São Paulo: Shrink the city

SÃO PAULO: SHRINK THE CITY

MSC Urban Design Strategies 2018/2020: Urban Project Part B São Paulo: Shirink the City by Jonathan Fisher

Urban Project part B:

a strategic urban vision, addressing transit and mobility, public space and green space, autonomy and decision making, social infrastructure and environmental resiliance, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, identifying challenges, characteristics and capacity for progressive change (April 2020)

São Paulo has a vast population, living in a huge geographical and administrative area, who have historically been offered limited shared or active urban mobility options, i.e. public transport or safe walking and cycling routes. The private car and road infrastructure has come to dominate mobility choices and infrastructure provision within the city creating numerous problems for the city’s inhabitants.

The private car’s modus operandi, i.e. to get from A to B quickly, cheaply and safely, is becoming increasingly difficult, as the time and energy it takes to get anywhere is increasingly exponentially as the city expands. Driving a private car is becoming more expensive, more energy intensive, and getting anywhere is taking ever longer.

The scale of the city both geographically and in terms of population, coupled with the dominance of car and road infrastructure as the primary means of mobility, has had several knock-on, detrimental effects, to the quality of life for all of São Paulo’s citizens. These are primarily:

• The exhaust fumes from private cars are contributing to air pollution in the city, some of the worst of all urban areas in the world. This is leading to serious illness among its population which puts unnecessary pressure on health services and the personal finance required to pay for them.

• CO2 emissions from private cars is contributing to overall CO2 emissions throughout the country, which is a significant cause of climate change, which amongst many other things, increases the likelihood of flooding along the Pinheiros, Tamanduateí and Tietê rivers in the centre of the city, close

to where millions of people live and work, posing a serious and real existential threat to the existence of the city.

• Commute times between home and work are increasing as the city expands both geographically and in terms of population numbers; roads are more crowded with more vehicles making longer and longer journeys.

Long commute times are contributing to feelings of isolation, anxiety and stress, and more time spent away from family and friends.

Long commutes are also reducing time for leisure and relaxation, further increasing stress and anxiety, which is introverting people’s perspectives in onto their personal health and wellbeing first, and thus providing a curb on the capacity of the city’s inhabitants from contributing to the overall prosperity of the city and to their own personal ambitions and goals.

• In addition to isolation and social dislocation from friends and family, long commutes are also isolating the city’s inhabitants from one another; casual informal interaction with strangers and with those from different socioeconomic or political and ethnic backgrounds, which would normally happen where there are opportunities to inhabit shared public spaces, is becoming rarer. This isolation from people other than one’s family or work colleagues, (who are likely to share socio economic and political ideas), is contributing to suspicion and fear of others, which in turn makes inhabitants vulnerable to exploitation by those with extreme political and socio economic agendas.

• Finally, the financial impact of dealing with the effects of air pollution, pressure on

public health services both psychological and physiological, and social tension, is increasing costs both individually, municipally and for private businesses. The budget for constructing new roads and maintaining existing roads, running a business, buying day to day essentials, getting to and from work, healthcare, policing, security etc. are all increasing as the city grows ever larger and more car dependent. Widespread use of the private car is contributing either directly or indirectly to numerous social, economic and political problems, which are exponentially costly to address.

introduction 1

Part A - strategy overview

A1 short and medium term strategic goals 5

A2 a reality check... 6

A3 the proposed strategy and the actors involved 9

Part B - analysis of São paulo

B1 historical overview + analysis of the city. why is the private car so dominant São Paulo? 13

B2 what is the impact of the private car on the city and its inhabitants? 14

B3 what are the alternatives to the private car; public and active transport? 17

B4 what are the obstacles in São Paulo to implementing these alternatives? 18

B6 what are the long term intended outcomes of reducing private care use as the primary means of mobility? 21

Part C - strategy detail

C1

- ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE

24

C1.00 introduction & analysis 26

C1.01 the proposal: providing green amenity space and protecting against flooding 31

C1.02 the Minhocão and Avenida Paulista: experiments in removing the car 35

C1.03 London parks, and contemporary urban flood park proposals across the globe, a brief overview. 37

C1.04 flooding in São Paulo 39

C1.05 scale and feasibility 40

C1.06 underlying principles of the vision 43

C2 - SOCIAL RESILIENCE 44

C2.00 introduction: creating social resilience 46

C2.01 devolution down to the neighbourhood level 47

C2.02 a social space and a market space 47

C2.03 the Barcelona superblock: a brief overview 48

C2.04 flipping the hierarchy 50

C2.05 edge conditions, centre lines, lanes and primary nodes 51

C2.06 creating real competition 52

C2.07 mutual dependency and urban bridges 52

C2.08 creating clarity 53

C2.09 dismantling modernist spatial concepts, and challenging socio-political ideologies 53

C2.10 conclusion 55

C3 - MAKING CONNECTIONS 58

C3.00 introduction: mobility in São Paulo 60

C3.01 bus network ownership 61

C3.02 squeezing car space and giving it to the pedestrian and the bus 61

C3.03 what does a rational bus network look like? 62

C3.04 what about the car 63

C3.05 cross city mobility 63

C3.06 what are the problems and the benefits of such a radical transformation of the city? 64

C3.07 case study: applying the proposal to north/central São Paulo 67

C3.08 where to locate urban bridges 69

C3.09 beyond the urban bridge, venturing into the heart of the neighbourhood - pedestrian routes, urban steps 73

C3.10 pocket parks, grass verges, public spaces 75

C3.11 pocket parks, grass verges, public spaces 78

C4 - RESTRUCTURING POWER 80

C4.00 introduction: experiments in devolving power downwards 82

C4.01 so what kind of decisions will the NDC have absolute autonomy over? 83

C4.02 why limit their autonomy to just one principle? 83

C4.03 simple principle as part of a much larger long term plan 84

C4.04 preventing gentrification 84

C4.05 conclusion 84

C5 - IMPLEMENTATION 86

C5.00 introduction: experiments in participatory budgeting 88

C5.01 extending the principle of participatory budgeting 88

C5.02 a partnership of equals between state and citizen 89

C5.03 virtuous circles and exponential growth 90

C5.04 scale and ambition: history teaches us it can be done 90

C5.05 conclusion 91

Part D - references

D 1.0 - references 93

D 1.0 - references

PART ASTRATEGY OVERVIEW

A 1 - short, medium and long term strategic goals

Overview

This document seeks to outline several overlapping strategies; for easier mobility around the city of São Paulo, i.e. cheaper, more reliable, more regular, more accessible, more comfortable, more energy efficient, more beautiful means of mobility, for all São Paulo’s citizens; more green space for amenity and play, more public space for social gathering, decision making and communities strengthening; more localalsied autonomy over the physical environment providing the ways and means to defend local business from the existential threat of free market forces.

open society, inhabiting a more stable and less polluted environment, will feel stronger, more secure and more able to contribute fully to civic life, where they can begin to take direct control of the democratic decisions being made that directly affect them.

Ultimately, it is hoped, that this empowered citizenry, more engaged in the decision making processes of the city, will provide a more robust democratic, direct alternative, to the prevailing market led solutions that are failing to address or are currently exacerbating the city’s problems.

Hopes and ambitions

It is hoped that by implementing such a strategy whereby private car numbers are greatly reduced and there is greater opportunitiy for social interaction and communitiy, several knock on effects would begin to materialise. Air quality and public health would be greatly improved, taking some of the pressure off the cost and delivery of public health services. A reduction in CO2 emissions, the accumulation of which is the main contributor to climate change, would contribute to global efforts to prevent serious changes to our environment, and thereby reduce the likelihood of flooding within São Paulo itself and increase its biodiversity. And less private, isolated commuting in cars, and more shared travel and social interaction, should enable spaces in the city to open up, where inhabitants can interact, feel safer and get to know and understand one another without fear or suspicion.

Long term

In the long term, it is envisaged that this strategy will support much broader aims for the city and Brazil. It is hoped that a healthier, and more

Given No. 1 - climate change is real

• Fossil fuel burning contributes to climate change

• Climate change is an imminent threat to the continuation of a rich, biodiverse planet

• A rich, bio diverse planet with millions of different plants and animals depending on each other for survival is critical to, our ability, as human beings, to survive, endure, and live comfortably without fear of starvation, disease or exposure; to all our mental and physical health and wellbeing, indeed, to our continued survival.

• Fossil fuel burning must therefore be curtailed as far as possible and eventually stopped altogether

• The earth is finite, and the raw geological materials buried within it are therefore finite also; once used they cannot be replenished in our lifetime

• Wherever possible, we should therefore not use any raw materials or non-renewable energy supplies, and encourage, structure and facilitate a society where this can be achieved, without diminishing our quality of life.

• Climate change can be mitigated, prevented and returned to a state of equilibrium; it is not a fait accompli.

• We should endeavour to leave the planet in a better state than we found it, so that future generations will have the opportunities to continuously improve upon what we leave them.

Before we continue, I believe there are some, (at least five) givens, that without agreement on, any mobility problem, indeed any problem within an urban environment, cannot be recognised or resolved.

Given No. 2 – we want to live in a world where we are not hostile to or afraid of one another

• There are more people living in urban conditions now than at any time in history, yet being physically closer to more human beings than at any point in our existence, there is strong evidence of rising levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, isolation, alienation, despair, feelings of helplessness and disempowerment, and a lack of empathy and increased levels of fear and mistrust of those unlike ourselves either in appearance, political opinion, sexual preference, gender identity or religious and cultural beliefs.

• The causes of these things are numerous and complex, but it is indisputable that the environment we inhabit impacts on our lived experience. Urban environments therefore impact on how we interact with and regard our fellow human beings, and these interactions contribute to our sense of self and our understanding of other people.

• The cities we construct and plan for should seek to mitigate poor mental health and improve social relations between human beings, not aggravate them. It is a given that

Given No. 3 – extraction and processing of raw materials contributes to climate change

• The construction and manufacturing of transport infrastructure is linked with extraction and processing of raw materials, including fossil fuels, and this is in turn linked to climate change (see given No. 1).

• It is a more efficient use of raw materials to construct shared mobility and transport options (public transport), (as opposed to constructing individual means of transportation, ie.e private cars), where more people can be moved around a city in larger numbers in a single vehicle than individually in multiples of vehicles.

• Construction of shared public transport options therefore reduces the extraction, processing and use of raw materials and therefore contributes to the reduction of activities that contribute directly to climate change, and therefore it is logical that public transport should be prioritised over the private car for the movement of people around a city.

• To be able to walk around a city will produce the least amount of CO2, as no vehicles or roads/tracks are being constructed, (albeit CO2 will be generated in the extraction and processing of raw materials to construct footpaths, pavements, seating, signals and signs etc.)

•

• Cycling is a low carbon intensive process, as CO2 is embedded in the construction of the bicycle and further CO2 is not generated in the use of the bike, (although CO2 will be generated in in the extraction and processing of raw materials to construct cycle paths, signals and signage, bicycle components and energy for battery assisted bikes.)

Given No. 4 – the role of government should be active and participatory, not passive and solely regulatory

• As a society, nationally and globally, we all desire and work towards security, i.e. free from fear of starvation and disease, and a place that we can call home that cannot be taken away from us, that shelters us from the elements.

• That in order to achieve these things, everybody needs equitable access to opportunities to provide these things for themselves.

• In order to create equitable access to opportunities, governments have a democratic obligation to directly participate in creating them with and alongside the private sector.

• The private sector is not suited to provide all of society’s needs (see given No. 4), only some of them.

Given No. 5 – the primary role of capitalism is to provide an exchange mechanism to allow society to trade things it can produce for things that it needs; capitalism should not reproduce more capital at the expense of the things society needs. To do so is pointless.

• We live in a world where capitalism, i.e. capital exchange as the primary means of organising and coordinating society’s needs, dominates, and is likely to dominate for some time. Any proposal for change must work within this system and have a strategic approach as to how it will be paid for.

• Capitalism comes in many forms, but the form that currently dominates global political and economic thinking, neo-liberal capitalism, or laissez faire, is ideological and therefore can be challenged, altered or replaced.

• The raison d’etre of a business enterprise in a neo-liberal capitalist society, is primarily to make as much profit as it can in the shortest period of time that it can, and to maximise that profit at the expense of all other considerations, regardless of how destructive those considerations might be to people’s lives or the environment.

• A business that does not maximise its profit will be beaten by its competition and will eventually cease to exist. Supremacy within competition is defined by the business with the most profit accrued in the shortest period of time; therefore it would be bizarre for a business not to maximise short term profit above all other considerations, as to not do so would inevitably and logically leads to its eventual destruction.

• As profit maximisation is the goal, it logically

follows that efficient and fair distribution of high quality goods and services, and well paid employment opportunities, (i.e. wages and salaries commensurate with the cost of living, such as the cost of food, clothes and housing) or any long term objective, is always subordinate to short term profit maximisation.

• It therefore also follows that if profit could be maximised by efficient and fair distribution of high quality goods and services, and well paid employment opportunities, then this is what would happen. The fact that this does not happen illustrates that the system does not work efficiently for large numbers of people, and can, and should be challenged/altered.

part A3, image 01 - Vila Nova Esperanza, northern São Paulo, (author’s own)

A 3 - the proposed strategy and the actors involved

As Urban Strategists and Designers, how can we provide a simple, affordable, accessible, beautiful mobility strategy for São Paulo? One that also reduces overall CO2 emissions in the city, that contributes to the fight against climate change and its detrimental environmental affects; and one that also creates greater social cohesion, improves public health and wellbeing and has the potential to challenge dominant political orthodoxies.

The strategy outlined in this document requires the input and commitment of municipal bodies, private sector business and the citizens of São Paulo themselves.

There are four key strategic urban spatial moves in the strategy which are outlined in more detail in this document

We are not climate scientists or engineers and we are not in a position to design and create new technologies to address CO2 pollution or climate change, nor can we invent or design new methods of transport to ease mobility in the city.

We are not therapists or psychologists, or medical practitioners and we are not in a position to offer advice or help to those in need of psychological or physiological assistance to help people cope under the stresses of modern city life.

And we are not politicians or legislators, manufacturers, business people or venture capitalists either, and we are not therefore in a position to change laws, alter power structures, change manufacturing processes or financial incentives.

1. Create more walkable neighbourhoods where use of a private car or public transport is greatly reduced or unnecessary

2. Connect these neighbourhoods with cycle routes and public transport connections

3. Create moments of open public space, flanked by public social infrastructure within each neighbourhood to create superblocks of neighbourhoods who’s inhabitants move between one another for work, leisure and domestic life.

4. Gradually remove inhabitation and road infrastructure from historic flood plains in the city, thus opening up a large, green, bio diverse area in the city, to be used to protect the city against flooding, for leisure for its inhabitants, and as a new green super corridor; a major public and active transport artery to connect the superblocks of the city together.

However, as strategists and designers we can highlight the connections between different forces, players and agents within the city, and how they interact with one another, and we can show how these forces might be harnessed to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

PART BANALYSIS OF SÃO PAULO

B

- historical overview + analysis of the city. why is the private car so dominant São Paulo?

First of all, we need to understand why car use came to be the dominant mode of transport in this city; this will help us understand the complex network of overlapping vested interests that brought it into being and that now resist any changes to the status quo.

• São Paulo’s first period of rapid urban expansion in the first half of the 20th century, coincides with the mass manufacturing of the automobile; hence the city regards the car as the future and plans its expansion to accommodate it.

• During this period, the car is popular with city residents, who enjoy the autonomy and freedom of choice a car offers as opposed to the limited options offered on public transport. Consequently, there is little opposition to the city’s expansion accommodating the car.

• Car based city ideas gain traction as São Paulo enters the second half of the 20th century, not unlike the rest of the developing and industrial world and north America in particularly. São Paulo tends to copy US urban ideas, due to its proximity and similarities in scale, with its own proposal (e.g. the plan of the avenues). European 19th century urban ideas of high density centres and high levels of integrated public transport are not increasingly at odds with an expanding, gigantic south American cities; the car seems like an obvious way to go.

• Geo-politically and economically the car becomes embedded in the way São Paulo, Brazil and the world works. It provides many

jobs and economic benefits and continues to be popular with city residents across the world. Politically, the manufacturing lobby and the oil lobby, who depend in a large part on the continued use of the car for their wealth and security, gradually secure positions of influence and power, and lobby and succeed in securing pro-car policies, subsidies and state financed road infrastructure. The car become smore widely used and more embedded in society and the economy.

• Gradually, public transport businesses and ideas, lose power and influence. Public transport comes to be regarded as second class. This further boosts the car’s popularity.

