MIND THE STEP - TRANSFORMING STAIRCASES IN SÃO PAULO (BRAZIL) Gabriela Callejas, Ramiro Levy, Nathalie Prado, Mariana Wandarti, Rafaella Basile
ABSTRACT ‘Mind the Step’ is an award-winning initiative that raises awareness about the role of public staircases in São Paulo (Brazil) and challenges its uses through physical interventions codeveloped with local communities. Usually abandoned and degraded, stairways are key common spaces, but often unsafe and underused places in Brazilian cities. At the same time, the transformation of staircases and their reintegration into the pedestrian mobility and public spaces network can unlock multiple opportunities for people to meet, relax, play and exercise. The initiative sets a tactical urbanism framework to be used as a tool for change. It is based on methods developed and refined by Cidade Ativa during six actions that took place between 2014 and 2019. The framework proposes four steps to deliver a meaningful transformation of urban public spaces, grounded in a solid engagement and participatory process: (1) OVERVIEW, (2) CO-CREATE, (3) CO-PRODUCE and (4) EVALUATE. The text will expand on why this initiative is relevant, present the history and some specificities of these interventions, explore how this framework can be applied, present an overall impact assessment of the initiative along these years and finalise with lessons learned, the next steps for replicating this work and a briefly comment on the recent role that COVID-19 responses can play in common places like the staircases. KEYWORDS: public spaces, staircases, engagement, participatory, tactical urbanism
INTRODUCTION São Paulo has over 12 million inhabitants and it is the centre of a metropolitan region of over 22 million inhabitants, in southeast of Brazil. Despite being the great economic force of the country, the city has a huge socio spatial inequality, with at least 12% of the population living in subnormal conditions (IBGE, 2020), with poor access to public services, sanitation and mobility infrastructure. In some peripheral and lower income districts, daily trips made on foot represent over 50% of daily trips, whilst in more central neighborhoods this number can be below 10% of daily trips (Malatesta, 2008). In these areas, the average of people walking is much higher than in other parts of the city, largely due to lack of opportunities for other modes of transport, not because of the quality of its streets and staircases, but by the absence of alternatives. São Paulo’s urban structure was guided by a car-centric planning that undermined much of its environmental quality: a plan of avenue expansion placed highways over water bodies (Gouveia, 2016). This model brought in the need of connecting different city levels, which is usually done by stairways on the steepest places. Unfortunately, these spaces are mostly abandoned and degraded, and are known for being unsafe places. Women are disproportionately affected by fear of violence and harassment in these particular public spaces (Tandogan and Ilhan, 2016). The list of challenges found in staircases also include the unclear ownership and therefore responsibility for its maintenance, and often poor or nonexistent lighting or drainage infrastructures.
Nevertheless, there is an incredible potential for reintegrating staircases into the pedestrian and public space network, connecting communities and offering places where people can walk through in a safe and comfortable way, but also provide an opportunity for people to meet, relax, play and exercise. In order to transform these underperforming common spaces, Cidade Ativa’s 1 team developed ‘Mind the Step’, an initiative aimed at improving awareness about staircases and revealing the opportunities to improve the pedestrian and public spaces network. It focuses on transforming the existing staircases with bottom-up initiatives that actively engage local communities through catalytic urban interventions, whilst set up a participatory intervention process that can be replicated in other contexts. The pilot project developed in 2014 won the ‘Urban Urge Award’2 and used the prize as a trigger for change: it set up the stage for a long-term transformation using only “light, quick and cheap”3 built elements. Light bulbs, paint, wood and cultural activities were used to “light up” the space and enhance knowledge about the hidden opportunities on the staircase. In a context of limited resources, the initial intervention surpassed the “temporary” timeframe. The active engagement of the community along the process matured into the foundation of a neighborhood association called ‘Escadaria Viva’4, which is responsible now for maintaining the space. After this, another five staircase transformations in different contexts and communities in São Paulo were led by Cidade Ativa.They targeted deprived areas of the city lacking public services and public spaces, but with an existing strong sense of community. ‘Mind the Step’ set up a consistent framework and consolidated a method, but will need hundreds of organisations and people that work for a common objective of transforming the 10 thousand staircases of the city that still awaits for its transformation.
