Improvised Public // Planned Space

IMPROVISED PUBLIC // PLANNED SPACE

insurgent practices and possible futures for the modernist city Eduarda Aun 1

Parsons School of Design: MS Design and Urban Ecologies Advisors: Miguel Robles Duran, William Morrish Secondary Advisors: Miodrag Mitrasinovic and Gabriela Rendon 2

ABSTRACT

RESUMO

Brazil’s recent political, social and moral crisis has shaken the country’s democracy and affected its citizens’ belief and trust in the decision-making processes that impact their lives and cities. At the same time, a recent phenomenon happening in many cities around Brazil, and particularly in Brasilia, has given rise to new forms of citizenship. It has been through the reclaiming of public spaces, for social, cultural, economic or environmental purposes that social movements, community organizations and cultural producers have been creating new spaces and new means for action, experimenting with different collective forms of democratic governance and communal decision-making.

By appropriating, transforming and/or reclaiming public spaces for mutual benefit, different actors are engaging in the social practice of commoning, reclaiming their right to the city and redefining citizenship. In this context, this project proposes to leverage the existing initiatives by visualizing, translating, interpreting and representing them in what Teddy Cruz calls ‘tactics of translation’. Under these circumstances, this design proposal is a strategy for the democratic governance of public space. Through different scales, it is meant to reveal and connect the existing practices in order to coordinate and synergize their efforts; it translates and shares the found protocols to amplify and replicate these initiatives; it leverages the existing spaces of collective action as legitimate grounds for decision-making; and, finally, it provides means for a more inclusive and plural governance of public space. Reimagining public space and its governance is inseparable from reinventing the scope of democratic participation and control over our living context. These strategies are meant to gather voices and envision possible futures for Brasilia, designed by and for its inhabitants.

It also encourages people to use public space and start caring for, reflecting on and demanding urban and social changes.

A recente crise política, social e moral pela qual o Brasil está passando abalou a democracia do país e afetou a crença e a confiança de seus cidadãos nos processos de tomada de decisão que afetam suas vidas e cidades. Ao mesmo tempo, um fenômeno recente que está acontecendo em muitas cidades do Brasil, e particularmente em Brasília, deu origem a novas formas de cidadania. Por meio da ocupação de espaços públicos, para fins sociais, culturais, econômicos ou ambientais, movimentos sociais, organizações comunitárias e produtores culturais têm criado novos espaços e novos meios de ação, experimentando diferentes formas coletivas de governança democrática e decisões comunais. Ao apropriarem, transformarem e/ ou reivindicarem espaços públicos para benefício mútuo, diferentes atores estão se engajando na prática social de compartilhar*, reivindicando seu direito à cidade e redefinindo o que significa ser cidadão. Neste contexto, este projeto propõe valorizar as iniciativas existentes, visualizando, traduzindo, interpretando e representando-as no que Teddy Cruz chama de 'táticas de tradução'.

Por meio de diferentes estratégias, o objetivo é revelar e conectar práticas existentes, a fim de coordenar e sinergizar seus esforços; traduzir e compartilhar os protocolos encontrados para amplificar e replicar essas iniciativas; potencializar os espaços existentes de ação coletiva como bases legítimas para a tomada de decisões; e, finalmente, fornecer caminhos para uma governança mais inclusiva e plural do espaço público. Reimaginar o espaço público e sua governança é inseparável da reinvenção do escopo da participação e controle democráticos das nossas vidas e cidades. Essas estratégias pretendem reunir vozes e vislumbrar possíveis futuros para Brasília, projetados por e para seus habitantes. Almeja também incentivar as pessoas a ocuparem os espaços públicos e assim começarem a se importar com, refletir sobre e exigir mudanças urbanas e sociais.

We are children of our age, it’s a political age.

All day long, all through the night, all affairs—yours, ours, theirs— are political affairs.