• By the late 20th century, the car and the oil industry is completely embedded in the world’s economy, logistics and politics. This period also coincides with the emergence and eventual domination of neo-liberal economic and political ideas, which subscribes to the position that the state should not interfere in the market or provide public services, including public transport. This political ideology of individualism aligns comfortably with car use; thus the car lurches further ahead of the pack.

• It is around this time also, that the car’s impact on urban environments is beginning to become clear, and opposition from city residents against urban demolition to make space for urban motorways and expressways, starts to appear. This happens in São Paulo in the 1970’s as residents in São João push back against the construction of the Minhocão (albeit too late to prevent its

completion), and also in city’s such as London and New York, who experience resistance from as early as 1950’s and 60’s respectively.

• All these economic and geo-political forces bear down on Brazil and São Paulo, as well as London, New York, Paris, Istanbul, Mexico City and every other developing, industrialised city and country on the planet.

• However, it was unfortunate for São Paulo that its industrial development happened after public transport options had been established (unlike London or NY for example), and simultaneously with the early development of the country and city’s democratic institutions. This meant that the car seemed like an obvious solution to the city’s mobility problems; fast, reliable, comfortable, affordable, freedom giving, job creating!

• Unfortunately, this meant that Brazilian politics became entangled in vested interests that had invested heavily in securing the car’s future as the primary mode of transport.

• As São Paulo and Brazil then went on to endure several periods of military dictatorship and authoritarian rule where democratic voices were unheard for decades at a time, the car gradually but firmly established itself in the city’s dynamic as essential. And it did so without any serious competition or real scrutiny of its impact on the everyday lives of ordinary Paulistanos.

B 2 - what is the impact of the private car on the city and its inhabitants?

Why is widespread use of the private car in an urban environment a problem, and what are the particular urban characteristics of São Paulo that aggravate this problem?

What kind of problems is private car use creating or adding to, in the city of São Paulo today?

• Longer and longer commutes – contributes to mental and physical health problems

• Poor air quality from more exhaust fumes – contributes to physical/respiratory health problems

• Increased levels of CO2 and greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change

• Isolation and alienation – long commutes in isolation, mean less social interaction time with other human beings, and this contributes to mental health problems

• Worsens social segregation, as the poor, who cannot afford cars, move around the city in different ways to the more affluent middle and upper classes who can.

• Increased levels of urban sprawl (see below) contributes to demand for more roads

How does the car contribute to urban sprawl?

• Cars enable people to travel further for goods and services, theoretically in less time than walking; consequently, businesses expand into land where there is no opposition to their existence, where competition is weakest, where land is cheapest, where they can grow as large as they need to in order to maximise their profit.

• This means a constant search for, and an occupation of, land further and further away from the densest parts of the city where land

is expensive, opposition and competition is strong, and therefore overheads are high and profit maximisation compromised.

• If cars did not exist, businesses would stay close to where customers and employees could access their goods and services because this would be the most economically sensible thing to do, and would thus maximise their profit. It would be bizarre for any business to add to its overheads (and therefore reduce profit) by locating itself remotely from its customers and employees.

• It only makes sense to do this (as they currently do) if the economic cost and environmental externalities of doing so is not detrimental to their profit, or better still, if it contributes to their profit, which it currently does.

• The more people who own a car, the further away from uncompetitive overheads businesses can locate themselves, forcing people to drive further for goods, services and employment, thus driving up demand for more cars, leading to exponential urban sprawl.

What is the problem with exponential urban sprawl?

• Urban sprawl locates goods, services and employment further and further away from where it is needed, forcing urban inhabitants to travel further and further for the things they need. This increased car use contributes to poor air quality, mental and physical health problems (caused by long periods of sitting in isolation, in polluted air environments). This in turn puts pressure on public health services.

• The sheer geographic enormity of urban sprawl, coupled with low density metrics, results in a low tax revenue base that is unable to meet appropriate levels funding for necessary public infrastructure required to make it function efficiently. In short, urban sprawl is exponentially expensive; the urban model it produces cannot pay for itself.

Why don’t we just regulate and control this urban sprawl to mitigate its worst effects?

• Inefficient use of finite resources, e.g. land, raw materials and fossil fuels. Spreading people, goods, services and employment thinly and widely means more land is needed, more raw materials and more energy (currently fossil fuel driven).

• In the long term this will create scarcity of necessary materials which will drive up prices

• Extraction, processing and burning of fossil fuels and raw materials contributes to climate change, (see given 3)

• Regulation, control, planning and foresight in regard to private businesses and their activities is an anathema in the prevailing political and economic ideology, even if it would improve peoples lives and mitigate climate change. The dominant political and economic ideology of neo liberalism, subscribes to the notion that the market is the best tool for equitably distributing goods, services, and employment opportunities; to interfere in the market would be to reduce its efficiency.

• However, while this may feel like an insurmountable obstacle, neo liberalism is merely a political ideology, not law. And like all political ideologies, it is applied with varying degrees of purity across the globe; as urban strategists, we need to find ways to

work within it.

• This is a fundamental question and is complex enough for hundred of books and articles to be written. However, broadly, within government structures, it is how the relationship between money and power is regulated that is problematic, not the political power in charge. If both political parties subscribe to the same relationship between power and money, there is little perceived value in changing voting patterns.

• The majority of the money that is used to prop up political parties comes predominantly from private donations from business and/or unions, and wealthy individual donors, (as opposed to subscriptions from individual party members), with an unspoken agreement that their donations will result in favourable attention to their preferred causes. Those donating the most money get their concerns addressed first, and they can threaten to withhold that money if they are not.

• This means that citizen (voter) demands and concerns are often relegated down the political agenda, only really being talked about and possibly addressed when an election is close by, and only if the electorate makes a credible threat, en masse, to remove the incumbent from power.

• This, as anyone who has taken part in an election will testify, is very difficult to achieve. Consequently, community support groups, pressure groups and community efforts to circumnavigate the need for government help

often materialise. They are varied in scope, agenda and scale, numerous, and have varying degrees of success but it is with these groups that we as urban designers must engage in order not to be hamstrung by an obstructive political ideology that may be in power.

So…if cars contribute to urban sprawl, (and urban sprawl encourages more cars), and urban sprawl is bad for people’s health and their environment, wildlife and air quality, and is a major contributor to climate change, and regulating, governing and directing society to mitigate this is out of political fashion, what are we to do to try and address the problems that widespread private car use is creating in São Paulo?

Why don’t people just vote for a different type of government that offers something other than neo liberal thinking?

part B2, image 01 view from the Minhocão elevated road, 2019 (author’s own)

part B2, image 02 view from cortico on Avenida Ipiranga, 2019 (author’s own)

part B3, image 01 - Superkillen, public space, Copenhagen, Denmark

part B3, image 02 - Riverside public space, Hamburg, Germany

part B3, image 02 - bike storage facility, Utrecht, Netherlands

- what are the alternatives to the private car; public and active transport?

Active transport

• Walking – good exercise, better individual health, reduced pressure on health services, simple, obvious, low cost, adaptable, accessible to a large majority, encourages social interaction and strengthens social networks

• Cycling - good exercise, better individual health, reduced pressure on health services, simple, obvious, low cost, adaptable, accessible to a large majority

Public transport

• Public transport, e.g. below ground subways, ground level light rail, electric buses, monorails, cable cars etc. – can carry large numbers of people around large areas with relative efficiency in terms of cost outlay, carbon footprints and raw material extraction, processing and use, (with the exception of underground subway systems which are very expensive both environmentally and economically).

Shared transport

• Shared electric cars/vans/bicycles and trailers, etc can provide larger, more powerful vehicles for occasional use, e.g. moving home, large purchases, collecting relatives and transporting those less able to use public transport or bicycles or those who are unable to walk or walk long distances, e.g. the elderly, wheelchair users, pregnant women, temporarily injured, etc.

Blue and green infrastructure

• City rivers – can be used as public transport arteries, river boats; hard blue infrastructure such as cycle paths, footpaths and linear parks can be located alongside river routes,

encouraging walking and cycling in safe, well designed environments. Drainage systems, flood overflow systems, sewage systems can also be integrated into this hard infrastructure.

• Flood planes, flood zones, and tree, shrub and wetland planting can be integrated into the soft blue infrastructure, providing larger areas of green public space with more bio diversity and wildlife, which in turn has a positive effect on human mental and physical health and wellbeing. More tree planting, shrub and wetland planting creates natural and sustainable resilience to flooding and landslides.

• City parks – can be used to encourage walking and cycling, with better footpaths and designated cycle paths running through these spaces, charging pints for electric bikes and scooters. This creates more use of these spaces which increases passive surveillance and reduces petty crime levels, which in turn encourages more use.

B 4 - what are the obstacles in São Paulo to implementing these alternatives?

Active transport:

obstacles to implementation presented by São Paulo’s urban condition

• Scale - the city is big, too big to walk or cycle across! São Paulo is huge and has grown and expanded on the assumption that everyone will be able to access the things they need by car, hence goods, services and employment opportunities are spread out across huge distances, that are not practical to walk.

• Design - footpaths and pedestrian infrastructure is poorly maintained; footpaths are mean and narrow relative to road widths, and are often invaded by cars and vehicles that mount kerbs for parking and delivery, creating irregular and unpredictable environments.

• Materials - are poor quality, edge conditions and interfaces are poorly designed for pushchairs or wheelchairs, all of which engenders a sense of second class status for pedestrians.

• Safe, well designed, cycling infrastructure is limited and poorly connected across the city, with variation in design solutions that create a sense of unease.

• Cycle paths are also often invaded by car and vehicles for parking and delivery, creating irregular and unpredictable environments thus discouraging the casual user.

• Established etiquette - crossing points are poorly designed, inconsistent and irregularly located, and road etiquette puts the car driver as the primary user, further creating a sense of unease and poor safety.

• Environment - Resting points/seating is sparsely provided, and the environment in which one might rest is car dominated, with poor air quality and poor aspect.

Active transport: opportunities presented by São Paulo’s urban condition

• Many roads are generous and wide, as they were designed originally to accommodate two cars side by side and a length of parking. This creates opportunities to re-distribute road space to other users without having to find new space in the city.

• the topography of the city is varied and roads and neighbourhoods have distinctive characteristics as a result; main arteries are located in natural valleys or ridges, leaving hill side roads much more tertiary or secondary. This creates obvious places for natural neighbourhood boundaries that would not be clear in a “grid iron” city.

• such topography also means that the only real public transport solution to access some neighbourhoods is walking or cycling. Hills are simply too steep and too winding for a bus, and too narrow for multiple cars, commensurate with “normal” levels of car ownership in the city.

Public transport: obstacles to implementation presented by São Paulo’s urban condition

• São Paulo’s scale make integrated public transport solutions, i.e. solutions that can connect the whole city, very large, and therefore, complex and expensive solutions.

• unplanned historical development (re. sewerage, drainage, water and energy suppliers below ground) - creates many unknowns and therefore potential complexity and cost

• São Paulo’s varied topography with steep hills in many parts of the city mean some neighbourhoods physically cannot be connected to other in the same ways, e.g. buses or subways cannot reach some hillside neighbourhoods that are better accessed by foot, or cable car. This creates complexity and therefore cost.

• Landownership laws and compulsory purchasing powers by municipal governments can hamper large infrastructure projects, when for example these projects needs to criss cross privately owned land, with individuals potentially blocking routes, refusing to sell, driving up costs.

Public

transport: opportunities presented by São Paulo’s urban condition

• The city is full of cars, to the extent that the city does not function efficiently. There are long delays on regular commutes and frustration building and appetite for alternatives is emerging.

• Cycling is increasing despite the dangers and bus travel and subways are full at all times of all days. This is creating pressure and a need for alternatives.

• There are large parts of the city not connected to the rest of the city by a reliable, affordable public transport system, and the majority of these city parts are occupied by those on low and middle incomes. i.e. there are millions of people who want and need better public transport, who have no hope of owning and running a car.

Blue and green infrastructure obstacles and opportunities

What are the broader, more abstract obstacles to implementing these solutions?

• The city is desperately low on large open green spaces, commensurate with its scale and density. It is a relentless sprawl of varied urban fabric, with many areas fenced or gated off as private grounds, they are simply no-go areas bed-cause one is not resident there, with informal “policing” by local gang members. There is demand for space.

• The city’s three main rivers, once meandering through wide open floodplains are now almost invisible, sandwiched between two six lane urban motorways. They are polluted, with little or no wildlife. This is contributing to the urban heat island in the city, and flooding. There is an environmental and therefore health and well being benefit to re-introducing the blue infrastructure back into São Paulo.

• the city has hundreds of urban rivers and water courses; a result of a city built on the edge of a rainforest. There are multiple opportunities to bring green and blue infrastructure into the city if space is made for them.

Economic obstacles

• Money, change cost money, where does it come from?

• Money is concentrated in the hands of ever few people, who are unwilling to share - São Paulo’s wealth disparities are wide and well documented.

Social obstacles

• Conflicting democratic demands; people want and need better housing, healthcare, education, and they need better mobility and green and blue infrastructure. These things are not and should be framed as mutually exclusive to one another, that some are more important than others. they are all critical to everybody’s health and well being and the functioning of a prosperous city.

• more freedom, more autonomy, less tax

Environmental obstacles

• Conflicts with wildlife and social demands; short term demolition and construction mean increased CO2 levels and pollutions, damaging to wildlife.

• Conflicts with air quality and social demands; people want and need to be able to move around the city freely, implementing change often restricts this in the short term and alters choices in the medium and long term. This can create resistance to change.

Political,

philosophical and ideological obstacles

• State reluctance to intervene to mitigate negative effects of change, fuelled by state commitments to ideological non market led/

state led change

• Powerful lobby groups with vested interests directing the agenda

• State machinery, willing to be led by vested interests groups to serve their interests as a priority, at the expense of everyone else

• Regular domestic political upheaval and change leading to unfulfilled commitments

• Global economic and political forces directly and indirectly interfering in domestic politics, limiting the ability of the state to intervene effectively to control growth, e.g. the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund dictating how borrowed money should be spent.

“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.”

Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, 1896

part B5, image 01 - favela life, Rio De Janeiro, 2018 (Dona Marta favela © Pedro Kirilos Riotur/Flickr)

Direct outcomes

• More shared spaces (aka social infrastructure) lead to increased levels of social interaction

– stronger community ties and social bonds, less alienation and loneliness and associated mental health problems, more empathy, cognitively healthier, more ideas to contribute to the pool of ideas

• More small scale and medium scale enterprise (SMEs) – that people are able to walk to, and are able to supply local needs with a smaller urban footprint

• Less vehicular traffic - environmentally cleaner - cleaner air – physically healthier, reduced pressure on health services

• Less vehicular traffic - reduced carbon footprint – reduction in greenhouses gases, contributes to mitigation of detrimental effects of global warming and climate change

• Less vehicular traffic – reduced accidents and fatalities caused by vehicles

Exponential and circular outcomes

• stronger community ties and social bonds, empathy – a community more able to defend themselves against threats to their health, wellbeing and security, i.e. state interventions or corporate threats, e.g. gentrification, should ensure a continuation of personal security, which should strengthen community ties and social bonds, and expand the principle of security exponentially

• cleaner environments - raised awareness of the benefits of cleaner environments through improved health, coupled with stronger communities, should ensure a continuation of cleaner environments, and expand the principle exponentially

• less reliance on non renewable sources of energy – leads to independence from large

intended outcomes

(see also, strategic goals, Part A)

reducing private

fossil fuel energy providers; this, coupled with stronger community ties and healthier populations should lead to a stronger democratic voice, able to be heard above and before the needs of energy providers, which should ensure a continuation of cleaner environments, and expand the principle exponentially

• more SME’s – leads to more employment in a smaller area, which reduces the need to commute, which leads to less vehicles, and simultaneously strengthens community ties and bonds.

interaction with other real live human beings happens on a daily, easy-to-access basis.

Social networking thrives on lonely, atomised, emotionally insecure people. Connected, strong, independent communities are a threat to their existence, and with it, their wealth and power and security

Who or what is threatened by these proposals?

• Fossil fuel energy providers – any activity that reduces the need to burn fossil fuels and therefore increases independence from energy providers, is a threat to fossil fuel providers existence, and with it, their wealth and power and security

• Large scale retailers that occupy large tracts or urban space, e.g. Tesco or Walmart, but less so Amazon or AliBaba – wherever people are more food/energy/housing independent, the less they need corporate overlords in the form of food/energy/housing sector

• Established political elites – more and stronger democratic voices that are able to defy large corporate interests and political interference through food, energy and housing independence, have the potential to break the relationship between government and monopoly resource providers, making their one man – one vote democratic voices heard as the priority, above the one-dollar- one vote system that currently prevails.