BUILDING A CASE FOR CHANGE Staircases are scattered throughout the city, linking major neighborhoods and main streets of São Paulo. However, when the initiative was launched in 2014, there was no reliable database with the location of staircases and their characteristics. In addition, staircases represented dangerous, dirty, reckless places in people’s imaginary. Therefore, there is no mental mapping of this network, and a huge uncertainty about the potential for transforming these spaces. The first challenge addressed was to map their location and make staircases recognised as people’s daily routines, Unlocking staircase potential included showing how they could be incorporated as shortcuts on pedestrian routes, but also as valuable spaces to enjoy some outdoor time. By making pedestrians’ routes more legible and comfortable, one can use staircases as a way to promote active transportation, therefore improving people’s health, reducing the use of private motorised vehicles, and tackling climate emergency by cutting emissions. In São Paulo, almost 2/3 of private motorised vehicle trips made daily in the city are shorter than 2 km (“Carro em SP: 60% das viagens estão entre 2 km e 5 km”, 2020), a distance that could in most cases be replaced by
Cidade Ativa (transl. ‘Active City’), is a Brazilian social organization conceived in 2014 out of the need to create more inclusive, resilient and healthy cities. More information available at www.cidadeativa.org 2 The Urban Urge Awards honor the legacy of architect, educator, community advocate and urban designer Mojdeh (Moji) Baratloo (1954-2013). 3 "Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper" (LQC) is a strategy used to transform public spaces with low-cost, shortterm, (or flexible) solutions, that allow stakeholders to test design solutions. 4 Escadaria Viva (transl. ‘Live Staircase’) 1
walking trips. For that, walking needs to be considered a safe, comfortable, accessible, attractive and useful option. Due to the massive challenge ahead, every step taken in this ambitious direction had to be evaluated. Data collection, monitoring of the processes, sharing knowledge and a thorough evidence-based case was crucial to both gain awarenesses, but also to set an open framework to allow more organisations and citizens to work towards this common goal.
FIRST STEPS The initiative started with a pilot project in 2014, developed for the staircase located at Rua Alves Guimarães, in Pinheiros, São Paulo. Cidade Ativa drafted it as a response to the Urban Urge International Competition5 question: “How would you transform a community with US$ 4,000?”. As a response, the team created a new collaborative process of working, recognising the importance of engaging with staircase users’, understanding their attitudes, and collecting their views on the space, and ambitions for the future. Moreover, this process was aimed at making sure users were part of each step of the transformation and that they had a chance to actively make the change happen. ‘Mind the Step’ was awarded with a USD1000 prize, which was used to kick-start the transformation of the staircase. For the following two years, multiple activities were developed with local artists and musicians, a new maintenance routine by the local government authority (backed by residents and users’ petitions), and several donors and volunteers to deliver all the envisioned changes. The interventions were carried out in three main steps: a temporary artistic intervention, a graffiti intervention with local artists and an urban furniture workshop. The biggest outcome of the project, however, was not the physical change achieved with the space, but seeding the imagination of what now is the neighbourhood association called Escada Viva. In 2018, the staircase went through a major renovation of its steps and planters, and was painted by a famous graffiti artist. The lessons learnt and successful outcomes from this first experience consolidated much of the process and key principles of ‘Mind the Step’. Later in 2014, the team was invited to develop a similar process at Jardim Ângela, a peripheric neighbourhood of São Paulo, 25km far from the city centre. It is a low income area lacking jobs, with limited sanitation infrastructure and low quality buildings, but with a consolidated urban fabric and dozens of staircases leading to the main transport hub. As in many places of the city, the experience of going through these staircases, alleys and streets is unpleasant and unsafe: uneven steps, lack of lighting, limited drainage and greening, and almost nonexistent maintenance by the local authorities, with fly-tipping and litter as a rule. Despite the low quality of public spaces, it has, differently from central neighbourhoods, a more often use of its common spaces given by playing activities, doing businesses, eating or just spending time outside of their houses. The sense of community is much stronger, and one can easily identify the community champions that support and protect the neighbourhood interests. For ‘Mind the Step’, it revealed the importance of having a highly committed community involved during all steps of the process and how this is likely to lead to a continuous maintenance and use of the staircase.