Whether you like it or not, your genes have a political past, your skin, a political cast, your eyes, a political slant.

Whatever you say reverberates, whatever you don’t say speaks for itself.

So either way you’re talking politics.

Even when you take to the woods, you’re taking political steps on political grounds.

Apolitical poems are also political, and above us shines a moon no longer purely lunar.

To be or not to be, that is the question. and though it troubles the digestion it’s a question, as always, of politics.

To acquire a political meaning you don’t even have to be human.

Raw material will do, or protein feed, or crude oil, or a conference table whose shape was quarreled over for months: Should we arbitrate life and death at a round table or a square one.

Meanwhile, people perished, animals died, houses burned, and the fields ran wild just as in times immemorial and less political.

Children of the Age, by Wislawa Szymborska 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As an attempt to represent and foster collective experiments, this thesis too would not be possible without the collaboration and support of many different people.

First, I would like to thank all of the organizations mentioned in this work, who made themselves available to answer questions and share their stories and knowledge. Your insights and enthusiasm are what gave meaning to this thesis and, ultimately, what kept me going.

Then, to Julia SollĂŠro, Manuella Coelho, NatĂĄlia Magaldi and Ana Gama Dias, from Coletivo Mob, who during the past two years have been supporting and inspiring me. You are incredible, strong women, and I am lucky to be a part of this team!

To Caio Dutra, Henrique Rabelo, Josiana Aguiar and Mariana Bomtempo for the technical support and insider knowledge on governance, bureaucracy, mapping and other /public/ matters.

To my fellow Design and Urban Ecologies and Theories of Urban Practice cohort for the enriching discussions, questions and co-designing during the past two years. It has been a life changing experience, and I

am very grateful to have met all of you!

To the professors and mentors who have also become friends. Thank you so much Gabriela Rendon and Miodrag Mitrasinovic, for your willingness to meet, give me critical feedback and support me to move forward. Special thanks also to Miguel Robles-Duran and William Morrish for your guidance, to Evren Uzer, Jilly Traganou and David Lopez for the insightful critiques during presentations, and to Eduardo Staszowski and Nidhi Srinivas for inspiring conversations on the commons!

To my parents, family and friends in Brazil who have supported me from afar - I couldn't have done this without your kindness and love.

A special thanks to my New York family, Andrew, Emily and Caroline. Thank you for the moral support and the two years of laughter, heart warming food, drinks, trips, talks, plans and dreams. You are the best!

And finally, to all of those who somehow helped and supported me, many many thanks!

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.........................................................................08 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1.1 Right to the city ..........................................13

1.2 Insurgent urban citizenships............................13

1.3 Public space, commons and commoning ........................14

1.4 Methodology ................................................16

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS & EMBEDDED CONTEXT

2.1 The planned ................................................22

2.2 Improvised Planning ........................................33

2.3 The improvised .............................................40

CRITICAL INSIGHTS & OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION

3.1 Insurgent practices of reclaiming public space .............54

3.2 Tactics of translation .....................................68

ACTION & POSSIBLE PARADIGM SHIFTS

4.1 Conceptual and Strategic Plan ..............................78

4.2 Reveal + connect ...........................................82

4.3 Translate + share ..........................................84

4.4 Co-design + engagement ......................................8

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4.5 Envisioning possible futures ...............................87

4.6 Final considerations .......................................92

Bibliography .........................................................94

INTRODUCTION Brazil’s recent political, social and moral crisis has shaken the country’s democracy and affected its citizens’ belief and trust in the decision-making processes that impact their lives and cities. Divided by right and left, rich and poor, white and black, the general feeling of estrangement from decision-making processes in politics and the very crisis of political representation signals, among many things, the exhaustion of traditional institutions of representative democracies. At the same time, a recent phenomenon happening in many cities around Brazil, and particularly in Brasilia, has given rise to new forms of citizenship. It has been through the reclaiming of public spaces, for social, cultural, economic or environmental purposes that social movements, community organizations and cultural producers have been creating new spaces and new means for action, experimenting with different collective forms of democratic governance and communal decision-making.