• Social networking providers who exist to facilitate virtual social ties – these would be less necessary in a world where real, physical

B

- what are the long term

of

care use as the primary means of mobility?

PART CSTRATEGY DETAIL

- ENVIRONMENTAL

ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE

part C1, image 01 - Ibirapuera Park, (image source: author’s own)

São Paulo’s sheer scale makes it incredibly difficult to navigate, administer and understand. The city of São Paulo (shown in red above) sits within the metropolitan region (SPMR, shown as pale blue above) and is 65km in length from north to south and approximately 40km wide (east to west). SPMR is approximately 85km north to south and 100km wide. The majority of São Paulo’s inhabitants live in the northern and western half of the city, with urban sprawl gradually thinning out but not diminishing as the city expands beyond its boundaries into the SPMR. For comparison, Greater London is approximately 40km in diameter, and central London is approximately 20km in diameter. Edinburgh has outer and inner and outer urban areas of approximately 15km and 5km in diameter respectively.

The city’s 32 self-governing regional prefectures are sub divided into 96 administrative districts which creates complications for coordination across the whole city, especially for services and infrastructure that transcend administrative lines, e.g. buses, railways and transport, and also the river.

The city’s varied scale, topography and two deep valleys carrying the remnants of the city’s major rivers, the Tietê and the Pinheiros, make walking and cycling an energetic activity, even when in smaller neighbourhoods. The oldest and densest part of the city resides in the large area of relatively flat space in the north east, nestled into the north side of the hills, just out of the major flood plains. The poorer and newer, more informal parts of the city climb up the hills, north of the Tietê river, west and south of the Pinheiros and deep into the areas east of the Tamanduateí river. The steeper and further out of the city the topography is, the poorer the demographic living there. Wealthy gated communities such as Alphaville tend to be beyond these areas, deep into the SPMR.

São Paulo and the metropolitan region Local government Topography

Green spaces Buildings Primary and secondary road network

Within the central parts of the city, the areas of green space given over to leisure are limited to small squares and public gardens, such as Praça da República. Centrally, the city has no parks comparable in scale to a city like New York. São Paulo’s largest park, Ibirapuera Park (circled), is located 5km from the centre, and is only 158 Hectares. Compared to 340 Hectares for Central Park NYC, it is a small area of green space in a huge expanse of densely populated urban fabric. The only other park of comparable size in São Paulo is Parque Villa Lobos, which is 9km from the centre and the smaller pocket parks of São Paulo are predominately peculiar left over green verges and steep embankments, with few areas of flatness for relaxing and playing.

The city is densely populated with familiar tightly packed urban blocks in the historic centre, with clear edges and continuous building lines; this is the densest part of the city built between 1910 and 1945. Beyond this relatively small area, i.e. beyond the city’s rivers and south of Ibirapuera Park, the urban fabric become less dense. Built in the mid-20th century, this area’s urban blocks are made up of clusters of four or five medium rise tower blocks and pockets of low rise infill. Beyond this, sporadic areas of middle class affluence compete with the early mid 20th century informal settlements, which are then criss-crossed by numerous motorways and major roads. This area is a combination of villas, low rise apartments and tightly packed self-built houses. Beyond this, the city becomes chaotic, with self-built houses and dwellings hugging steep hillsides, rubbing shoulders with allotments, major commuter motorways and rainforest.

In the centre of the city, the road network is a familiar European style arrangement of grid neighbourhoods that shift according to topography. As the city expands and inhabits steeper hillsides, the grid gives way to winding roads and lanes. Laid over this is a major network of urban high speed motorway infrastructure that crashes through the central parts of the city, obscures the city’s three major rivers, the numerous smaller rivers and water courses, and entangles the outer suburbs and favelas in a complex web of asphalt that sometimes respects but often ignores the city’s topography and geology. This network severs pedestrian and visual connections across neighbourhood boundaries and all roads lead to the centre of the city in a diagram of spokes set within a wheel, with the inner city perimeter bypass roads aligning themselves with the city’s old rivers. The rivers, once meandering through wide flood plains, were straightened and encased in concrete embankments in the 1950’s; now virtually unseen.

density part C1, map 08 - São Paulo’s favelas and cortiços part C1, map 09 - São Paulo’s geotechnical city

part C1, map 07 São Paulo’s

density informal housing - favelas and cortiços geotechnical information

São Paulo has a relatively moderate to high population density of approx. 7400 people/km² (source: UPB 01), comparable with cities such as Singapore at 8350 people/km², Hyderabad at 9100 people/km² (source: UPB 02) and NYC 10,900 people/km² (source UPB 03). London, for comparison, is relatively less dense at 5100 people/km² (source: UPB 02).

São Paulo’s urban fabric is made up of approximately 30% informal housing (insertref), or favelas, i.e. housing not built as part of the formal administrative permissions system. These dwellings, built over the last 60 years, are the primary means of expansionary urban development in the city. Early favelas were built by their owner occupier inhabitants, but some have since been sold on, or passed down generations etc. How these places have been integrated into the city proper as time has moved on, depends on the political administrations over the 20th century, and the accompanying economic cycles, which have been varied to say the least. The favelas are varied in quality. Those close to the city centre are older, better constructed and maintained and their communities more established. Those dwellings further away are more ad-hoc in their construction techniques and are of questionable structural safety. Structural concrete frame, with infill of anything that can be found, is the preferred architectural approach.

metro system (light rail) heavy rail lines bus network

São Paulo’s subway, or underground light rail system, operates six lines on 101km of rails, serving 89 stations and carrying about 5,300,000 passengers a day. The metro is relatively small considering the city’s population. For comparison, London operates eleven lines on 400km of rails, serving 270 stations and carrying a similar number of passengers a day, but in a city with a considerably lower density. Due to the city’s varied topography and the complexity and expense involved in construction, the metro tends to follow lower lying city valleys or low levels ridges, and therefore does not reach out into the hillier parts of the city, where there are greater levels of poverty and more need for reliable public transportation.

São Paulo’s heavy rail system, built in the 1860’s cuts through the centre of the city at ground level, roughly following the course of the Tietê, Pinheiros and Tamanduateí rivers, and consequently, the railways acts as a major infrastructure barrier separating inner/outer parts of the city from one another. They are predominantly ground level rails as opposed to viaducts or cuttings, and this makes them impenetrable barriers at ground level, forcing pedestrians over footbridges and vehicles to find long detours, this in turn isolates adjacent urban neighbourhoods from one another.

São Paulo’s bus network is extensive and complex. Many different operators compete for fares on the same routes, resulting in some parts of the city being flooded with services, while others less so. Fares vary across operators and route maps are complex and difficult for the non-Paulistano to decipher. However, they are comprehensive, and well used, especially by those residents in poorer neighbourhoods living long distances out of the city. However, their high usage in these areas has more to do with a lack of alternatives than the quality and affordability of service. Dedicated bus routes have been introduced into the city in the last twenty years with some success. These routes reach out into the poorer neighbourhoods where they are needed but are often still too expensive for those poorer neighbourhoods on the periphery.

part C1, map 13central São Paulo’s density, existing rivers, waterways, and urban fabric

Density and green spaces

Marginal Pinheiros (SP015) Parque Villa Lobos

Pinheiros river

Marginal Tietê (SP015)

Tietê river

Ibirapuera Park

Tamanduateí river Praça da República

Avenida Paulista the Minhocão

Avenida São João

Parque da Independência

C1.00 introduction

São Paulo’s sheer scale can make it difficult to discuss. The fact that São Paulo city (SPC), resides in São Paulo state can cause further confusion, as can the term São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPMR) which refers to the commutable area around São Paulo city that is made up of several cities itself.

part C1, map 14 - central São Paulo’s topography

of the highest crime levels in the world in some neighbourhoods.

motorways flanking either side of the city’s rivers, making the waterside completely inaccessible to residents, and concealing the river’s presence from the view of anyone, including motorists. The Avenida do Estado, constructed much earlier in the 1920’s, runs alongside the Tamanduateí River and has much the same effect as the SP015.

The city’s urban growth has evolved over time with the car as its primary driving force in terms of urban response. As the city boomed, more cars were bought and used, and more roads were needed, creating an expansionary urban roadbased dynamic, forcing people to travel further for work and goods and services. This cycle of private car ownership and road growth defining a city’s urban character, and therefore its patterns of human behaviour, is a familiar pattern across many 20th century cities. Indeed, São Paulo feels and looks like a shabbier version of LA in many ways.

For the purposes of this document and the urban strategy, unless noted otherwise, the term São Paulo (or SPC) refers to the city of São Paulo, the area of which is noted in red (part C1, map 01). This area is made up of numerous autonomous self-governing regional prefectures and administrative districts, steep topography and flood plains, and is home to approximately 12 million people.

The city has areas of high density and low density, vast discrepancies in wealth and opportunity, with some of the wealthiest and poorest people on the planet in its boundary, and correspondingly some

There are gated communities, inner suburbs, European style urban blocks, informal housing settlements or favelas, and some urban neighbourhoods that occupy a hinterland in between all of these; places where you cannot go without being a resident yet they are not gated, but feel distinctively part of and simultaneously removed from the city.

This car and road dominance in the city is huge problem for São Paulo, as it is in the majority of the world’s cities. Air pollution, long commutes, social isolation, inhospitable urban environments, huge concrete car based infrastructure blocking

C1.01 the proposal: providing green amenity space and protecting against flooding

São Paulo’s urban motorway network was constructed in the post-war years, predominantly in the 1950’s and 60’s as the city went through a period of rapid expansion. The Marginal Tietê (SP015) and the Marginal Pinheiros (SP015 also), the urban motorways running alongside the rivers of the same name, are six lane high speed

part C1, image 02 Ibirapuera Park

Uuntangling the road network and revealing the city’s rivers

Ibirapuera Park

Avenida Paulista the Minhocão

Avenida São João

Tamanduateí river Praça da República Tietê river Pinheiros river Parque Villa Lobos

part C1, map 15central São Paulo’s existing road network and green spaces

Avenida do Estado

Marginal Tietê (SP015) Marginal Pinheiros (SP015)

Parque da Independência

pedestrian routes and isolating neighbourhoods, is common in the city.

This proposal seeks a radical transformation of the most visible part of the network, i.e. the SP15 urban motorways around the Tietê and the Pinheiros rivers to act as a catalyst for organic urban changes over the next 100 years.

It is proposed that these urban motorways are dismantled, and the areas around these roads that are currently heavily polluted and where the urban fabric is low density (mainly of low rise industrial units), be given over to a network of new city parks and leisure spaces; football pitches, tennis courts, parks, gardens, allotments,

river walks, lawns, heaths, nature reserves, insect reserves, and acts as a major flood defence system for the city. It is proposed that the Tietê and the Pinheiros rivers be returned to their original courses, and be allowed to burst their banks during heavy rains into this network of new city parks/flood plains, thus protecting the denser urban parts of the city from flood damage.

part C1, map 16 central São Paulo’s existing road network, river course re-instated, motorways removed, new bridge connections part C1, image 03 Marginal Tietê River

C1, image 04 - Marginal Pinheiros River part C1, map 17 - central São Paulo’s flood plain

part C1, map 18central São Paulo, 1930 historical map

Re-instating

the route of the old river

Ibirapuera Park

Avenida Paulista the Minhocão

Avenida São João

Tamanduateí river Praça da República Tietê river Pinheiros river Parque Villa Lobos

Parque da Independência

In addition, it is proposed that this network of urban parks joins up with current ideas currently being experimented with by the city’s municipal government, regarding pedestrianisation of the Minhocão and Avenida Paulista, major urban thoroughfares in the city.

C1.02 the Minhocão and Avenida Paulista: experiments in removing the car

The Minhocão is an elevated urban motorway constructed in the late 1960’s, who’s real name is Elevado Presidente Costa e Silva, named after a key figure in the military government at the time of construction, (Minhocão is roughly translated as “the worm”). It is a giant piece of urban infrastructure that runs through the once affluent neighbourhood of São João; the street that the Minhocão replaced, Amaral Gurgel Street, was once known as São Paulo’s 5th Avenue. This area is now dominated by the 3.5km long elevated concrete highway. The shops and services that once lined Amaral Gurgel Street have long gone, as have many residents. The area is shabby, and the Minhocão’s giant physicality creates numerous inhospitable urban spaces and a major barrier between neighbourhoods. This road has become symbolic of São Paulo’s failed urban experiments with the car; it has reduced a once vibrant residential area into polluted, dark, noisy thoroughfare (Van Mead, 2017).

In order to tackle this, the city currently closes the road between 9.30pm and 6am every day, and all day on a Sunday when the road becomes the neighbourhood’s only public space of any real scale. (It is worth noting that as early as 1976, the Minhocão has been closed to traffic between midnight and 5am in order to mitigate its worst effects). On these days the residents use the

Minhocão as a market, a cycle way, a place to meet and gather and relax.

Avenida Paulista is another main thoroughfare through the Jardins districts of São Paulo, a collection of affluent middle class neighbourhoods arranged within a network of grid iron streets and grand avenues, small parks and green squares. Located south of the historical centre, Avenida Paulista was laid out in 1891 and was an attractive tree lined European style residential boulevard up until the 1950’s when, as the city expanded, it was widened and the up market residential villas were sold and replaced by corporate HQs and offices. The street gradually became an urban highway not dissimilar in scale and typology to the lesser know avenues of New York, i.e. car dominated, flanked by offices and commercial towers. But recently it has also tried to revive itself as a social space for Paulistanos. It too is now closed to traffic on Sundays, and there are new bicycle lanes and crossing points and markets and spaces for relaxing and cycling, just like the Minhocão.

part

Both experiments in managing urban motorways illustrate the desire from Paulistanos for public space. São Paulo is noticeably short of large public spaces commensurate with the scale and density of the city, (there is nothing on the scale of Plaza del Zócalo in Mexico City for example), and spaces such as the large pedestrianised area over the Avenida 23 de Maio at the end of the Avenida São João are left-overs, the residual result of removing cars. Established historical spaces like Praça da Sé are noticeably small, and the larger existing spaces such as Parque da Independência, although grand and lush are again noticeably small when compared to the city as a whole. Moreover, Parque da Independência, a formally

part

part

C1, image 05 - Avenida 23 de Maio circa 1950, before pedestrianisation

C1, image 06 - rowing on the Tietê (1925)

C1, image 07 the Minhocão, under construction late 1960’s

Hampstead Heath Holland Park

Hyde Park Green Park St James Park, Primrose Hill

Regents Park Battersea Park Clapham Common Peckham Rye Southwark Park

End Park

Park

Street Common

Fields Hackney Downs

Park

Park

Park

Park

Marshes

A brief analysis of London’s parks, population and scale for comparison

laid out space, feels remote and patriarchal; a left over from colonial occupation. There is no large scale contemporary urban park or public space, designed for São Paulo’s citizens and their way of life in the 21st century, commensurate with the scale or density of the city.

The popularity of the closures on the Minhocão and Avenida Paulista has also revived plans to convert parts of the Minhocão into an elevated park, similar to the High Line in NYC, plans that were raised in the late 1980’s but were never developed as Brazil’s economy floundered.

This proposal seeks to connect to the Minhocão as a new elevated park in the city to the proposed network of new city parks and flood plains, and build on the momentum and demand for public space as shown in Paulistano’s embrace of the changes to the use of urban motorways, as shown on Avenida Paulista and the Minhocão.

centre, gradually giving way to meandering winding streets and lanes. The city’s urban form is the result of moments of careful planning and design and moments of free market expansion, with 19th century grid iron neighbourhoods like Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia in the west, sitting alongside the historic city in the east, made up of medieval lanes and alleys. Further east are huge tracts of industrial land now gradually being taken over by residential and office development. The inner suburbs are dominated by post war social housing experiments settled amongst 19th century terraces and modest semi-detached villas, while the outer suburbs give way to larger plots and single houses.

C1.03 London parks, and contemporary urban flood park proposals across the globe, a brief overview.

London is famous for its parks and gardens; indeed, it is one of the things that makes London life bearable. Although the majority of its parks were set out in the 18th and 19th century, newer parks such at the QE2, Mile End and Burgess Park show that with political will, new large green spaces can be created in the city, from derelict land industrial land (QE2) and by joining up pockets of scrubland and derelict brownfield (Burgess).

London’s urban grain is not dissimilar to the historic centre of São Paulo’s, with networks of tightly packed, irregular urban blocks in the

part C1, image 08 - Hyde Park, London, (aerial view)

part C1, image 10 Ibirapuera Park (aerial view)

part C1, image 11 - Praça da República (aerial view) part C1, image 12 - Parque Villa Lobos part C1, image 09 - Parque da Independência

part C1, map 20central São Paulo’s flood plain (blue), buildings to be demolished (red) and building to be purchased and re-used by the municipality, for civic/public use.

