Schindler Global Award 2017 / Transforming the urban core: Urban design for coexistence / São Paulo Brazil

Three different proposals took place in Sao Paulo in the area of warehouses for fruits, vegetables and other infrastructure for importers, exporters, wholesalers and agro-industries. Since the area is secluded and the quality of life is poor due to monotonous use, unsafe street space and segregation, the selected proposals used different performative systems as a catalyst for positive change. The “Urban Agritecture” concept is based on food production and circular economy as a drive towards sustainability. It predicts various interdependent processes of food production, processes of efficient, safe transport and waste recycling by upgrading the infrastructure and retrofitting the existing buildings. The “Rethinking Public Space” proposition uses mainly social interventions by generating four types of functionally diverse public spaces: spaces of participation and integration, spaces of mobility and economic value, spaces of combined uses and reducing spatial insecurities and also spaces of cultural identity and social interaction. Due to the fact that the area and its vicinity already contains existing favelas, the “Faveloso” concept focuses on preservation of positive aspects of favelas, such as dense settlement, mixed use and forming strong communities. The concept also tries to minimize the negative ones, such as pollution due to poor quality of construction in hazardous areas of erosion and floods, as well as unsafe streets, full of crime.