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Urban Urge Award is an initiative of Columbia University GSAPP and the Urban Research Group (URGE) http://www.urbanurge.org/
In 2016, the team was invited to collaborate with a construction company which was about to develop a new building next to a staircase. They had proposed a full renovation of its infrastructure, but were facing significant negative views of their presence in the neighbourhood. Even with limited power to change the design of the renovation proposed, Cidade Ativa played a crucial role in identifying and engaging with groups that used the staircase. The city is known for its strong urban art, and one of the first graffiti artists in São Paulo used the staircase as a mural to expose his work, being followed later by many other artists. Throughout a long process of facilitating the relationship between the construction company and the artists, 14 new murals were commissioned. This process reiterated the importance of identifying and keeping a place character and identity, even after a major transformation. In 2017, a grant made possible a partnership with an elementary school. Approximately 450 children used the staircase to get to school every day, and, in the past, it held school activities. However, the lack of maintenance ended up hindering its use. ‘Mind the Step’ intervention proposal sought to translate the students desire for a space of playing and meeting friends. Children, residents and local artists engaged in the transformation. The renovated space invited students and teachers to read poetries from local writers and have classes outdoors. From this experience, ‘Mind the Step’ opened up to an educational perspective in which urban transformations act as triggers for three key pedagogical dimensions: learning in the city, learning from the city and learning the city6. The importance of community engagement and the educational dimensions led ‘Mind the Step’ to return to Jardim Nakamura7 in 2018. As before, local artists and nearby primary school students’ were mobilised for a transformation of another staircase. This intervention was codesigned with residents through meetings and events, and also used Minecraft workshops8 to explore design options with children. Implementation workshops involved the whole community and resulted in a complete transformation of the space. This time, an important step was achieved, directly involving the local authority since the beginning of the process as a key stakeholder, making feasible that maintenance works and road safety improvements (such as new pedestrian crossings) provided a safer and more attractive walking environment in the area. It was acknowledged the role of the public sector in leading larger and more permanent changes, but also the role of the Cidade Ativa facilitating the relations with local authorities. Finally, a new process has started in 2019 in Higienópolis. Cidade Ativa supported a neighbourhood association in starting the process and collecting the evidence for the project's development. Currently, it is awaiting resources to finalise the design and construction.
SETTING UP A PROCESS After six years and six actions, ‘Mind the Step’ has a consolidated process with four ideal steps and a solid ENGAGEMENT process that cross-cuts all of them. The process starts with a thorough (1) OVERVIEW of the staircase, of its context, existing challenges and opportunities and a thorough baseline data collection of the current situation and users’ perceptions. At the same time, the engagement process starts with the mapping of the stakeholders. Identifying current and 6
SINGER, Helena (Org.), 2015, Territórios Educativos, Experiências em Diálogo com o Bairro-Escola, https://www.cidadeescolaaprendiz.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Territorios-Educativos_Vol1.pdf 7 Even with a different name, this neighbourhood can be considered part of Jardim Ângela. 8 The grant received from UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Programme aimed at using Minecraft as an engagement and design tool for all ages.
potential users, community leaders and other stakeholders there are supportive or against any transformation is key for a successful and long-lasting urban intervention. After getting to know the place and who will be involved, it is time for the (2) CO-CREATION. The proposals ought to be bold and must consider people’s vision for the future. Once the proposal is agreed, it is time for the (3) CO-PRODUCTION, involving stakeholders for an active participation into the delivery. Finally, it is key to compare the changes before and after, doing the (4) EVALUATION of the action and building a solid case for future intervention. Below, the four steps and engagement process that supports them are detailed, setting a roadmap on how to deliver a meaningful transformation of urban public spaces.