Mitigating flooding, demolition and re-use of existing buildings

London’s parks, to scale, for comparison, to the proposal

Beyond this lies late 20th century speculative housing development. In São Paulo, at a similar urban geographical point, there lies a vast expanse of informal settlements or favelas. Consequently, the difference in density between London and São Paulo is stark. Despite similar sizes of urban inhabitation, (São Paulo is 65km in length from north to south and approximately 40km wide and Greater London is approximately 45km in diameter) São Paulo has a density of 7400 people/km² (source: UPB 01), comparable with London at 5100 people/km² (source: UPB 02).

The parks provide respite from the scale of London, yet São Paulo despite its greater density, has nothing to compare on a similar scale.

Cities across the world are starting to think big about how they can create resilience to flooding and climate change. Plans are being drawn up for huge flood defence parks in Manhatten NYC, Dallas Texas, Randers Denmark, Brooklyn, the Netherlands. Cities are understanding that their 20th century industrial assets are no longer fit for their original purpose but they can be re-used to tackle 21st century problems.

This proposal seeks use São Paulo’s industrial lands, its urban motorways and re-imagine them as necessary flood defences, greeen spaces and public realm.

C1.04 flooding in São Paulo

Stormwater flooding in the city of São Paulo is frequent and recurrent. The intense urbanisation of the area, has created a heat island where the densest parts of the metropolitan area tend to be the warmest, and temperature decreases as

urban density declines. This has resulted in more summer rain frequency and intensity extremes in the city of São Paulo, reinforcing the forecasted trends that this will continue to increase (Teixeira and Haddad, 2013)

This regular flooding affects families, businesses, transportation and the environment, besides impacting social and economic organisation.

The city is located in one of the larger regions considered among the global hot spots for hydrological and drought disaster risks and the city needs a big idea to deal with its flooding problem which is predicted to worsen as the city expands (Young, 2013) or problems of social and economic disruption will continue exponentially. (M.L. Borba 2013)

part C1, image 13 - Hans Tavsens Park, Copenhagen, Denmark - a network of sunken basins and water-purifying planting

part C1, image 14 - The Trinity River Project, Dallas, Texas, US turning the river’s path into sports fields, trails, nature centers, and recreational opportunities.

C1.05 scale and feasibility

The obvious problems raised by the proposal are those of any city trying to make space by removing road and urban infrastructure, i.e. where do all the cars go, how will the city function without a key piece of infrastructure?

However, it is worth noting here that socially, politically, and economically, it is important that change happens incrementally and slowly so that people, businesses and government can adapt around it without undue economic or social cost. Economically, the proposal is probably beyond São Paulo’s means, or any city’s means, and so incremental long term planning and implementation is the only option available.

It is envisioned that the scheme would be implemented at different times, depending on the money and political will available, but that it is a long term framework on which all decisions about the city would be referred to over decades.

The removal of the major east west and north south arterial vehicular routes is undoubtedly one of, if not the biggest challenge, but if achieved it would set the city on a new course. Removal of these roads would signify that the city no longer yields to the demands of the private car first, and instead, the private car and all vehicular traffic must yield to the city and the city’s resident’s needs.

It is not intended that the private car is to be banned or removed; the city’s residents and economy are far too dependent on them to imagine them completely absent, but users of private vehicles would be encouraged and nudged into finding alternative means of mobility to the centre of the city.

part C1, image 16 - urban bus systems as metro system, Curitiba, Brazil

part C1, image 15 - Medellín’s famous cable car system, Colombia

The network of linked parks and spaces and the removal of the SP015 should change vehicular flows and therefore the choices made by citizens, setting the city on a course of pedestrian and cycle led urban development, contractionary by its very nature of walkability. This would be the same pattern that occurred in the 1950’s and 60’s when the ambitious construction of the SP015 set the city on a course for car related urban expansionary growth.

This displacement of and reduction of cars should open up opportunities to augment existing road space in the city to accommodate everyone, public transport, bicycles, pedestrian and cars.

Similar projects to recover old rivers and dismantle urban motorways have been successful in Europe (Bilbao) and the United States (Boston, MA), and in south east Asia in Cheonggyecheon (Korea). These projects have re-imagined these spaces as places for people to move around the city on foot and bicycle first, public transport second and private car third.

Cities such as Medellín and Curitiba have had some significant successes in moving people onto public transport and creating new parks and recreation spaces out of derelict brownfield land, and Mexico City’s Parque Recreativo Santa Cruz Meyehualco, Iztapalapa has grand ambitions for its new city park on the site on an abandoned rubbish dump. And the scale of and ambition of Leipzig’s Neuseenland, with a projected completion date of 2060, shows that projects offering a a clear strategic vision to guide decision making are viable.

part C1, image 17 - Boston MA, flood defence/city park proposals

part C1, image 20 flood defences at Storkeengen nature reserve, Randers, Denmark, by C.F. Møller Architects

part C1, image 21 - the Zalige bridge in Nijmegen, Netherlands, urban river park created to prevent flooding part C1, image 18 - the BIG U flood defence proposal for Manchatten, NYC part C1, image 19 - the re-use of the Cheonggyecheon river, Soeul

C1, image 22 - Domino Park, Williamsburg, NYC (proposal) - re-use of existing indutrial landscape

part C1, map 21central São Paulo, proposed city parks, new urban bridge connections, buildings

A network of new city parks and green spaces

Tamanduateí river Praça da República Tietê river Pinheiros river Parque Villa Lobos

Ibirapuera Park

Avenida Paulista the Minhocão

Avenida São João

C1.06 underlying principles of the vision

The project anchors itself in ideas whereby the future of our working lives will no longer be determined by how far we are prepared to travel in a car, rather we will choose to live in cities that accommodate our needs as social human beings first. The Covid 19 pandemic of 2020 has shown us that we do not need to commute on the same scale as we once did, working from home is viable for far more people than thought, and if this trend is to continue then how habitable and how much the city provides for all our needs will become critical in attracting talent and economic prosperity. A pleasant, varied urban environment, populated by happy, healthy citizens, as the means to create a prosperous economy; not the other way around.

This is a vision of a new city dynamic, not based on commuting and expanding and growing, but on working from home, working within existing boundaries, and physically shrinking the urban infrastructure of the city away from these boundaries. Densifying in a controlled and planned way, and choosing not to leave every aspect of our lives to the mercy of market forces. Intensifying and designing the city, to serve human need first, and market forces second.

The best cities of the 21st century will not be reliant on technology for their advantages, but on what they offer in terms of real place and real environment; their spatial design. Digital and virtual worlds are useful but not realistic or desirable substitutes. People need real space and clean air and water to be happy and healthy, to thrive. They need to have real human touch and interaction to understand one another, to empathise and support one another. A city

is the best way of providing a broad variety of these things, so its form must be designed and controlled in the service of people first, and economics second.

There is unavoidably demolition and compulsory purchase as part of the proposal, which will impact on the city’s residents and businesses, and questions as to how this process is decided upon, administered. There are also questions as to how this new piece of urban infrastructure can be made accessible and equitable to all residents of the city, so that it does not become gentrification on a colossal scale.

These questions are addressed in Parts C2, C4 and C5 of this document.

part C1, image 23 - part of the BIG U flood defence proposal for Manchatten, NYC - BIG Architects

- SOCIAL RESILIENCE

part C2, image 01 view from roof of Edifício Copan in downtown São Paulo

part C2, map 01central São Paulo, existing regional prefectures (32black), administrative districts (96red), Edinburgh neighbourhoods overlaid (red squares)

Administrative boundaries and walkable distances

C2.00

introduction: creating social resilience

São Paulo city is sub divided into 32 autonomous Regional Prefectures (C2, map 01) and these Regional Prefectures are democratically elected and led by regional mayor. They look after public education, public health, roads, drainage etc. Each Regional Prefecture is subdivided again into

three or four Administrative Districts, (C2, map 01) which results in 96 Administrative Districts in total. Bearing in mind that São Paulo’s density is approximately 7400 people/km² on average (C1, map 07), then a modest Administrative Districts is looking after approximately 50, 000 to 70,000 people, with some of the larger ADs even more so, (a km² is shown as a red square on the maps).

This scale of administration and decision making can often feel remote and unresponsive to people’s needs and this can create a sense that local governments are unable to be of help to the individual or family. If they are perceived this way, then they can be also be painted as wasteful and bureaucratic, and then they become targets for

removal by political factions who see advantage their removal. By weakening and in some cases removing this layer of democratic power from citizens, agency over the direction and choices in their lives is diminished. In turn, there is greater pressure on people to survive as individuals without the collective support of the state. Fellow human beings become a competitive threat

rather than a means of support, and this weakens social bonds and creates problems of stress, poor health, distress and depression which further weaken social bonds and economic prosperity.

It is therefore critical that systems of decision making are democratic, responsive, and close to the voter, in order to create social resilience. This proposal seeks to create this through urban spatial organisation.

C2.01 devolution down to the neighbourhood level

This proposal seeks to devolve more decision making down to smaller groups of people, i.e. to those living closer to the impact of a decision.

It is proposed that smaller communities collectively make decisions as a Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), and that these NDCs have final, legally enforcing say, over certain aspects to changes in their neighbourhoods’ urban fabric. The NDCs legally binding decisions would force Regional Prefectures, individuals and businesses, to engage with and consult residents, and augment their proposals to suit.

Ordinarily, these decisions would be made by the Regional Prefecture, in conjunction with the businesses or individuals making the proposal for change, who themselves are responding to market values in land, production, labour etc with a view to creating profit. The Regional Prefecture would consider the economics of the proposal

weigh them against the social impact of the proposal. This system however, leaves residents vulnerable to market consideration of profit being given priority over their social concerns of health and well being. E.g. a new elevated road or factory may bring jobs to the area but would impact negatively on the air quality or land value. By devolving the final decision of the proposal down to the NDC, residents can choose to what extent they are prepared to allow this to happen.

This new spatial arrangement of the city imagines a series of neighbourhoods or bairros, exercising direct control over their immediate urban environment. Changes to the edges of these bairros, i.e. the building use, scale, appearance, etc would still be administered and controlled in the traditional way, by the Regional Prefecture.

C2.02 a social space and a market space

It is proposed that the neighbourhood councils are the result of loosely subdividing the existing Administrative Districts into areas of approximately 1km². This results in approximately 30,000 citizens/NDC on average, at São Paulo’s current density, and a walk of between 20 to 30 minutes between boundary edges. The boundaries of the NDC would align with proposed major public transport arteries. These transport arteries and the walkability of the bairros is critical to their design, and is explored in more detail in section C3.0 Making Connections.

In the heart of the superblock, a key piece of civic social infrastructure (Klinenberg, 2013) would be located, such as a public library, a swimming pool, a doctors surgery, a health centre, community hall, etc. and close by this civic social

part C2, map 02 - central Edinburgh city centre, neighbourhoods overlaid as red blocks

part C2, map 03central Barcelona, with 1km square overlaid in red

Applying the Barcelona superblock concept to São Paulo

infrastructure would be a modest public space or park, where residents could meet and make decisions as the Neighbourhood Council.

Brazilian institutions such as the SESC (Social Service of Commerce, a non-profit organisation committed to providing buildings and spaces for education, health, culture and recreation) could be integrated closely with the NDCs to facilitate the strategic placement of the new neighbourhood centres. Around this heart, the superblock’s

public realm would gradually be given over to pedestrians and cyclists, with improved crossing points, signage, cycle lanes, pavements, seating, and areas of pedestrianisation and shared road surface.

The neighbourhood’s interior becomes the living space, the protected space, the democratic communal part of the city; its edges become the market space, the competition space. This is in effect, the Paulistano superblock

C2.03 the Barcelona superblock: a brief overview

The proposed Barcelona Superblock, (by BCN Ecologica, a Barcelona based public consortium dedicated to rethinking cities in terms of sustainability), combines 9 Barcelona blocks (each 0.12km2) into a single superblock (C2, image 04) as a means to control the private car in the city, improve air quality and in turn, urban life. The superblock’s interior roads are given over to pedestrians and cyclists, and private

part C2, image 02 - SESC - Social Service of Commerce - provides health services, recereational spaces, galleries, pools etc.

cars and vehicles are forced on to the perimeter roads. Each superblock has an area of 1.1km2. The Eixample neighbourhood is one of the most densely populated with 36,000 people/km². Map C2/03 shows a square km highlighted in red which is approximately 8 x 8 Barcelona city blocks.

This Barcelona superblock has been implemented with some success over the last 20 years starting in 2003, and there is a plan to roll out the idea across the city. Ideas regarding autonomy and

decision making within the superblock regarding budget and urban alterations are being tested and are evolving.

The proposal outlined in this document for São Paulo images a super block approximately the same size in area as the Barcelona superblock, but with a much lower density, commensurate with the average city density of 7400/km2.

Administratively, this is good number of people to get to know one another and be engaged in

decision making for simple decisions, and 1km can be walked relatively quickly. As each square km densifies over time, it would reach a similar intensity to that of Barcelona.

The significant difference between Barcelona and São Paulo is the topography of the city. Barcelona is relatively flat and regular allowing for much more density in a smaller area, but São Paulo is much more varied especially as it reaches out of the centre and up into the hills. Ways of moving

through and around a Paulistano superblock are explored in more detail in C3.0 Making Connections.

part C2, image 05 - Barcelona superblock as a city proposal

part C2, map 04central São Paulo, proposed new city parks, existing (augmented) regional prefectures (32black) & administrative districts (96red), neighbourhood superblocks (blue)

São Paulo and the super neighbourhood, or the Paulistano

superblock

C2.04 flipping the hierarchy

Gradually, the superblock heart’s improved public realm would expand towards the edges, as and when the NDC agreed to it, until the whole superblock interior has pedestrian and cycle priority, and all road surfaces are shared.

Agreement to this flipping of power in the

hierarchy of mobility and space ownership, would need to be constructed carefully, and changes happen incrementally, over time and through mutual agreement of a majority of residents through the NDC. In order for this kind of radical reversal of mobility hierarchy to be chosen by Paulistanos, significant public transport improvements and active travel improvements

(i.e more and better designed buses, trams cables cars, and better quality pavements, shared road surfaces and cycle lanes), need to be in place and be seen to be expanding and improving.

This complex logistical exercise is explored in more detail in part C3.0 Making Connections and C5.0 Implementation.

2. COMPARACIÓ ENTRE LES CARACTERÍSTIQUES DE LES XARXES DE BUS ACTUAL I FUTURA

Mapa d’eixosverticals ihoritzontals(xarxa base)

pedestrians, to form a traditional type of main drag. The critical difference would be that this space in between the edges of the superblocks, the artery, would be organised to prioritise the bus, i.e. the main public transport system. Buses would run along the centre line of the artery, with cars and delivery vehicles running alongside them in a lane. Lanes would be minimal, wide enough for only a single vehicle. Pedestrians would fill the space between the superblock edge and the lanes. Thus pedestrian space would enlarge to be as big as the street allows. Paulistano bus routes would be as linear as possible, rather than weaving and winding through the topography of the city (see C3, map 01), i.e. grid iron in concept.

This idea has been explored in the Barcelona Superblock by BCN Ecologia, whereby the bus lines traverse the city north to south, east to west, like a net over the city, as opposed to a series of lines radiating from the centre, like a series of spokes within a wheel. This idea means that in order to reach the centre, bus users must connect to another line, (C3, image 04) at primary nodes, i.e. where bus lines intersect. This is much simpler to achieve in a city laid out on a grid like Barcelona; it is more challenging to apply in São Paulo, where topography dictates the urban grain. The resolution of this is explored further in 3.0 Making Connections.

C2.05 edge conditions, centre lines, lanes and primary nodes

The Paulistano superblock edges would be defined by a mixture of private shops and services (Oldenburg, 2005) and civic institutions, and the interior as pedestrian and cycle space. Space inbetween superblocks would be organised for buses, private cars, delivery vehicles and

These primary nodes strategically open parts of the city not traditionally used, and thus relieves pressure on the centre where space is at a premium. The nodes (Lynch, 1960), become key spaces in the city where people would change from bus to bus, or bus to foot, pause, interact with others, and where meaningful architectural markers can be located to enable people to read and navigate the city.

ANNEX 7. BASES PER A LA IMPLANTACIÓ D’UNA NOVA XARXA DE BUS PER BARCELONA EN EL MARC D’UN NOU MODEL DE MOBILITAT

The nature of the new Paulistano bus route, its ownership and management, mapping and signage, and how the space on the street is organised, is explored in more detail in C3.0 Making Connections.

