning (which can or not be used as services by humans). Likewise, specific land cover types were normalized with values from 0 to -5, related to their demand for specific regulating, provisioning and cultural services. A superposition of both matrixes enables a ‘balance’ of ecosystem services’ supply and demand in each CORINE land cover type.

Case studies presented by the authors indicate the high capacity of natural and semi-natural land covers to supply ecosystems services, while highly human-modified land covers present no or almost irrelevant supply capacity. On the other hand, human-modified land covers present the highest demands for ecosystem services, while natural and semi-natural present very low demand. These results appear logical, for ecosystem services are intrinsically related to the existence of human demands. However, this matrix allows the identification of the specific service supplied and demanded by each landcover typology, in addition to a spatial visualization of the territories producing and consuming ecosystem services.

This visualization can assist policy makers, environmentalists and other professionals to support sustainable landscape developments and strategies to reestablish ecological integrity.

However, some aspects render the transferability of this framework to the specific case of Brasília difficult. Firstly, the CORINE satellite-based land cover data is mainly restricted to the European Territory. Other satellite-based land cover data would have to be applied in the specific case of Brasília. The satellite-based land cover analysis conducted by the CODEPLAN - Companhia de Planejamento do Distrito Federal (Agency of planning of the Federal District), that includes a landcover analysis of the Federal District territory from 1984 until 2015, could be used for the elaboration of the matrix. However, the research creating correspondences between the landcover type and its supply capacity or service demand would have to be redone. Due to significant differences between the biomes, environmental and climatic conditions of the European and the Brazilian territories, the correspondences suggested by Burkahard et al. (2012) would have to be reevaluated for the case of

Image 69 - Mapping aspects of Ecosystem Services Source: Burkhard & Maes (2017:149)

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Image70 - Overview of the ES matrix approach

Source: Burkhard & Maes (2017:226)

Brazilian territories, the correspondences suggested by Burkahard et al. (2012) would have to be reevaluated for the case of Brazil; specifically, for the case of the Cerrado biome. Additionally, as pointed out by the authors themselves, the evaluation of demand for cultural services is highly challenging, due to its subjective character.

Although normative standards, like the ones proposed by Davis et al. (2006) for green-infrastructure planning, can be used for establishing environmental demands, they still require the implementation of site specific evaluation methods.

Therefore, complementary research would have to be conducted to precisely determine the demand and value of these services in BrasĂ­lia. In addition to the assessment of supply and demands related to the environmental domain, research on the social supply capacity and demands would have to be conducted. That is, a study indicating for each area inside the Federal District (most likely each Administrative Region), its capacity to provide social services related to health, education, leisure and culture and the actual demand or need of the local population. The demand could be determined by the use of normative standards, such as basic needs standards elaborated by environmental and human rights agencies. However, the implementation of a participatory process, involving interviews and meetings that include both civic society and government is crucial for identifying the specific needs and desires of communities inside the Federal District.

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5.2.2. Green network design

Due to the spatial singularity of Brasilia´s mobility network and the spatial distribution of uses in the city, the greeninfrastructure network design presented in this study was based on the parameters of porosity, vitality and flexibility proposed specifically for the case study of Brasilia. In the first stage of analysis, these parameters answered to local demands determined by literature and data review, the spatial specificity of the city and the principles and concepts of urban water sensitivity.

The analysis and assessment of porosity, vitality and flexibility was conducted upon existing policies and regulations; the spatial configuration of the city; and the distribution of uses and functions in the urban fabric. The values (translated in the color ranges of the maps) assigned to each space of the city to signal their attractiveness or their capacity to host changes were assessed based the empirical observations of my experience as an inhabitant of the city for more than twenty-five years. However, proper research involving in site observations and interviews would have to be conducted, in order to accurately determine the levels of vitality and flexibility of the urban tissue in the Pilot Plan. Additionally, further evaluation of the proposed network and strategies would require the implementation of diverse methods to assess the level of integration, multifunctionality and connectivity of the green-infrastructure network. This evaluation would allow the refining of the proposed network, guarantee local ecosystems’ integrity and maximize the benefits of ecosystem services in the city.