Image 01: Mind the Step Framework (1) OVERVIEW As the first step to understand the context, a physical and socio-spatial analysis should identify transport and mobility networks, land use and important destinations in the surroundings. Then, a people-centred analysis should relate the staircase’s physical form and context and its influence on its uses and fluxes. Both quantitative and qualitative data are collected at this stage, and interviews with staircases’ users complement the diagnosis with user experience insights of the existing conditions, and an assessment of safety, security, accessibility, vitality, attractiveness, connectivity and resilience criteria. Regarding the engagement, mapping stakeholders is crucial to identify community members that can potentially champion the project, but also helps identify potential conflicts of interest, and
assuring that the project will reflect everyone’s ambitions and needs in an equitable manner. Building trust with local actors since the early stages is key throughout the initiative. (2) CO-CREATION The process of designing the change should be grounded on the overview and the engagement process. The proposal should establish a clear vision (what is the ambition for the transformation of the staircase) and the define guiding principles (why you are doing so and which challenges and opportunities it should address). Also, it should establish the strategies for achieving it (how you will do it). To achieve a true co-creation process, the team needs to listen and behave as facilitator of the process. The language used should be simple and accessible, and it is desirable to use workshops and on-site meetings to discuss and clarify the goals and steps, and even test solutions (by reorganising the space with very light materials and mobile furniture). Events and cultural activities can be used to invite people to spend time on the staircase and experience hidden opportunities of these urban spaces to host meeting, leisure and contemplative activities. At the same time, it is an opportunity to use interactive and ludic data collection to inform the design decisions. Finally, developing the design proposal and budget and validating it with stakeholders will allow to secure funding or set a fundraising process that will lead to its delivery. If needed, a phasing of the transformation can also be planned at this step.
Image 02: Urban Urge Awards - Mind the Step (strategies)
Image 03: Mind the Step - Jardim Nakamura (conceptual design - cross section)
Image 04: Mind the Step - engagement and co-creation workshops
(3) CO-PRODUCTION Light, quick and cheap interventions can provide a range of opportunities for volunteers to collaborate in the process, and this can be in the form of a (or a series of) specific events or workshops. As to deliver the proposal actively involving the wider group of stakeholders and the local community, all must agree a clear plan and responsibilities. Local authorities should be approving or directly delivering maintenance works and more structural changes in the selected staircase: steps, handrails, drainage, lighting and road changes (like crosswalks and kerb changes, if any). Local artists and partner organisations can lead specific workshops and involve local volunteers (students, residents, businesses) to deliver the change. Each person can contribute with specific tasks, appropriate for their age, skills and interest: planting, painting or helping to assemble urban furniture. It is key to empower the local community, so everyone feels bonded to the place and proud of the transformation that they had just contributed for. Finally, the process of engagement at this step sets the stage for the future management of the staircase, assigning clear roles and processes for keeping the place maintained. Promoting regular activities also contributes to achieving long-lasting and grounded outcomes, reflecting stakeholders' needs and aspirations, but also shaping the new use and condition of the staircase.
Image 05: Mind the Step - co-production workshop
Image 06: Mind the Step - co-production workshops
Image 07: Mind the Step - co-production workshops
(4) EVALUATION Measuring the impact of the initiative is key: it helps assess decision-making between steps, but also building a solid evidence-based case to justify new interventions in the area (or further phases of delivery), or even new actions alike, shaping and helping consolidate the framework. A good balance of qualitative and quantitative data collected at this stage must allow for a before and after comparison to what was identified during the overview step, Also, the evaluation period can be set as to monitor the area for a longer period of time, aiming to measure the achievement of long-term and wider outcomes. It will depend on the resources available, and the need to keep monitoring the results.
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF ‘MIND THE STEP’ Since 2014, the impacts of the initiative can be measured in many ways and have contributed for the development and consolidation of the ‘Mind the Step’ framework. The efforts of having solid baseline data, registering all engagement activities and always trying to innovate in the research and data collection methods makes decision making easier, and the process well-grounded on evidence. So far, the outcomes of the initiative could be summarised as follows: -
Over 20 workshops and 1100 people attending, with hundreds volunteering for the coproduction workshops;
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Almost 4,000 people use the renovated staircases every day. Although similar from before and after the interventions, the journeys had a substantial quality improvement, also reflected in better overall levels of satisfaction, with highlights to the security and comfort feeling of all users;
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Personal security is a key indicator and places an extremely important impact on women using the staircases. Before and after interviews show that the perception of security increased in average from 36% to 95%;
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Across the five complete actions, dwelling activities have increased an average of 154% from before and after the interventions. With more kids playing, people meeting and using the benches (special increase in women and elders), transforming staircases from being just a route to become a destination shows the impact these common places can have in a community.