C2.06

creating real competition

The superblock edges would be where large scale global corporate chains and small and medium scale Paulistano enterprises rub shoulders and compete in a familiar market economy, and this is where the Regional Prefecture would retain legal autonomy over decision making. However, it is intended that this traditional type of private social infrastructure would gradually creep into the interior of the superblock, but that this creep would be controlled by the NDC who would have the final, legal decision over the speed and extent to which this happens.

This would provide some degree of protection for the small scale neighbourhood businesses from the global corporate chains and city wide business giants. If, over time, the residents of the superblock agree to allow that competition into their interior, where there is significant footfall they have the power to enable it. But critically, they are able to keep it out if they don’t.

They can thus protect themselves and their livelihoods from unfair competition. In the interior, they can grow to be real competition to the bigger chains, only moving into direct competition when they feel they are ready. In this way, the Paulistano superblock concept, intentionally sets up a dynamic whereby the interior is permanently in competition with the edge, thus protecting residents and offering them a choice between a more personal local service or

a more homogeneous global product.

By reducing the risks associated with setting up a business, this spatial vision gives people greater choice, to either be independent with some proportionate risk and insecurity but with a larger degree of agency over one’s time and direction in life, or be more secure in the employment of a larger city wide or global outfit but with much less agency.

In turn, this physical and socio political difference between the superblock’s interior and its edge creates an intended energy as people move physically and philosophically between the two spaces. This in turn will create more variety in goods and services, a higher degree of casual social interaction between different kinds of people, and therefore more familiarity with the other and by turns, less suspicion, less division, more trust and stronger community and social bonds (Appleyard, 1981). These stronger social bonds will create stronger NDCs and fairer decision making.

This spatial arrangement of the city seeks a real, legally recognised, three dimensional space in the city, where competing political, socio-economic and cultural visions can co-exist, and thrive.

C2.07 mutual dependency and urban bridges

It is envisioned that as each neighbourhood develops in this way, it gradually becomes a place where more people can spend more of their time living and working, and thus gradually reducing the numbers of people who need to commute. Similarly, by spreading out the social infrastructure (Klinenberg, 2013), i.e. by having a different piece of social infrastructure in the heart of multiple neighbourhoods, residents would naturally move between neighbourhoods.

As one neighbourhood’s residents use another neighbourhood’s pool for example, those neighbourhood residents would reciprocate by using the other’s library or playing fields. A mutually dependent dynamic would emerge, further strengthening social bonds.

Simultaneously, this theoretically would weaken notions of neighbourhood territorialism and otherness, encouraging a city dynamic where every resident felt able to go everywhere without fear of being in the wrong place.

This movement between neighbourhoods creates a demand for walkability. To move between the hearts of each neighbourhood would be

a 20 minute brisk walk, or a 30 minute stroll, approximately, (this is São Paulo after all, a city of hills and winding streets, not the neat grid iron of NYC). Wherever residents cross the major transport artery that defines the edge of their superblock, to move from one neighbourhood to the adjacent neighbourhood, would be an urban bridge. This would be a space on the public transport artery, where the pedestrian has priority to cross; where buses and cars all give way to the pedestrian. They would also be places where more private based social urban infrastructure would be encouraged, such as hair salons, barbers, retail, shared work spaces, office, café’s restaurants etc.

As the urban bridge becomes the moment where people meet, work, move to another neighbourhood, cross over, interact, share their lives, albeit one without a major transport connecting moment, it becomes a traditional city node similar to the primary nodes discussed earlier. The critical difference is there is no public transport connection at the urban bridge; it is an intentionally slower and less intense moment in the city, with more space for the pedestrian to linger, observe and relax (Gehl and Koch, 2006).

The location, and principle of walking routes through neighbourhoods and urban bridges between neighbourhoods is explored in more detail in C3.0 Making Connections.

and suspicious of one another, they need to feel comfortable and safe exploring new routes and new neighbourhoods. A higher degree of clarity in how residents can move around the city on foot rather than in the safety of a car, is therefore critical. How this can be achieved is explored in more detail in C3.0 Making Connections.

São Paulo, is a tangled network of winding streets, rigid grid irons, hills, flood plains, and urban transport infrastructure, and is difficult to understand and to navigate. It also has serious problems of crime and territorialism, whereby people feel unable to venture into some parts of the city for fear of crime and the fear of not belonging, and this is exacerbated by this urban complexity. The city has no go areas patrolled by criminal gangs at one extreme and gated communities for the wealthy patrolled by private armed guards at the other.

The Paraisópolis favela, for example (C2, image 06), a poor but established neighbourhood, sits hard up next to its wealthy neighbour, Morumbi, but residents rarely cross the threshold between the two. It is difficult to do so, with walls and structures controlling crossing points, and the socio economic status of either is so markedly different that most residents never have any need to venture into one another’s territory. Alphaville, a wealthy middle class neighbourhood in the SPMR, has private security guards and even a private motorway to enable access to and from the city so that its residents never interact with the spaces and people in between it and their destination.

C2.09 dismantling modernist spatial concepts, and challenging socio-political ideologies

A network of neighbourhoods that are small enough for people to walk around on foot, where they can live, work and play without having to cross the city, and where they have autonomy and control over their environment is the goal. Neighbourhoods that can support a variety of demographics, a variety of industries and job types, and a variety of mobility and housing types are fundamentally more sustainable than the modernist concept of city zones given over to a single use.

Under single-use zoning ideas, if the major

industry designated to a particular zone became obsolete or moved to a different part of the city or the world, then that part of the city where it once was would rapidly decline. With no major singleuse employer in the neighbourhood, there would be no need for secondary services such as cafes, restaurants, etc, and no need for supply chains. Eventually all jobs would disappear as they would all have been dependent for their economic stimulus on one source. The bigger the single use player, the more dependent the whole area would be in its survival, and the more power it would have over urban decisions.

This pattern is famously evident in the decline of Detroit in the US, a city that was almost exclusively dependent on the car manufacturing industry for its entire economic success. When Detroit’s car manufacturers could no longer compete, the industry declined which resulted in job losses. Everyone who could leave the city to find work elsewhere, left. This then depleted the customer base for any remaining businesses,

If residents are to walk around the city, and are to get to know and understand one another, and hopefully, in the process become less frightened

C2.08 creating clarity

part C2, image 07 - Alphaville, gated suburb

Dismantling modernist ideology, abandoning trickle down

setting in process a cycle of decline. Once a city on a par with NYC in the 1950’s, Detroit is now regularly identified as one of the poorest, most depopulated and problematic cities in the world.

Whenever this cycle is set in motion, familiar patterns emerge. Those residents who can not leave (because they can’t sell their homes or who have social ties and bonds to the area, such as children at schools or elderly relatives to look after), find that with no shops or services and no jobs close by, they have to look further afield for work; they become commuters and they spend increasing numbers of hours in their cars going to and from shops and services and work. These shops and services then naturally design themselves to accommodate the commuter, locating themselves on major roads and requiring lots of parking space.

Time at home with families and friends decreases as more time is spent in the car, and as more people are forced into the same cycle, the more crowded the roads get and the further away the shops, services and jobs have to locate themselves in order to provide enough parking space. This cycle creates expansionary urban sprawl and is evident all over Brazil, indeed, the world.

This single use zoning model does not even work when the employer is secure and unlikely to leave, e.g. when it is the centre of government. The Brasilia superblock, or the Superquadras, designed and constructed between 1957 and 1960, consisted of two main axes; a monumental axis where the governmental programmatic components are sited, and a residential axis. The latter is formed by rows of neighborhood units lined along a 12km highway. Each unit is composed of four large residential blocks with

shared commercial and institutional facilities. The configuration of the residential blocks, commonly is a 280m square occupied by long, six-storey slab apartment buildings. The first floor of these buildings were conceived as being raised in pilotis to promote the integration of landscape and architecture.

Until very recently, Brasilia was famously dull, with walking distances between neighbourhoods of up to 2 miles before one would experience a different type of urban grain, and huge expanses of empty open spaces at ground level with no sense of ownership or purpose. Everyone was forced to use their cars to get around, wlaking distances were soimply too big and too dull. There was little of the energy and creativity that arises from human beings interacting with one another. Brasilia has recently completed part of a new metro system

to deal with its population boom, and has begun to inhabit the ground levels condistion of its modernist slabs, but despite the best efforts of its modernist designers, its spatial design and reliance on the car is contributing to it following the same well trodden path of other Brazilian mega cities; a wealthy middle class population in the centre and a poor urban underclass, servicing it from the periphery, (Franco, Kessler and Samangooei, 2020).

By making the super neighbourhood varied in character with multiple choices for work, the likelihood of the modernist, expansionary cycle taking hold is diminished, preventing sprawl and all the inefficiencies and negative effects that go with it, (see B1, What is the problem with exponential urban sprawl?)

part C2, image 08 - Alphaville, gated suburb, entrance patrolled by private security guards

The fundamental question is, what are cities for?

This proposal asserts that cities are primarily spaces for people to live in, to grow and develop in, to love and work and play, to be human in. Cities are then also spaces through which we equitably trade and share resources and ideas to generate necessary economic output to pay for goods and services.

Economic output is required to pay for our lives; the model of capital exchange for goods and services would appear to be with us for some time yet so we can not ignore it. The question therefore, is how to balance the needs of capital with the needs of the human. The proposal outlined in this document seeks to do this by equitable allocation of space within the city for capital and people. The city should no longer be prioritized for capital with everything and

everyone falling into line behind. Rather the city should be as pluralistic as possible, not only in terms of goods and services, but also in ways of living, philosophies, ways of being and existing, ways of interacting with one another, ideas. Furthermore, this plurality must be protected and guarded through democratic means. A monopoly of anything is a threat to the multitude of different ways we all want to live our lives.

It is widely accepted that competition is a valuable way of creating efficiencies in some areas, and that monopolies can create expense, waste, and stifle creativity. But the idea of plurality to engender solutions to our existential dilemmas, has been relegated in the pursuit of individualism, which has been facilitated by and embodied in the private car.

Plurality and competition as a solution is not a new idea. It is the very basis of the western

democratic capitalist model, embodied the United States of America, at least in theory if not in practice. But ironically, the pursuit of individualism and the freedom to make personal choices about what we want and how to live, has meant the pursuit of the same kind of prescribed individualism. Everyone must drive a car, everyone must commute long distances, and somehow giant corporate monopiles are now considered the most efficient means of using finite resources. And not until everyone is living this prescribed individualistic life, will we all be free to flourish as individuals. It is conformism in pursuit of individualism., and it is wasteful of resources and damaging to our environment and our health.

The critical nature of plurality is outlined in detail by Jane Jacob’s in her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In it, she highlights the benefits of social infrastructure such as small scale bookstores, barbers, grocery shops, that support the bigger employers in the city, both economically and socially (Jacobs, 1992). She identifies the benefits of different people occupying the city at different times of the day for different economic and social functions and how this rich, ever changing tapestry of people and activity contributes to people knowing and understanding one another, and relying on and trusting one another, and how this in turn can

relieve the pressure of personal responsibility, and reduce fear of the unknown or social difference. How this in turn also fosters a sense of solidarity and shared purpose and community strength, better placed to withstand, and fight back against big government and big business power that can easily overwhelm the individual.

The importance of social infrastructure and more connections with other humans as a means to engender a sense of common goals and community is described in detail in Life Between Buildings by Jan Gehl, Happy City by Charles Montgomery, Palaces of the People by Eric Klinenberg and The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenberg. All these authors identify the need for places where human beings can be together informally and inconsequentially, and how this impacts positively on their health and wellbeing.

Similarly, Delores Hayden, in her work Re-

Designing the American Dream, examines in detail the damaging effects of long isolated commutes on both individuals and the environment. A city that forces people to be alone in a car for three hours a day driving to and from their place of work, or that forces them to never know their neighbours or their adjacent street because they never have time to stop and talk or explore on foot, creates stress. If that city also forces them to regularly burn fossil fuels in a car just to make their life function, or that forces them to move house whenever the life’s circumstances change, is a city that is fundamentally unsustainable.

Even prior to the private car’s dominance on our streets, in the first decades of the twentieth century, the importance of neighbourhood, community, social interaction, walking and design of space, was being discussed and planned for. Clarence Perry’s work in NYC and Ebeneezer Howard in the UK were both advocating the neighbourhood unit as a model for organising urban space and social society. These ideas have never gone away and have been adapted and attempted through out the twentieth century, in various guises, albeit nearly always with the car as an equal partner in the design.

The New Urbanists in the 1980’s and 1990’s used Perry’s ideas, but coupled them with car ownership leading to ever more urban sprawl, albeit with well intentioned principles. In São Paulo, the Basic Urban Plan (PUB) of 1968 was developed and implemented (in part), and called for a for a polynuclear city, not unlike Howard’s garden cities. However, the PUB relied heavily on new transport infrastructure to work, infrastructure that was never implemented on the scale necessary (the PUB relied heavily on a network of subways which were incredibly

expensive), and consequently the car became the only viable means of city mobility.

This accommodation of the car has regularly undermined the fundamental idea; that cities are places of social interaction first. Allowing the car unlimited freedom is at odds with this concept.

The attraction of being able to shrink the city down to manageable chunks where one can live, work, play and regain some autonomy over one’s life is fundamentally appealing. Similarly, the ideas of plurality, democracy, sustainability are not new. They are old, established and popular; they are deemed to be thriving in our way of life, but are difficult to see and experience. Theres an uncomfortable feeling that they have been co-opted by an agenda that is at odds with their implementation.

But they are now beginning to be seen in the work of contemporary architects and urbanises, as it becomes apparent that our cities are not sustainable. The architecture practice BIG, is currently undertaking work to apply these principles in Brooklyn, once Perry’s home turf, and they look joyous.

This document proposes a strategic route to a spatial arrangement whereby plurality, sustainability, democracy and community, are embedded in São Paulo’s spaces. Spaces that are easier to understand, to move through, that are safer, cleaner; spaces where a closer level of decision making can occur, and spaces where people can get to know one another and enjoy one another.

Spaces where everyone can thrive.

part C3, image 01 Mi Teleférico cable car system, La Paz, Bolivia

Simplifying networks, creating the walk-able mega city

The main means of travel in São Paulo for those not in a private car, is the bus.

C3.00 introduction: mobility in São Paulo is easily the biggest mobility service provider in the city after the private car. With the exception of a small portion of the network which includes a 632 km (393 mi) long system of reserved bus lanes, (which is overseen by the São Paulo state owned and operated Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes Urbanos de São Paulo, or EMTU), most buses and lines are operated by concessionaires under the supervision of SPTrans, a São Paulo city municipal company responsible for the planning and management of public transport.

16,000 buses on approximately 1300 routes, a small number of minibuses or people carriers, and a handful of trolley buses traverse the city forming the bulk of the public transport system. There is also an underground light rail system, consisting of 6 metro lines, and an over ground heavy rail commuter system of an additional 7 lines, but the relatively small scale of rail transport, relative to the size of the city, (map No. Part C1.0 No. 10 - SPC - light rail), means that the bus

The map above shows the current bus network as a series of blue lines.

To create better quality, more varied and more accessible mobility options for the citizens of São Paulo this document makes several overlapping proposal which will be explored in more detail in this section. In summary they are as follows.

1. A regulated, municipally owned and managed single bus network

2. A simplified network of bus routes

3. A greater degree of pedestrian walking routes and cycling routes

4. A clear network of pedestrian and cycle routes, visible through better street signage, maps and architectural landmarks

5. An improved pedestrian and cycling public

part C3, map 01 - central São Paulo, existing bus network (blue) and subway/metro/rail network, dedicated buses lines (green), overlaid over new city parks proposal

realm, with better pavement, crossing points, seating, and planting.

6. A reorganisation of main arterial road space to give priority to buses and pedestrians.

7. A gradually expanding area of shared surface within Paulistano superblocks, where pedestrians and cyclists have clear priority over the car

These proposals are intentionally wide ranging and radical, and they are inextricably linked to one another, and they only feasible alongside the implementation of the strategies for social resilience set out in chapter C2.0 and environmental resilience set out in chapter 1.0.

The following chapter will outline how these proposals will integrate with the strategies for social and environmental resilience.

C3.01 bus network ownership

If buses are to be part of this document’s strategic vision for the city of São Paulo’s, then it is proposed to radically alter the ownership, and network to make it simpler to manage and use. The large number of concessions is to be scrapped and all buses brought under the ownership and operation of the municipality, allowing it to regulate and subsidise fares, thus allowing less profitable routes to enjoy good levels of service, e.g. routes that lead up into the favela districts on the outskirts of the city.