Whether through political manifestations and protests, artistic gatherings, cultural occupations, community gardens, markets, happenings, carnival blocks or parties, different initiatives are reinventing politics by re-imagining space. By appropriating, transforming and/or reclaiming public spaces for mutual benefit, different actors are engaging in the social practice of commoning, reclaiming their right to the city and redefining citizenship. Borrowed from Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, James Holston, among others, these concepts set a framework for this research and design proposal.

Neighbors that wanted a space for growing vegetables and socializing had to face the challenges regarding zoning restrictions and the non-existence of an urban agriculture legislation, and as a result, are now participating in the formulation of one that allows them to do so. Musicians who wanted to play music and gather friends had to figure out the channels and protocols to so, in agreeance with the required sound emission limits, zoning restrictions and permits. According to

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Teddy Cruz, when the top-down and the bottom-up collide, the political emerges. The barriers imposed by the formal frameworks such as zoning, legislation and bureaucracy (among others) changed the switch from purely social and cultural practices to political ones as well.

Not to say that this doesn’t come without conflicts and challenges. Brasilia, although unique for its historical and urban importance, is marked by the same social, cultural and economic contradictions of the country. Dispersed urbanization, combined with territorial mismanagement, institutional instability, clientelist politics, rigid landmark preservation and exclusionary development has led to a fragmented, segregated and unequal city.

As much as the Brazilian Constitution guarantees the right to the city, and defends the participation of civil society in urban development, these initiatives find many barriers imposed by the unequal access to public goods and knowledge, as well as by the existing regulations, bureaucracy, and the little autonomy that local decision-making grounds have.

Due to an inflexible landmark status, the younger generations have little voice and, therefore, power to shape the city after ‘their own heart’s desire’ in a city that prioritizes its form over its people.

Consequently, Brasilienses are only allowed to present themselves temporarily, isolated, disconnected and unsupported.

In Brasilia, these challenges are accentuated by the contradictions of Modern planning itself. Although originally based in egalitarian and democratic values, it ended up generating uninhabited public space and a big loss of its social and political function. In fact, in the absence of true public spaces, it seems like many of the inhabitants of Brasilia’s Pilot Plan have forgotten or never learned what it means to live in a city and the implications of coexisting and living with different people. The increasingly privatized and individual lifestyles have, in effect, led to a fear, rejection and dread of public space. Furthermore, the vast open spaces

have proven to be very costly to maintain and are often perceived as empty and abandoned. The perceived neglect of these spaces, by which inhabitants demand maintenance and care from the government, lead to a disclaim of their own responsibility. Although the city has laws that provide for the ‘adoption’ of public spaces, there is no mention to any forms of democratic governance or programming of those spaces. In the meantime, a federal law is waiting to be approved for a national program of public space sponsorship, for which this research and proposal could provide critical insights regarding more inclusive, plural and autonomous practices.

In this context, this project proposes to leverage the existing initiatives that are reclaiming public space by visualizing, translating, interpreting and representing them in what Teddy Cruz calls ‘tactics of translation’. The participation in this movement in Brasilia over the past years and a focused fieldwork during the course of this year, which included interviews and surveys with the existing groups and organizations, followed by an extensive analysis of their practices and spaces of action, informed the design proposal. While the initiatives come in different forms and means, they all share similar purposes and outcomes.

However, they are organizing organically, independently and, in many cases, disconnected from each other, and unsupported by the government. Although they have a lot to say, they don’t seem to have a voice in the future of the city.

Under these circumstances, this design proposal is a strategy for the democratic governance of public space. First, it proposes to connect and give the existing practices visibility in order to synergize and coordinate this diverse movement.