Hansen & Pauleit (2014) present a possible framework for the analysis of multifunctionality of GI systems, in which green infrastructure and ecosystem service theories are synthesized. The use of such a framework in the case study of Brasília would require, as mentioned in section 5.1., a thorough analysis of existing ecosystems’ structure, processes and services; the local demands for services; and the actual benefits of ecosystem services provision. As highlighted in the author’s framework diagram, such methodology, in the case of Brasília, could not only evaluate the performance of the proposed network, but also be applied in a co-production approach, providing input for the delimitation of goals and priorities guiding the planning and design of the GI network.

Finally, the framework presented by Bacchin et al. (2014) could be used in the case study of Brasília. The authors propose ArcGis and EPA SWMM as platforms to both analyze urban landscapes and identify optimum locations for the design of green, blue and grey infrastructures in cityscapes. The proposed model was tested in the case study of Porto Alegre, in Brazil. Site analysis and network design were conducted in a three-step framework, through different spatial scales.

Initially, flood susceptibility was mapped within a city/catchment scale. Later, suitability for the implementation of green and blue networks was analyzed in the city. The analysis of suitability was used to “model land facets for hydrogeological and

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Image 71 - Conceptual framework for assessment of GI multifunctionality Source: Hansen & Pauleit (2014:521)

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ecological corridors.(…) Subsequently, the resulting network of links (geometry/topology) has been overlain and adapted to the existing road/mobility network using shortest-path routing algorithms - Network Analysis toolset, ArcMap 10.1 (…).”

(Bacchin et al., 2014:4). The final step consisted of selecting the existing axis of the urban mobility system, based on spatial and functional parameters, to host the green-blue infrastructure network.

In spite of the framework’s contribution to green-infrastructure network planning and design in urban landscapes, some adaptations would have to be conducted for its transferability to the city of Brasília. Firstly, given the fact that the major challenge regarding water in Brasília is drought rather than flooding, the flooding susceptibility map will have to be replaced by a water catchment potential map. Based on the topological, geological and climatic specificities of the city, optimum places for the concentration, infiltration and storage of rainwater could be identified. These locations would serve as guidelines for the location of the green-infrastructure network. Additionally, due to the singularity of the road infrastructure of Brasília and its segregation from other urban functions, additional methods for analyzing place suitability for the implementation of the network would be necessary. Nevertheless, the framework’s rationale and proposed software tools could undoubtedly contribute to richer proposals regarding water management in the Federal District.

5.2.3. Hydrological conditions in Brasília and the benefits of a G.I. network

The GI network proposed in this work was based on official data on hydrological capacity of local reservoirs in the city, maximum precipitation values for recurrence periods of ten and twenty-five years, local demand for water supply and forecasts of supply capacity and demand for future horizons. Additionally, a study of soil typologies and an audit of interest areas for underground aquifer recharge was conducted for identifying the best suited locations for the implementation of water sensitive strategies at the macro and meso scales.

However, further hydrological analysis involving experts from the fields of geology, hydraulic engineering and biology are necessary for confirming the best locations for the GI network, for preventing unforeseen trade-offs and for determining the most suited vegetation species to be implemented in the network. Additionally, a technical evaluation of the hydrological performance of the GI network would have to be conducted and confronted with existing forecasts of water supply and drainage demand to ensure that the proposed system performs according to the expectations and requirements.

Finally, complementary methods for a quantitative analysis are necessary for the futher dimensioning of the network. The rational method was used in this study to calculate the amount of run-off and surplus water in the Paranoá watershed and the correlated amount of surface or area necessary for the green infrastructure network. However, despite the fact that Brasilia faces challenges of flash flooding, the main hydrological challenge in the city is related to water scarcity and prolonged drought. Therefore, methods that correlate the surface of the GI network to the amount of underground water recharge benefits are necessary.

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Image 72 - The landscape of BrasĂ­lia

Photography by Jullus Shulman

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