This model is used in London (and was used by every UK city up until 1985 when it was scrapped by the government in favour of private concessions competing for fares and lines). The difference between high quality levels of bus service in London compared to the rest of the UK

is stark and has led to demands that it be model be made legally available to other metropolitan areas, something currently prohibited by law.

Small concessionary bus operators are understandably interested in their profit margins first, they have after all to compete in a cut-throat market for fares to keep afloat, and therefore have little or no interest in public service provision if it does not align with their business agenda. Therefore, bringing the bus network under municipal control would allow it to be designed for the whole city, and for it to integrated into a city wide strategic vision. Rather than the bus route existing primarily as a means to service an

operators profits margins with public service as secondary, it will become a functioning useful part of the citizens right to the city, with profit as secondary. People and public service will take priority over profit.

C3.02 squeezing car space and giving it to the pedestrian and the bus

Historically the answer to car congestion has been to construct below ground metro systems. These systems leave street space completely untouched and therefore the dominance of the car is never challenged. But metros are extraordinarily expensive to build, and inflexible in their service provision.

Re-routing buses and providing more and greener buses, is a much simpler, less expensive and less invasive urban intervention than constructing new subway lines (or new roads for an expanding car owning population!). Buses are infinitely flexible, able to climb steep hills and winding streets and are able to access all areas of the city. Their main obstacle is the car. The car therefore has to be challenged.

The first move proposed is to gradually squeeze the private car off the road by incrementally handing more street space to buses, pedestrians and cyclists. The car cannot be removed altogether, nor is it desirable to do so as there

part C3, map 02 - central São Paulo, proposed simplified bus network diagram, (blue and dedicated bus lines in Green) and existing subway/metro/rail network, overlaid over new city parks proposal new bus routes co-ordinated with the new superblock

Creating connections with hilly outliers

are many people and business that need to use a car or delivery vehicle, but by providing a better bus service, and the means to access and move around the city by bus, by foot and by bicycle, and by ensuring there are shops, services and employment options within walking distance, the car’s necessity should diminish.

London’s public transport system, buses and tubes, is so extensive and well managed, that only a small majority of Londoners owned a car in 2012, (insert ref XXX) and this figure is in decline.

Instead of owning, nearly half of Londoners choose to rent or car share when they need one and rely on public transport, walking and cycling

for all other means of city mobility. This does not mean the car is banned, but its use is widely disincentivised. This proposal seeks to create a similar mindset in Paulistanos.

C3.03 what does a rational bus network look like?

The new bus route network would be located along the edges of the new Paulistano superblocks. As discussed in chapter 2.0 Social Resilience, the new bus network is to be rationalised as a north/south and east/west series of lines, with interconnecting primary nodes at each intersection where people would change

lines or change to walking or cycling.

São Paulo’s streets are broad enough and generous enough to allow a bus to pass another bus on the same street and still have space for cars to pass, and pedestrians. It is intended that buses would move down the centre of the streets, connecting to passenger collection points located at each intersection of line. A “lane” wide enough for a single car or delivery vehicle would be located adjacent to the central bus lane. Adjacent to this, all left over space between the edge of the “lane” and building line would be given over to pedestrian space. There would be no delivery or drop off space on this main arterial road.

part C3, map 03 - central São Paulo, proposed cable car network and proposed bus network

To discourage accelerating car speeds in between primary nodes, the “lane” level would be lower than the pavements, the urban bridges (see C2.6) and the bus lane level, by approx. 200mm, essentially forcing the car into a series of undulating road surfaces. In an emergency, ambulances and fire trucks would use the bus zone and buses would pull into the “lane” to allow a clear, flat route.

Variations on these ideas have been implemented in US and European cities with varying degrees of success over the last twenty years. This proposal seeks to strategically embed them in the spatial arrangement of the city. This arrangement allows for a clear urban bus map to be created, (see diagram left XXX) providing clarity through São Paulo’s tangled network of streets, and it would also ensure that all superblock residents have access to at least four bus lines within a 25 minutes’ walk.

C3.04

what about the car

The car retains its full access to all corners of the city, but the critical change is that its position in the hierarchy of users on the main arterial routes outside the superblocks, running across and through the city, is altered from that of the primary user to secondary or tertiary user, behind the bus and the pedestrian. The car always gives way to the urban bridges and the primary nodes set out in the spatial design. Inside the superblock, the car is prevented from finding through routes, forcing it to share space with the bus and the pedestrian if it wants to cross long distances, and the expanding shared surface and pedestrianisation emerging from the superblock’s heart (see C2.6) further squeezes the car’s dominance.

There would be no vehicular through routes through the superblock forcing private cars to share the same roads as the buses for cross city journeys. Pedestrian routes and cycling routes would be created through the superblocks, keeping riders and walkers separate from this traffic, encouraging this mode of active travel for shorter journeys between neighbourhoods, and simultaneously creating more pedestrian traffic to slow down and squeeze out the car. This hierarchy would inevitability and intentionally slow down buses and private cars and make them unsustainable for long city journeys, and attractive only when travelling between one or two city superblocks.

C3.05 cross city mobility

In order to make a journey across the city of several superblocks, a cable car system would be introduced. This network would expand as the main arterial superblock edges gradually give way to bus travel, primary nodes and urban bridges. It is intended that these cable cars would connect every other neighbourhood providing the ability to move larger distances in the city and to encourage walking and cycling over smaller distances through one or two superblocks. Wherever this becomes untenable due to the superblocks size, it would be up to the NDC to decide how they wanted to address this either by electric bicycle provision, external escalators, interior block

electric minibus service for example. No through routes for any cars or vehicles would be allowed but fiscal powers to create simpler easier walking and cycling routes and cycle provision would be granted by the regional prefecture.

The cable cars would bring residents down from the hills surrounding the city and deposit them in the heart of each superblock, where they could trade and sell goods and services to residents, protected from the competition of the big global corporate chains. The cable cars would terminate in one of the new city parks that form a green chain around the centre of the edge of the city, and from here, passengers would either continue

part C3, map 04 - central São Paulo, proposed cable car network overlaid of topographical map and new city parks

Simplifying connections with hilly outliers

their journey on foot, or bicycle, or bus into the centre, and or move east or west along the park on foot or by bike, to connect with another cable car line to take them to another district of the city.

In this way, the series of green parks and river walk ways become a kind of pedestrian by pass for the city, with the cable cars feeding people to the city edges. Buses, bicycles, pedestrians, cars and taxis, along with the metro and the rail still penetrate into the centre of the city, but there would now be an attractive, pleasant way to bypass the centre for those needing to reach across the city.

As the car is squeezed more and more, and as the bus and cable car network becomes more extensive, and the city parks being to join up, the city will gradually be handed over to the pedestrian and the cyclists and taken away from the car.

C3.06 what are the problems and the benefits of such a radical transformation of the city?

Studies have shown that more use of public transport encourages more casual interaction with strangers, which in turn engenders a greater sense of shared humanity and less hostility and suspicion. More walking and cycling encourage a greater degree of physical activity which increases levels of health and wellbeing and reduces pressures on health care systems.

The obvious problem with flipping the mobility hierarchy in such a way is that it is likely to also slow down and make more difficult the current mode of economic activity. However, it is this mode of economic activity, which depends on people driving in cars long distances to singular big box outfits to consume goods and services,

C3, image 03 Mi Teleférico, cable car network, La Paz, Bolivia that is creating environmental damage and air pollution. It is this mode of economic activity that is forcing people to spend long periods of time alone in a car, creating problems for out health and well being. And it is this mode of economic activity that hands a big portion of the city’s revenue, and therefore a substantial portion of the city’s power, to a shrinking handful of actors. This economic mode of activity has to be challenged if we want to live in a cleaner environment, spend more time with our families and friends, and have more autonomy over our own lives.

Historically, this kind of radical reversal of power is extremely difficult to achieve and rarely successful if forced. Established players have a great deal of power and control over the scale and type of change they will allow, and will naturally resist if they feel they are threatened. So it is critical that these changes happen slowly and incrementally to allow all players to get on board.

The aim of this proposal is not to destroy Starbucks and or squeeze multi-millionaires till “the pips squeak”. The proposal seeks to create an economic environment and a social space to live in which everyone can feel greater degrees of security and autonomy, including multi nationals and multi-millionaires. After all, Starbucks cannot sell coffee to people with no money and multimillionaires can not keep the mob from the gate for ever. It is in everyone’s interest that everybody has the chance to live a long, healthy prosperous life. As the exchange between Henry Ford, the corporate titan of Ford Motors and Walter Reuther, the leader of the automobile workers union at Ford, when they were both examining the prospect of increased automated robotic assembly systems for Ford’s cars:

HF: Walter, how are you going to get those robots to pay your union dues?

WR: Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars?

The system has to be mutually beneficial in order for it to sustain itself. Therefore it is critical that this hierarchical reversal of fortune happens gradually, to allow business and citizens to adapt. All business models need to adapt to a different future where we work smarter, greener and more sustainably to tackle climate change, and to create more opportunities for people to create their own personal security and not be at the mercy of market forces.

A big part of the strategy to achieve greater security, a cleaner environment and more autonomy, is to work at a smaller more localised level, where carbon footprints are reduced and people can have a greater degree of control over

part C3, image 02 shared road surface, Utrecht, Netherlands

part

city centre

how things are produced and distributed close to where they live. For a multitude of smaller localised economies to flourish to the extent that they are able to compete with and eventuially replace the economic output of big singular global players, there needs to be many of them; thousands of small businesses instead of a handful of global brands. And these thousands of small business and service providers need to be spread widely and equitably across the city to protect against market forces that could easily take out a single player in one hit, but would struggle to take out the thousands of smaller players at the same time.

For thousands of small business to thrive, they need footfall. They need people to be able to walk to them and reach them, to be able to buy their goods and services and transport them back to wherever they live. They can still use a car, but the system proposed provides realistic options as alternatives, options that should be more attractive because they are social, cheap, stimulating and varied.

cable car and station dedicated bus route or tram line neighbourhood bus route neighbourhood with shared surface for car, bikes and pedestrians

cable car and station dedicated bus route or tram line neighbourhood bus route neighbourhood with shared surface for car, bikes and pedestrians city centre

indicative pedestrian & cycle route urban bridge

The ambition is to create a spatial city arrangement where everyone feels a sense of agency, and where the benefits of the city’s output are distributed equitably, and not just to remote shareholders. As the global supply chains are becoming unsustainable and there is a noticeable shift towards small scale enterprises serving locally, this spatial vision seeks to encourage and facilitate these changes without damage the economic well being of its citizens.

Casa Verde (centred, highlighted)

Area & Population - 7.1km² & 75,687 Density - 10,660 persons/km²

Average income - R $ 1,411.67

Cachoeirinha (north of Casa Verde)

Area & Population - 13.3km² & 157,408 inhab Density - 11,835 persons/km²

Average income R $ 874.21

Mandaqui (north east of Casa Verde)

Area & Population - 13.2km² & 101,994 inhab

Density - 7726 persons/km²

Average income R $ 1,615.98

Santana (east of Casa Verde)

Area & Population - 13.1km² & 112,613 inhab

Density - 8596 persons/km²

Average income R $ 6,200.00

Bom Retiro (south east of Casa Verde)

Area & Population - 4.0km² & 33,892 inhab Density - 8473 persons/km²

Average income R $ 1,358.39

Santa Cecelia (south of Casa Verde)

Area & Population - 3.9km² & 83,717 inhab

Density - 21,465 persons/km²

Average income R $ 2,505.76

Barra Funda (south west of Casea Verde)

Area & Population - 5.6km² & 12,977 inhab

Density - 2317 persons/km²

Average income R $ 2364

Limao (west of Casa verde)

Area & Population - 6.3km² & 80,571 inhab

Density - 12,789 persons/km²

Average income - R $ 1,110.11

Applying the proposal to north/central São Paulo - detail

Cachoeirinha

Santana

area density income

santana (e) 13.1 8596 6,200 R$ santa cecelia (s) 3.9 21466 2,505 R$ barra funda (sw) 5.6 2321 2,364 R$ mandaqui (ne) 13.2 7727 1,615 R$ casa verde (centre) 7.1 10660 1,411 R$ bom retiro (se) 4 8473 1,358 R$ limao (w) 6.3 12789 1,110 R$ cachoeirinha (n) 13.3 11835 874 R$

area density income

cachoeirinha (n) 13.3 11835 874 R$ mandaqui (ne) 13.2 7727 1,615 R$ santana (e) 13.1 8596 6,200 R$ casa verde (centre) 7.1 10660 1,411 R$ limao (w) 6.3 12789 1,110 R$ barra funda (sw) 5.6 2321 2,364 R$ bom retiro (se) 4 8473 1,358 R$ santa cecelia (s) 3.9 21466 2,505 R$

area density income santa cecelia (s) 3.9 21466 2,505 R$ limao (w) 6.3 12789 1,110 R$ cachoeirinha (n) 13.3 11835 874 R$ casa verde (centre) 7.1 10660 1,411 R$ santana (e) 13.1 8596 6,200 R$ bom retiro (se) 4 8473 1,358 R$ mandaqui (ne) 13.2 7727 1,615 R$ barra funda (sw) 5.6 2321 2,364 R$

Bom Retiro

Casa Verde

Mandaqui

Limao

Barra Funda

Santa Cecelia

part C3, map 05 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing buses and urban motorways

map No. PCM19 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map - topography

C3.07 case study: applying the proposal to north/central São Paulo

If we look at a district of São Paulo, north east of the historical centre of São Paulo and stretching approximately 5km in a northerly direction (map on the left), we can see how this strategy of a network of new city parks, coordinated with new city neighbourhoods, orientated around strategic bus routes and transport arteries, with over laid interweaving networks of cycle and pedestrian routes might look, (map No. PCM20).

The map is centred on one of São Paulo’s 96 administrative districts, Casa Verde, which sits inside the regional prefecture of Casa VerdeCachoeirinha. To the north is the administrative district of Cachoeirinha and going clockwise around Case Verde there is Mandaqui (NE), Santana (E), Bom Retiro (SE), Santa Cecelia (S), Barra Funda (SW), and Limao (W). Each of these neighbourhoods varies in wealth, size and density, has varying degrees of green space (with Santana having the largest expanse of green space by far - see map No. PCM19). Casa Verde is in the middle of each table shown on the left, in terms of wealth and density, and topographically is nestles in a valley, with steep hills either side.

This area represents a broad spectrum of the kinds of neighbourhoods that exist in São Paulo, and how the urban grain and topography of the city changes the further out of the city one wanders. The district’s two main motorways follow the path of the natural valleys, and both have a covered river in the centre of the road.

The map on the left shows Casa Verde and its

neighbours in its current formation, with the heavy blue lines showing a complex network of bus routes.

The map on this page shows the same district but as the strategy proposes, with a radically simplified bus network. It is envisioned that these routes become the de-facto traffic routes through the city, where buses, delivery vehicles and private cars move, the intersections of which become the primary nodes, i.e. moments where people change bus lines, begin or end a journey on foot or by bike.

Over time, buses would gradually be replaced by trams and light rail, and the private car would gradually diminish in desirability as the public transport option became larger, better designed, more regular, comfortable and cheap.

Along these edges, small scale private social and civic infrastructure will be encouraged, i.e. small business, offices, stores, service providers, (hairdressers, barbers etc). Large scale superstore would be discouraged in favour of small and medium sized locally established outlets. Global corporate chains would be strictly controlled to ensure they do not monopolise.

The speed of the traffic will be controlled by numerous urban bridges, and broad generous pedestrian pavements. All parking and delivery will happen behind these routes. The blue lines are effectively shared spaces where buses and pedestrians take priority. Inside the superblock, cars and delivery vehicles share road surface with cyclists and pedestrians. Critically there is no through route through the superblock for cars

part C3, map 06 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, proposed bus network, primary nodes and city parks

and delivery vehicles, however there are numerous enhanced and well design through routes for cycles and pedestrians.

In the heart of each neighbourhood would be social and community neighbourhood infrastructure, meeting halls, green spaces, schools, care homes, nurseries, and some commercial ventures such as grocery stores and restaurants. The type of commerical activity inside the superblock would be regulated and controlled by residents (see C4 - Re-Structuring Power)

C3.08 where to locate urban bridges

Due to its varied topography, its periods of rapid expansion and lack of a masterplan controlling these periods of expansion, São Paulo’s urban grain is that of a series of neighbourhoods, some regular and orthogonal, some winding, nestled next to one another. The point at which one crosses from one neighbourhood to the other is often non-linear, i.e. the direction in which one must travel in order to pass from one neighbourhood to the next involves changing direction.