Second, it intends to translate and share the processes of appropriating public space in order to amplify and replicate the practices through participatory guidelines. Third, it builds and circulates collective knowledges through a co-design

and engagement process. Fourth, it envisions a public space stewardship program built on and by existing practices, to be adopted by the city, that not only asserts the right to the city, but demands responsibility and re-frames the meanings of citizenship. Reimagining public space and its governance is inseparable from reinventing the scope of democratic participation and control over our living context. These strategies are meant to gather voices and envision possible futures for Brasilia, designed by and for its inhabitants. It also encourages people to use public space and start caring for, reflecting on and demanding urban changes.

This project is divided in 4 sections.

The first, Theoretical Framework outlines the concepts and literature on which the research and design were based on, looking at the works of Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, James Holston, Miodrag Mitrasinovic, Teddy Cruz and Ezio Manzini, among others. see page 12 The second section, Situational Analysis & Embedded Context, describes Brasília's public landscape in two intentionally provocative chapters, The Planned and The Improvised. In brief, it gives a historical perspective of the construction and uneven urbanization of Brasilia, the normative frameworks and political structures in which urban development is embedded, and the narration of the phenomenon of reclaiming public space. see page 22 The third section, Critical Insights & Opportunities for Action analyzes the existing practices, extracting protocols and finding opportunities and needs for intervention. see page 54 Finally, the fourth section Action & Possible Paradigm Shifts outlines the conceptual design and strategic plan, in order to connect, synergize replicate and amplify the existing practices towards democratic governance of public space. see page 80

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1

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The past 4 years, or - one could argue, 500 - have been marked by political, social, moral and urban crisis, which have deep roots in the way the country was colonized, exploited and governed, and how it continues to be governed until this day, marked by inequality, patrimonialism and clientelism. Evidently in the past years, a series of events have shaken if not dismissed entirely Brazilian democracy: the coup that cancelled a legitimately elected government with Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in 2016, the measures instituted by interim president Michel Temer although highly unpopular, the murder of a politician and human rights activist Marielle Franco, and the arrest of former president Lula in 2018 by a biased judicial power acting under the pressure of the media monopolies. Unconstitutionality, corruption, arbitrariness and impunity, which favor the interest of the historically privileged elites have shaped the country’s political landscape.

Reinforced by mass media, particularly television, the political culture that has been built and consolidated in Brazil has been to systematically disqualify not only politics itself but its actors as well1. As the old media - television, radio, newspapers and magazines - still control and detain the monopoly of “making things public”, their accusatory tone added to the existing deep-seated distrust of politics and politicians, establishes a direct and extremely harmful connection between the demoralization of the current conjuncture and the very substance of democratic regimes2.

As the country is divided between right and left, rich and poor, white and black, there is in fact a generalized feeling of estrangement from decision-making processes in politics and a crisis of political representation, which among many things, signals the exhaustion of traditional institutions of representative democracies. At the same time, all kinds of innovations and experiments with collective forms of democratic governance and communal decision-making

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have emerged in the urban scene all around the country, where social movements and community-led associations are finding new means and methods for participation. Aside from the well known participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre and other forms of association and self management, it has been by occupying public space, reorganizing and re-appropriating their forms that different social groups have been engaged in the social practice of commoning, reclaiming their right to the city and redefining citizenship, concepts borrowed from Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, Massimo de Angelis, James Holston, among others, which will be defined along the thesis and that set a framework for this research and proposal.

While on the one hand democracy seems to be at risk and failing to our collective needs, on the other there seems to be all sorts of alternative urban practices and creative acts of citizenship, acting independently and unsupported.

Inspired by the work of Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman, this research likewise investigates, visualizes, translates and interprets these set of practices, reorganizing the institutional protocols as well as the urban space where they are inscribed, in what they name ‘tactics of translation’. In Holston’s words, “to emphasize the creativity of practice is also to bring to the surface that very possibility among the many conditions that exist as potentials in the city”3 .

