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Sao Paulo civic leaders applaud GSD student projects to upgrade favelas |
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The proposed designs by 24 Landscape Architecture students to upgrade favelas with alternative infrastructure are currently on display at Sao Paulo City Hall in Brazil and have impressed civic leaders. The proposals were produced last spring in the seminar “Green Infrastructure for Non-Formal Cities” taught by Associate Professor and Program Director of Landscape Architecture Christian Werthmann. The student projects are included in an exhibition organized by the Sao Paulo housing agency (SEHAB) showing completed favela upgrading projects and academic investigations. Several of the students’ ideas are now being seriously considered for implementation by the municipality.
“For two decades Sao Paulo has an intensive program for upgrading favelas in the city, said Werthmann. “Our students learned from that experience and in turn contributed to Sao Paulo’s ongoing efforts with a novel approach regarding the design of alternative infrastructure. Civic leaders were excited to see how serious civic problems such as flooding, sewage, waste, erosion, or energy shortages could be transformed into assets through smart urban design and the application of decentralized infrastructure principles. The results of this modest seminar inspired the leaders of the city’s housing agency to sponsor a larger studio in Sao Paulo to be held in spring semester 2009.”
Images: left: GSD student projects are on exhibit at the Sao Paulo City Hall in Brazil; right: Panelists, from left to right: Maria Teresa Diniz, Project Manager Housing Agency Sao Paulo; Elisabete Franca, Director Housing Agency Sao Paulo; Christian Werthmann, Associate Professor and Program Director in Landscape Architecture; Sun Alex, Professor at the University of Sao Paulo; Monica Bueno Leme, Professor at the Beaux Arts School of Sao Paulo; and Mark Collins, Assistant Professor Columbia University.