For non-Paulistanos and Paulistanos alike, this creates an urban grain that is difficult to navigate without prior knowledge. The majority of streets that cross the neighbourhood boundaries are either dead ends in one direction or lead the pedestrian or car to a situation where they must choose between two 90 degree turns, see map PCM 22.

This blocking of linear routes by sharp changes of direction and dead ends creates a sense of unease for the pedestrian, as through routes are difficult to discern, and distances that must be travelled before an answer to the question of “is this a way through” can be found, are long, often up to 500m.

There are however, some moments where the crossover between neighbourhoods is direct and linear, and these are noted on the map PCM21. For the purposes of illustrating this strategy, this is where the urban bridges would be located, although in reality the location of these urban bridges would be determined by detailed surveys and studies regarding pedestrian desire lines, sight lines for traffic etc.

C3.09 beyond the urban bridge, venturing into the heart of the neighbourhood - pedestrian routes, urban steps

Within this neighbourhood (and all neighbourhoods in São Paulo), there are numerous pedestrian routes made up of alleys, ramps and steps up and down the steep hills and squeezed between properties (see PCM 23) and roads and pocket parks, (see maps PCM24 and 2).

These routes are poorly signposted, shabby in appearance, poorly designed and badly maintained. They are the result of decades of sporadic organic urban growth and well trodden desire lines, rather than a conceived strategy to allow pedestrian penetration through the neighbourhood. They feel secretive and unsafe, and are poorly lit, discouraging the non resident from venturing through.

C3.10 pocket

The city has numerous pocket parks and green spaces, but they are nearly all small and “left over” places where it was originally difficult to build, and they are predominately on steep verges where there is no flat area where children can play. They are heavily wooded and green to create

lots of shadow but this also creates a sense of intimidation, as there are lots of places where the park visitor can not see, and therefore struggles to discern how safe the park might be.

The parks are poorly connected to one another, with the city’s topography concealing the view from one park to the next, or the city’s overhead

06. Praça Benito Nicoletti

11. São Paulo Campo de Marte Airport

10. Praça Conde Francisco Matarazzo Junior (left) and Praça Sousa Aranha (right) 15. Praça Roque Bacchin

09. Praça do Centenário 14. Rua Frei Pedro Sinzig - Imirim

08. Parque Barra Funda 13. Jocum São Paulo (top)

07.

Parque Industrial Tomas Edson

12. Campo Jd São Bento

02. E. E. Paulo Setúbal

03. Praça Adriano Ribeiro Cardoso

parks, grass verges, public spaces

Verde, aerial view, intense urbanisation

lines and cables blocking the view. There is little or no signage directing the pedestrian to the next park or the next through route, and they are surround, on all their edges by parked cars, shabby pavements with poor street lighting. This again can create a sense of unease with too many obstacles blocking sight-lines and too little light to assist.

São Paulo Campo de Marte Airport, No. 11, but this whole area is a muddled mixture of private garden private playing fields, public scrubland and through routes. It resides adjacent to one of the most desirable neighbourhoods also, which despite its scale and obvious potential for shared open space, makes it fortress like and hidden from view.

Many of the larger spaces are walled off from public view suggesting they are private (although Cemetery New Cachoeirinha, No. 1, is a cemetery which would ordinarily be public). The largest green space in the maps is the one surrounding

The map on the left, PCM25 gives a good impression of the degree that green open space is limited in this are of São Paulo.

04. Praça 02 De Dezembro

05. Praça Canaã

10. Praça Conde Francisco Matarazzo Junior (left)

01. Cemetery New Cachoeirinha

13. Jocum São Paulo (top)

Inserting new connections at dead ends, new interventions to make new routes

C3.11 pocket parks, grass verges, public spaces

This proposal seeks to connect together the urban bridges and existing interior pedestrian routes of the superblock, with new additional steps, ramps and gaps, creating long linear pedestrian routes that the user can navigate easily by being able to see through to their destination without contemplating dead ends or changes of direction greater than 45 degrees. See map PCM26.

This pedestrian experience of visual anchor in the distance, coupled with clear well designed, easily walk-able routes, and easy to follow urban markers, was championed by Gordon Cullen (G. Cullen) in his seminal book Townscape, and is the basis for encouraging pedestrian movement through the Paulistanao superblock.

This would be combined with wider pavements along the prescribed route, improved crossing points (urban bridges), regular public seating and new signage and way-finding.

Gradually the introduction of new steps, ramps and gaps would create multiple linear through routes for the pedestrian, bringing more people into the block, encouraging more footfall for superblock businesses, and providing a safe walking space shared with cars and cyclists.

More footfall means more eyes on the street, (J. Jacobs), improving security and safety for walkers.

Over time, several new routes through the superblock’s would develop, with natural desirelines forming the most popular routes where money and energy would be focused to

part C3, map 12 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing neighbourhood boundary simple crossing points, extended to proposed interventions & connections

makes these the de-facto pedestrian routes through the city.

Due to the nature of São Paulo’s hilly topography, cycle routes would be more organic, occupying the shared road surface in the blocks until clear blockages were identified, which could then be made more suitable for bikes.

Creating primary pedestrian routes connecting north and south

Ultimately, the interior of each superblock would be a network of pedestrian and cycle routes overlaying a neighbourhood of shared road surface where the car would be secondary.

These shared surfaces would become public realm in their own right, where children could play and where trafic speeds rediuce to 5mph, thus opening up more shared city space for living where one can meet and talk to neighbours, and where social interaction can grow and develop exponentially, creating stronger community bonds.

main pedestrian route secondary pedestrian routes

part C3, map 13 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, new major pedestrian routes from the city to northern favelas

part C3, image 10 - minimal car space, London

part C3, image 11 - pedestrianisation, Madrid

part C3, image 12 - designed cycle, pedestrian and vehicle crossings

part C3, image 13 - shared surface, Barcelona

- RESTRUCTURING

part C4, image 01 members of the Worker’s Party 1985, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva - (president 2000 - 2009, second from right)

Real power for those on the ground

C4.00 introduction: experiments in devolving power downwards

This document seeks to outline a strategy for more participatory decision making on matters of urban development, based on a new spatial organisation of the city, which is in turn based on a series of new city parks, new public transport arteries and new neighbourhood democratic councils.

from 1997 to 2001.

But the work begun by the community groups, civil society organizations (CSOs) and local authorities during the Erundina administration survived enough to inform the Worker’s Party administration of Marta Suplicy of the 00’s, and the drafting and implementation of the City Statute federal law (2001).

in favelas and without clean water and paved streets is increasing. Part of the reason why this is the case, is because although principles and mechanism of participatory decision making are enshrined in law, legislative and executive bodies are not legally obligated to act on their decisions arising from them. In short, they can simply be ignored. (Abigail Friendly 2019, pg 913, para 3).

São Paulo is not new to ideas of participatory decision making in urban development matters. It has been on a journey of experimentation in this field since at least 1988, when after the 1986–1987 Constituent Assembly drafted the “citizen’s” constitution (which sought a more citizen rights based system of government that restricted the state’s ability to limit personal freedoms and dictate law from the top down) took into account the demands of the National Movement for Urban Reform (Movimento Nacional de Reforma Urbana - MNRU) and included, as a direct result of pressure from the MNRU, two new amendments. An obligation on decision makers to focus on the social function of property (the obligation to use land uses contributing to the common good) and the right to the city as a right to participate in the production and democratic management of urban space.

Unfortunately, attempts in São Paulo at devolving urban decision making down from a centralised governmental structure to citizens, by the brief administration of Mayor Luiza Erundina (of the Workers’ Party, or Partido dos Trabalhadores/PT) from 1989 to 1993, were subsequently attacked and partially dismantled during the following eight years of conservative administration under Paulo Maluf from 1993 to 1997, and Celso Pitta

This law, ensures that the social function’ of urban land and buildings is put before their commercial value. This has been defined as “the prioritization of use value over exchange value”. It also ensures ‘democratic city management’, defined as “a path to plan, produce, operate and govern cities subject to social control and participation.”

However, even with the 1988 Constitution and the City Statute federal law, urban development is São Paulo has not definitively tilted towards a more social responsive and inclusive form. There is still a degree of clientelism and corruption that ensures that the numbers of people living

The fundamental basis of the strategy proposed in this document is that decisions from neighbourhood councils supersede all other decisions form regional prefectures and state authorities, on some, specific issues. The decisions made at this lowest level must be definitive and final in order that the system of NDCs does not become another layer of decision making bureaucracy that can be ignored. Real power in this new institution will forces all other bodies to take seriously their concerns and ideas. Without it, it will be another talking shop at best, and at worst it will give succour to those who denigrate citizen participation as wasteful and pointless.

part C4, image 02 - Ulysses Guimarães (38th president of Brazil) holding a copy of the 1988 Constitution.

C4.01 so what kind of decisions will the NDC have absolute autonomy over?

The point of the NDC is fundamentally to give residents a greater degree of security over their lives; to give them the power to defend themselves against forces that have the power to make them to leave where they live and work, thus creating social and economic upheaval that will threaten health and well being. The basic principle is that if one has a place to call home that can not be taken away, and a job over which they have a greater degree of control, then one is much more able to withstand any other social and economic shock.

The concept of competition is fundamental to the way we organise our lives and distribute goods, services, opportunities. People compete for the best price, the opportunity to make money etc. The free market ideology that prevails currently, subscribes to the idea that the less regulatory control over the competition, the fairer the competition is. This low regulatory idea is based on the principle that competitions have to have rules and who ever writes the rules of the competition will always have the upper hand in bending the rules to favour themselves. Therefore, the conclusion is therefore the fewer rules, the more likely the competition is to be fair. And by extension, no rules is the fairest competition of all.

themselves must be protected against those who do. This is a basic tenet of land reform demands since the Enclosures in Britain in the 14th century and has been deeply embedded in Brazil’s demands for land reform for the last 200 years.

The way this is proposed in this document, is to give people who live and work in a neighbourhood area, the power to decide what kind of competition they will allow to enter into their neighbourhood, and therefore what kind of threat to their security they are prepared to accept. What type of business, what company name, what nature of business, what processes are they prepared to allow close by where they live and work.

C4.02 why limit their autonomy to just one principle?

São Paulo (city) has multiple levels of administrative control, legal jurisdiction, municipal involvement, civil involvement, etc. To add another complex layer into the mix would not be helpful. The aim of the proposal is to keep it simple.

This is not to suggest that homes and jobs are guaranteed by the state through legally binding measures. Rather, that control over how to fight back against the forces that threaten the security of these things is handed down to the local level. So, the key question is, what are these forces? What is the single biggest threat to a citizen’s security; to their ability to pay a mortgage or a rent?

There are two big threats to security. Poor health leading to an inability to work and earn money, and a job being taken away without warning. To a large extent poor health can be mitigated against by the individual through diet, exercise, good sleep etc, and the things that threaten the individuals ability to achieve these things are the same things that threaten their ability to pay a mortgage or rental demand. Job insecurity.

So if the key principle is to protect people’s ability to earn, then they need to be empowered to defend themselves against the market forces that can take that away.

However, this is based on the idea that within the competition, everyone is starting form the same place, with the same degree of leverage, power and control. In terms of land ownership and development, everyone involved in the process does not have the same degree of leverage power and control. Some people own the land and some do not, some stand to profit from it, some do not; yet everyone needs land to exist. Everyone needs a space in which to live a life.

To distribute land as a commodity to those who have money is to threaten the existence of those that can not afford it own it. It assumes all players have equal opportunities to acquire funds to own land, and those who have more or less are deserving of their share; that the individual is in absolute control of their portion. This not true; some people are born poor with no support, while others are blessed with abundant wealth and security from the day they are born.

So, those without funds to own the land for

This is the only principle that they NDC would have jurisdiction over. What buildings look like, who owns them etc remains within the remit of the regional prefecture.

By choosing the nature and type of business that resides in their neighbourhoods, residents can have a greater degree of control over the threat to their existing jobs, and the opportunities for new types of jobs. In turn, they have a greater degree of control over how they earn money to pay for their security. They get to determine what kind of industry and jobs they are happy to live alongside and they therefore have control over the quality of their neighbourhood.

part C4, image 05 - Parliamentary session which then established the 1988 Constitution

Preventing gentrification

C4.03 simple principle as part of a much larger long term plan

It is envisioned that as São Paulo’s incentives behind its decision making become less car orientated and more public transport, walking and cycling oriented, that the distances people are asked to travel to live and work shrink. This shrinkage of distance then creates a demand for a richer variety of goods services and industries closer to where people live and due to the smaller scale of these industries, there is opportunity for new players to enter the market, to compete with the big hitters, and this in turn should engender greater competition and variety, and a more responsive attitude to questions of sustainability. Real choice open up for residents; choice of what to consume, where to work, how to organise their priorities.

This would mean that the pressure on each neighbourhood to accept more and more employment would increase as once large big box retailers and manufacturers are forced to shrink down to a neighbourhood level of service. Initially these would proliferate around the superblock edge, but gradually, due to the size of each neighbourhood and the limits to the superblock edges, there would be pressure to move to the superblock’s interior to reach more customers and workers.

C4.04 preventing gentrification

There is a danger that wealthier neighbourhood councils would restrict all but the most attractive industries to their neighbourhood, or keep them out altogether, leaving a purely residential bairro. This would in turn create a cycle of gentrification and put ever greater pressure on less wealthy neighbourhoods to accept the more polluting and dangerous industries, eventually emphasising difference rather than encouraging people to cross between different neighbourhoods for different goods and services.

For this reason it would be necessary to legally enshrine the distribution of specific undesirable goods and services across neighbourhoods, e.g. recycling processing, sewerage processing, energy generation, to ensure that one neighbourhood does not end up having to bear the brunt of them all while others have none.

C4.05 conclusion

This agency and autonomy over how a neighbourhood is, would create a greater degree of social resilience, so that when forces beyond the neighbourhood council’s control need to be tackled, such as a pandemic, or an economic slump, they are socially stronger and better able to deal with them.

The proposal seeks nothing less than to create spaces in the city to reverse the trends of powerlessness, individualism and alienation.

The speed and the extent to which this happens is to be placed entirely in the hands of the superblock residents, and taken out of the hands of market forces.

This is a difficult balance to strike and is open to corrupting influences, e.g. wealthier bairro’s are likely to have influence over judicial proceedings that might decide such matters whereas poorer areas will not. It is proposed therefore that there are significant financial incentives for undesirable industries to be offered by the regional prefecture to the neighbourhoods to ensure that where such industries are located, that significant compensation and mitigating measures can be put in place to protect the health and well being of residents.

It is this reversal of power that creates a greater degree of security, and therefore social resilience.

part C4, image 06 - proposed music centre in the heart of Paraisópolis favela - social infrastructure proposal by by Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner, Urban Think Tank, Brazil

part C5, image 01 - view from the Minhocão towards a building on São João

Participatory budgeting and extending the principle of self build

C5.00 introduction: experiments in participatory budgeting

The concept of involving residents in the decision making process of how collected tax receipts should be spent, known as participatory budgeting or PB, is not new to Brazil or São Paulo, and experiments have been going on for 30 years.

After the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, the grass roots democratic movements that had emerged in the first half of the decade, and who had been instrumental in forming the political Brazilian Workers party, were able to exert influence over the form of democracy that the country was to take in the drafting of the 1988 constitution. This constitution legitimized spaces for participation and dialogue between government and civil society.

The key participatory mechanism born out of the new constitution was known as a Management Council. These councils were composed of both citizens and government and managed resources from both the municipality, (who had been granted significant autonomy by the 1988 constitution to raise revenue through tax), and the federal government.

Management councils were set up to cover decision making in a variety of areas, education, health, social security etc, and they were experimental with varying degrees of success.

The city of Porto Algre set up a Management Council to facilitate discussion between citizens and government regarding how the states budget should be spent. After a slow start, the principle gradually became more successful, and the concept of participatory budgeting has since been applied all over Brazil and in other parts of

the world, although its popularity has waned as problems inherent in activating and engaging thousands of citizens becomes apparent.

Participatory budgeting in São Paulo itself has been sporadic, inconsistent and has achieved only partial success, notably in the Participatory Housing Budget of 2000, championed by Olívio Dutra, former mayor of Porto Alegre, who took the helm of the ministry of cities, (the creation of the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to combine all city issues, planning, transport, sanitation etc, into one ministry). The project was eventually scrapped in 2010 by Bolsonaro, the incoming right wing administration.

Even the birth city of Porto Algre has rolled back on its participatory budgeting for a variety of reason; partly due to political changes and partly due to residents becoming less engaged in the model over time. The problem of how a system of participatory government is sustained in the long term is a critical problem of any democratic system; there are always a portion of the citizenry who don’t engage for what ever reason and therefore the system naturally tilts towards those that do.