The instrumental role of design and designers in this process is emphasized

by Ezio Manzini’s Design when everyone designs, by which designers play a part in triggering and supporting social change through emerging forms of collaboration; and by Miodrag Mitrasinovic’s Concurrent Urbanities, which places designing at the forefront of the conception and production of inclusive and participatory urban space, through the mediation of the top-down and the bottom-up and the reorganization of urban socio-economic systems and relations of power.

Other urban practices have also inspired

and shaped the conceptual approaches and proposals, among them Coletivo Mob (BR), Atelier d’Architecture Autogeree (FR), Desis Lab (INT), Human Cities (EU), Pez Estudio (SP), Cohstra (INT), among others.

RIGHT TO THE CITY: THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE, PRODUCE AND APPROPRIATE URBAN SPACE Known for his writings on the right to the city, Harvey elaborates that it is in the everyday practices and through our political, intellectual and economic engagements that we, individually and collectively, make our city. According to him, we are all, in one way or the other, “architects” of our urban futures, although we might not be aware of it. He argues that the right to the city is “not only a conditional right of access to what already exists, but an active right to make the city different, to shape it more in accordance with our collective needs, to define an alternative way of simply being human” 4 . In that sense, he stresses that the city is a reflection of the people we are and wish to be, and the relations we establish, but overall, he reinforces the right to city as a collective rather than an individual right, which depends upon the exercise of a collective power over the processes of urbanization5.

Similarly, Lefebvre described the city as an oeuvre of those who inhabit it, and defended the right to the city as a right to urban life: the right to inhabit the city politically, socially, aesthetically6 . Renowned as a philosopher of the everyday, Lefebvre developed a Marxist critique of society that emphasized the emancipatory potential of everyday life.

As Harvey, he believed it was through collective action that something radically different was to be created, and that alternative possibilities in the everyday practices of urban dwellers were the spaces for the urban revolution.

The right to the city is, therefore, both a reaction and response to the changes in urban governance that have disenfranchised urban inhabitants with respect to the decisions that shape the city. It stresses the need to restructure the power relations that underlie the production of urban space - which entails much more than just planning the physical space, but also producing and reproducing all aspects of urban life - fundamentally shifting control away from capital and the state and toward urban inhabitants.

In this sense, the right to the city also redefines citizenship and empowers urban inhabitants rather than national citizens. “Under the right to the city, membership in the community of enfranchised people is not an accident of nationality or ethnicity or birth; rather it is earned by living out the routines of everyday life in the space of the city” 7.

Accordingly, the right to the city entails both the right of participation and the right of appropriation. This means that urban citizens should play a central and direct role in decisions regarding urban space, but also that they should be able to physically access, occupy, use and produce it so it meets their needs.

INSURGENT URBAN CITIZENSHIPS The deeply related processes of urbanization, democratization and neoliberalization that have been ongoing in the past century created such conditions for the emergence of a claim to the right to the city. The very transformation from the need into the claim to a right has made cities strategic for the development of what Holston refers to new and insurgent urban citizenships.

“By insurgent urban citizenship, I refer to the political transformation that occurs when the conviction of having

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a right to the city turns residents into active citizens who mobilize their demands through residentiallybased organizations that confront entrenched national regimes of citizen inequality� - James Holston, 2010.

The insurgent practices Holston refers to are those found both in organized grassroots mobilizations and in everyday practices that, in different ways, empower, parody, derail, or subvert state agendas. The intersection between the emergence, expansion and advance of these practices and claims, and the forms of repression and segregation they meet is where the sites for insurgent citizenship lies. Varying in time and place, they introduce new identities and practices that disturb established histories 8.

Holston argues that in the very spaces of urban degradation generated by these urban and neoliberal processes is that a new space for civic participation, rights and collective imagination emerges. This new urban citizenship is based on three main processes. The first is the creation of an alternative public sphere and participation therein, where residents and grassroots organizations articulate their needs and constitute an agenda of citizenship. The second is the understanding of their rights and of their dignity as bearers of those rights. The third is the transformation of the relation between state and citizen, which generates new legal frameworks, participatory institutions, and policy-making practices.