Other outcomes are less measurable, but not less important. A major achievement in some of the actions9 has been the shift from a non-place to a destination. Before any work has been completed in those staircases, people would use it by necessity, mostly as a shortcut in their routes, but would rarely dwell in the area. Nowadays, many of these staircases have been used for people to gather, take photos, film and be proud of the transformations. Also, the initiative addresses multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with focus on the ‘Objective 3 - Health and wellbeing’ and the ‘Objective 11 - Cities and sustainable communities’. For SDG-3, the initiative contributes for the promotion of pedestrian mobility and therefore 9
Alves Guimarães, Jardim Ângela and Jardim Nakamura.
reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (goal 3.410) and consolidating safer routes and crossings and reducing deaths and injuries from road traffic collisions (goal 3.611). For SDG-11, the initiative contributes to the transformation of public spaces to promote access and adequate circulation of all people, with special attention to women, children and elderly people, using participatory processes to design and delivering changes to the local community (goal 11.312) and also promoting universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces (goal 11.713).
Image 08: Mind the Step - Rua Alves GuimarĂŁes (before and after)
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By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being. 11 By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents. 12 By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries. 13 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
Image 09: Mind the Step - Jardim Nakamura (before and after)
Image 10: Mind the Step - measuring the impact
LESSONS LEARNED AND CLOSING REMARKS Staircases, as other public spaces, are a limited resource in cities, and must be perceived and treated as a shared good to be both enjoyed and preserved. Cidade Ativa has embraced the cause and invested in experimenting with collaborative urban interventions on staircases. Over time, the team gathered enough lessons to format a method, establishing a framework for ‘Mind the Step’. As an open process, it is subject to change and improvement. Nonetheless, from the team’s experience, the framework allows for a better organised and structured process and is more likely to achieve the expected outcomes. As of now, key principles guide the initiative, from the selection of the staircase to the strategies for a long-lasting use and maintenance of the space. A strong and engaged community is crucial for a successful collaborative urban intervention. Without a group of people that can take ownership of the transformed staircase, it is expected that improvements will deteriorate faster than the usual, which can undermine the perception of the intervention itself. In a bigger picture, it can end up discrediting collaborative and bottom-up initiatives, and even disempowering community efforts. On the other hand, if positive results last and local authorities are involved in the process, permanent and infrastructural improvements are expected to be implemented faster than the usual. By generating support for permanent projects, collaborative urban interventions end up empowering citizens as transformative agents. For Cidade Ativa, empowering citizens in the transformation of urban spaces is key for scalingup the ‘Mind the Step’ initiative, which envisages an open framework for more organisations and groups of people to engage towards a common goal. Here, goals go beyond dynamising and securing public spaces. They are also aimed at triggering transitions of cities and its commons as educational, sustainable and healthy territories. In times of Covid-19, emergency responses from governments aim to organise and control the use of public spaces, but are very often missing the participatory component. Pandemics have shaped our cities in the past, but the response from governments have been usually top-down, and the results, most of the times, excluded part of the population and had a great impact on public spaces. In 2020, we must include citizens in the decision-making process as to shape how common spaces should be adapted, used and managed to respond to this pandemic. ‘Mind the Step’ framework can, hopefully, provide a starting point for these debates.
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Malatesta, M. E. B. (2008), Andar a pé: um modo de transporte para a cidade de São Paulo. Dissertação de Mestrado, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo. Retrieved 1 November 2020, from https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/16/16135/tde-11032010-093613/pt-br.php Tandogan, O. and Ilhan, B. (2016), Fear of Crime in Public Spaces: From the View of Women Living in Cities, Procedia Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.08.795 The 17 Goals of Sustainable Development (2020). Retrieved 1 November 2020, from https://sdgs.un.org/goals The Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Transformation of Public Spaces. (2020). Retrieved 1 November 2020, from https://www.pps.org/article/lighter-quicker-cheaper
IMAGES All images belong to Cidade Ativa, 2020.