How to address this is a key problem.

structure of an appropriate system of PB for the proposed NDC’s is too complicated to untangle in this document.

However, it is proposed that principle of empowering residents to determine how money allocated to their neighbourhood is spent should be encouraged, but more importantly, this document proposed that residents undertake the physical labour of constructing changes to their urban environment themselves.

C5.01 extending the principle of participatory budgeting

This document takes the principle of participatory budgeting and seeks to apply it with a slightly different angle. This document champions participatory budgeting for all neighbourhoods democratic councils, but the specific nature and

Research suggests that when people take an active role in facilitating change they feel ownership of it. They are therefore more likely to defend it and protect it against attempts to dismantle of undermine it. This can be seen in Mexico City where residents have been instrumental in constructing their own flood defence and drainage systems for example,

and can be observed in the self built homes and favelas across the city. Ownership creates pride, and this encourages people to engage in defending what they have created and invested in.

It is this principle of active participation in the physical labour to create transformational change that this document proposes to tie to the participatory budget system, or any allocation of funds for works.

By giving communities the autonomy to construct, build, and physically change things is to invest them in its longevity, and therefore, the longevity and structural stability of the institution of the NDC.

C5.02 a partnership of equals between state and citizen

This tying of budget to participation in physical labour can be said to have sinister undertones of forced labour, and so the connection of funds to active participation in the labour would need to be tackled carefully and sensitively. Not everyone is physically able to contribute and there will be people that choose not to engage but benefit from the outcome. All this has the potential to create resent and friction, the opposite of the intended outcome.

However, the principle of active urban transformation by residents, is not that far removed from the state providing jobs. The critical difference between traditional state funded employment and this model, is that this model would offer residents in the NDC first refusal on

those jobs and skills. And they would be offered the opportunity to learn how to design, construct, manage and maintain their own environment by the state, rather than be employed by the state,.

It should not be forgotten that São Paulo is literally is full of people who are able and willing to build their own homes; the hills of all Brazilian cities are filled with self-built homes, people who need jobs and skills and who are capable of undertaking such tasks.

They would not be paid by the state to labour for the state, rather they would be offered funding attached to training to enable them to do it for themselves. This would enable residents to pass on these skills to each other, to generations below, gradually changing the dynamic between state and resident from that of top down provider and grateful recipient, to that of equals; the state

engaging with residents to agree how funds are allocated through PB, and citizens engaging with each other to take ownership of the changes to their environment, rather than being forced to hand over the work to remote businesses whose priorities are shareholder profit first, a good urban environment second.

The work to create shared road space, cycle lanes, seating, crossing points, drainage, signage is all work that could be done by the neighbourhood residents with guiding design principles, training and instruction from the state, e.g. how a crossing point should be, how to lay setts, where signage needs to be placed, graphics etc. More technical engineered items such as street lighting, power supply, renewable energy, sanitary and waste processing could be gradually introduced over time.

part C5, image 02 - series of diagrams showing how pedestrianisation and shared surface creation would grow from the centre of the neighbourhoods out towards the edges, the social infrastructure at it’s heart (red circle), strengthened commercial edges

Starting slow and building momentum

Residents could also be incentivised to use this model by the allocation of a greater budget compared to other NDCs that opt for a traditional third party contractor to come in and undertake the works. The savings on labour costs would pay for this incentive.

C5.04 scale and ambition: history teaches us it can be done

The proposals set out in this document are big; they’re intended to be big, to show what the whole city could be. The proposal is not megalomaniacal, although its scale could suggest this is the case; the proposals are careful to work within the city’s existing urban grain, and existing social and political structures. They are ambitious proposals, but realistic as evidenced by similar scale projects throughout the world.

C5.03 virtuous circles and exponential growth

This principle of devolving so much control down to unskilled citizens and residents is understandably challenging. Corruption and waste needs to be avoided, there will be inefficiencies as people learn new skills. The first moves into this territory will need to be highly managed and skillfully directed. But the long term benefits are big, with citizens having real ownership of the city, real control over their physical environment, their energy supplies, their air quality; real security over their future, and a real strengthening of democratic institutions.

It is proposed that these new NDCs and their allocation of funds and training begins from the centre and gradually grows out form each NDC. It would make sense to imagine a single NDC as the first experiment, then as it succeeds and grows, adjacent NDCs would begin their experiments, using the skills and knowledge of the first, using the urban bridges to move between neighbourhoods. If these first NDCs happen at strategic points over the city, eventually they would join together, (see part C5, image 02).

The large scale demolition of the urban motorways adjacent to the city’s rivers, need to happen in one go, but the moves to create the parks and new connections can all happen before the motorways are removed. The delineation of the new NDCs and the restructuring of the bus network and through-routes can all happen incrementally and slowly. The urban bridges, primary nodes, new community social infrastructure can only happen organically as the relationship and energy between state and citizen grows and each element of the proposal begins to slot in to place and function.

The symbiosis and the energy needs to build from the bottom up; the participatory budget and construction of the shared space neighbourhoods growing from the centre, has to grow outwards to meet the state intervention on the buses and the cable cars at the edges.

Urban interventions on this sale have been undertaken in São Paulo previously; the construction of the SP015 and the Minhocão are evidence of this. Huge urban moves can be made, if the political will is there and the desire from residents is there to support it.

C5.05 conclusion

This document is intended as a strategy, a framework around which decisions can be made over the next 50 to 100 years. The proposal is not intended as tabula rasa, to be implemented in a single stroke. Rather it is a goal to be reached for incrementally as the city makes numerous decisions about how to adapt and change for the future in terms of reducing pollution, managing flooding and moving people around the city; in this way the problems of cost, ownership and changes in car use can be gradually addressed.

The market, as a mechanism for distributing goods, services and opportunities works to some degree, for some of life’s necessities, such as food and clothing, but it is becoming clear that cities cannot continue to expand exponentially on this model to accommodate people’s needs without environmental destruction on a huge scale. Cities need to be designed and managed at a more responsive level, i.e. responsive to people not market economics.

Dig in Boston, the opening up of the Estuary of Bilbao for public space and recreational use and the revealing and re-use of the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul, Korea, are all good examples.

All these cities have faced similar obstacles to those in São Paulo and found ways to overcome them., São Paulo can do the same.

By creating space for more walking, more social interaction, more competition, more play, we can reduce our energy use, address the cause and symptoms of climate change, empower people and offer security for their futures. We can guard ourselves against needless and relentless market forces, prevent and control endless growth and with it exponential urban sprawl, and own our urban environments, and know and stand alongside our neighbours and our fellow citizens, as mutually supportive friends.

We can make our lives feel connected to one another and relive the pressure of endless competition and personal responsibility. We can find support in one another.

This can only be done holistically, by thinking big, but implementing slowly and gradually. This approach should enable us to meet the challenges of climate change and widespread poverty.

However, historically, large governmental interventions into cities, such as such as those created by the construction of large urban motorways in cities such as São Paulo, have been problematic, resulting in displacement, isolation, air pollution etc. It is important these mistakes are not made again.

Interventions of this scale are happening in other cities right now; the High Line in New York, the Big

We can, and we should, shrink the city.

part C5, image 03 - the big dig, Boston, MA the burying of the urban motorway and its replacement with a public park part C5, image 04 - flooding in central São Paulo

part C1, map 01 - São Paulo Metropolitan Region 26

part C1, map 02 - São Paulo’s local government administrations 26 part C1, map 03 - São Paulo’s topography 26 part C1, map 04 - São Paulo’s green spaces 27 part C1, map 05 - São Paulo’s buildings 27 part C1, map 06 - São Paulo’s primary and secondary road network 27

part C1, map 07 - São Paulo’s density 28 part C1, map 08 - São Paulo’s favelas and cortiços 28 part C1, map 09 - São Paulo’s geotechnical 28 part C1, map 10 - São Paulo’s light rail 29 part C1, map 11 - São Paulo’s heavy rail 29 part C1, map 12 - São Paulo’s bus network 29 part C1, map 13 - central São Paulo’s density, existing rivers, waterways, and urban fabric 30

part C1, map 14 - central São Paulo’s topography 31

part C1, map 15 - central São Paulo’s existing road network and green spaces 32 part C1, map 16 - central São Paulo’s existing road network, river course re-instated, motorways removed, new bridge connections 33 part C1, map 17 - central São Paulo’s flood plain 33 part C1, map 18 - central São Paulo, 1930 historical map 34 part C1, map 19 - central London, figure ground, parks and waterways 36 part C1, map 20 - central São Paulo’s flood plain (blue), buildings to be demolished (red) and building to be purchased and re-used by the municipality, for civic/public use. 38 part C1, map 21 - central São Paulo, proposed city parks, new urban bridge connections, buildings 42

part C2, map 01 - central São Paulo, existing regional prefectures (32 - black), administrative districts (96 - red), Edinburgh neighbourhoods overlaid (red squares) 46 part C2, map 02 - central Edinburgh city centre, neighbourhoods overlaid as red blocks 47 part C2, map 03 - central Barcelona, with 1km square overlaid in red 48 part C2, map 04 - central São Paulo, proposed new city parks, existing (augmented) regional prefectures (32 - black) & administrative districts (96 - red), neighbourhood superblocks (blue) 50

part C2, map 05 - central São Paulo, proposed neighbourhood superblocks 51 part C3, map 01 - central São Paulo, existing bus network (blue) and subway/metro/rail network, dedicated buses lines (green), overlaid over new city parks proposal 60

part C3, map 02 - central São Paulo, proposed simplified bus network diagram, (blue and dedicated bus lines in Green) and existing subway/metro/rail network, overlaid over new

map reference

city parks proposal - new bus routes co-ordinated with the new superblock 61 part C3, map 03 - central São Paulo, proposed cable car network and proposed bus network 62 part C3, map 04 - central São Paulo, proposed cable car network overlaid of topographical map and new city parks 63 part C3, map 05 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing buses and urban motorways 66

map No. PCM19 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map - topography 66 part C3, map 06 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, proposed bus network, primary nodes and city parks 67 part C3, map 07 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing neighbourhood boundary simple crossing points, examples 68 part C3, map 08 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing neighbourhood boundary simple crossing points, extended to natural dead ends, examples 70 part C3, map 09 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing neighbourhood pedestrian routes and urban steps, examples 72 part C3, map 10 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing pocket parks and green spaces, examples 74 part C3, map 11 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, aerial photograph 76 part C3, map 12 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, existing neighbourhood boundary simple crossing points, extended to proposed interventions & connections 78 part C3, map 13 - Casa Verde neighbourhood map, new major pedestrian routes from the city to northern favelas 79

image reference

page no.

Part A part A3, image 01 - Vila Nova Esperanza, northern São Paulo, (author’s own) 8 Part B

part B1, image 01 - the Minhocão elevated road during construction, 1975 12 part B2, image 01 - view from the Minhocão elevated road, 2019 (author’s own) 15 part B2, image 02 - view from cortico on Avenida Ipiranga, 2019 (author’s own) 15 part B3, image 01 - Superkillen, public space, Copenhagen, Denmark 16 part B3, image 02 - bike storage facility, Utrecht, Netherlands 16 part B3, image 02 - Riverside public space, Hamburg, Germany 16 part B5, image 01 - favela life, Rio De Janeiro, 2018 (Dona Marta favela © Pedro Kirilos | Riotur/Flickr) 20 Part C1 part C1, image 01 - Ibirapuera Park, (image source: author’s own) 25 part C1, image 02 - Ibirapuera Park

D 1.0 - image references

image reference image reference page no. page no.

part C1, image 03 - Marginal Tietê River 33

part C1, image 04 - Marginal Pinheiros River 33

part C1, image 05 - Avenida 23 de Maio circa 1950, before pedestrianisation 35 part C1, image 06 - rowing on the Tietê (1925) 35

part C1, image 07 - the Minhocão, under construction late 1960’s 35 part C1, image 08 - Hyde Park, London, (aerial view) 37

part C1, image 09 - Parque da Independência 37 part C1, image 10 - Ibirapuera Park (aerial view) 37 part C1, image 11 - Praça da República (aerial view) 37

part C1, image 12 - Parque Villa Lobos 37 part C1, image 13 - Hans Tavsens Park, Copenhagen, Denmark - a network of sunken basins and water-purifying planting 39 part C1, image 14 - The Trinity River Project, Dallas, Texas, US - turning the river’s path into sports fields, trails, nature centers, and recreational opportunities. 39

part C1, image 15 - Medellín’s famous cable car system, Colombia 40 part C1, image 16 - urban bus systems as metro system, Curitiba, Brazil 40 part C1, image 17 - Boston MA, flood defence/city park proposals 41 part C1, image 18 - the BIG U flood defence proposal for Manchatten, NYC 41 part C1, image 19 - the re-use of the Cheonggyecheon river, Soeul 41

part C1, image 20 - flood defences at Storkeengen nature reserve, Randers, Denmark, by C.F. Møller Architects 41

part C1, image 21 - the Zalige bridge in Nijmegen, Netherlands, urban river park created to prevent flooding 41 part C1, image 22 - Domino Park, Williamsburg, NYC (proposal) - re-use of existing indutrial landscape 41 part C1, image 23 - part of the BIG U flood defence proposal for Manchatten, NYC - BIG Architects 43

Part C2

part C2, image 01 - view from roof of Edifício Copan in downtown São Paulo 45 part C2, image 02 - SESC - Social Service of Commerce - provides health services, recereational spaces, galleries, pools etc. 48

part C2, image 03 - Barcelona aeial view 49 part C2, image 04 - Barcelona superblock concept 49 part C2, image 05 - Barcelona superblock as a city proposal 49 part C2, image 06 - Paraisópolis favela next to its wealthy neighbour, Morumbi 49 part C2, image 06 - proposed Barcelona bus map, BCN Ecologia 51 part C2, image 07 - Alphaville, gated suburb 53 part C2, image 08 - Alphaville, gated suburb, entrance patrolled by private security guards 54 part C2, image 09 - Brasilia, capital of Brazil, 1964 55 part C2, image 10 - Jane Jacobs 55

part C2, image 11 - Neighbourhood plan, Clarence Perry 55 part C2, image 12 - BIG proposals, Brooklyn, NYC 57 part C2, image 13 - BIG proposals, Brooklyn, NYC 57 part C2, image 14 - BIG proposals, Brooklyn, NYC - pedestrianised neighbourhoods 57

part C2, image 15 - BIG proposals, Brooklyn, NYC 57 part C2, image 16 - Brooklyn, NYC 57 Part C3

part C3, image 01 - Mi Teleférico cable car system, La Paz, Bolivia 59 part C3, image 02 - shared road surface, Utrecht, Netherlands 64 part C3, image 03 - Mi Teleférico, cable car network, La Paz, Bolivia 64 part C3, image 04 - diagramatic public transport map based on proposal 65 part C3, image 05 - diagramatic public transport map based on proposal - showing indicative pedestrian route and urban bridges 65 part C3, image 06 - google streetview images - São Paulo - crossings 68 part C3, image 07 - google streetview images - São Paulo - dead ends and hard turns 70 part C3, image 08 - google streetview images - São Paulo - ped routes and urban steps 72 part C3, image 09 - google streetview images - São Paulo - pocket parks (aerials) 74 part C3, image 10 - minimal car space, London 79 part C3, image 11 - pedestrianisation, Madrid 79 part C3, image 12 - designed cycle, pedestrian and vehicle crossings 79 part C3, image 13 - shared surface, Barcelona 79 Part C4

part C4, image 01 - members of the Worker’s Party 1985, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva - (president 2000 - 2009, second from right) 81 part C4, image 02 - Ulysses Guimarães (38th president of Brazil) holding a copy of the 1988 Constitution. 82 part C4, image 05 - Parliamentary session which then established the 1988 Constitution 83 part C4, image 06 - proposed music centre in the heart of Paraisópolis favela - social infrastructure proposal by by Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner, Urban Think Tank, Brazil 85

Part C5

part C5, image 01 - view from the Minhocão towards a building on São João 87 part C5, image 02 - series of diagrams showing how pedestrianisation and shared surface creation would grow from the centre of the neighbourhoods out towards the edges, the social infrastructure at it’s heart (red circle), strengthened commercial edges 89 part C5, image 03 - the big dig, Boston, MA - the burying of the urban motorway and its replacement with a public park 91 part C5, image 04 - flooding in central São Paulo 91

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Part C2 - Social resilience

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Part C3 - Making connections

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Part C4 - Making connections

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Part C5 - Implementation

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MSC Urban Design Strategies 2018/2020: Urban Project Part B São Paulo: Shirink the City by Jonathan Fisher (s1796040)