Likewise, the engagement in and with the city begins to yield into its inhabitants unprecedented urban knowledge, but also of bureaucracy and law. In the process of making claims and demands, residents and community organizations involved with these practices gain not only a legal education but are armed with a language to engage with the state and its elites. In this confrontation, a much more autonomous sphere of self-interested and competent citizens emerges, informed and proficient to make de-

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cisions. Confronting the state and its culture of citizenship with a new imagination of democratic values, insurgent citizenships oppose the modernist and developmentalist political projects of absorbing citizenship into a plan of nation-building monopolized by the state. It does the very opposite, by creating new identities and makings new claims 9.

Today, formal citizenship has become neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for substantive citizenship - one that guarantees rights and demands responsibilities. In many cases, those who are formal citizens but are poor have little access to rights, while rich non-citizens enjoy certain privileges. In broad terms, most citizenships systematically legitimate the distribution of inequalities, especially those who inherit colonial regimes of citizen inequality. Particularly in Brazil, as for the 19th century, citizenship was based on social differences - differences of education, property, race, gender, and occupation - as rights were only available to particular kinds of citizens and exercised as the privilege of particular social categories. By 1881, suffrage was made direct and voluntary but restricted to the literate, about 1% of the population. It was only recently, in 1985, that political citizenship was made universal.

Insurgent, therefore, means many things at the same time. In Spaces of Insurgent Citizenship, Holston refers to the insurgent spaces of citizenship, which oppose the modernist spaces that physically dominate many cities today, and proposes an insurgent urbanism. At the same time, he uses insurgent to the unprecedented kinds of rights claimed, based on the lived experience, outside of the normative and institutional definitions of the state and its legal codes. Insurgent is also used in reference to the new and possible alternative futures, possible sources for the development of new kinds of practices and narratives about belonging to and participating in society10 .

PUBLIC SPACE, COMMONS AND COMMONING If the right to the city shifts the decision-making arena to the city, and provides for the right to produce and appropriate urban space, and indeed to participate in the decision making related to it, commoning and commons can be both the social practice involved to achieve it and the ultimate goal of the democratic governance we might envision. The question of the commons is at the heart of discussions revolving co-produced democracy, and cannot be simply reduced to resources we share.

Conceptualizing the commons involves three things at the same time: a common pool of resources (a non-commodified means of fulfilling people’s needs), a group of people to produce and sustain it, and thirdly and most importantly, the verb ‘to common’ - the continual social process that creates, reinvents, maintains and reproduces the commons11 12.

Traditionally associated with natural resources such as forests, pastures and rivers, in an urban context we can take streets, sidewalks, squares and gardens as examples of potential commons.

Though they are available public goods, it takes political action on the part of urban inhabitants to appropriate them and to make them so, in a process referred to as commoning13 . Although communities might be responsible for commoning, we will refer to the public instead, to avoid the risk a community might pose in creating enclosures, focused solely on the similarities a community shares, rather than on the very differences between people that can possibly meet on a purposefully instituted common ground, which a public space make.

In the city, the neoliberal practices that enclose, privatize and, therefore, diminish the availability of public goods and in this particular case, of spaces, the practice of appropriation and commoning is important to protect and ensure these

spaces have the democratic values they inscribe. For it is in public space where the different meet and interact, negotiate and contest, which is crucial for democracy. Indeed, scholars have argued that public space is a prerequisite for the expression, representation, preservation, and/or enhancement of democracy. 14 “If the right to the city is a cry and a demand, then it is only a cry that is heard and a demand that has force to the degree that there is a space from and within which this cry and demand is visible. In public space – on street corners or in parks, in the streets during riots and demonstrations political organizations can represent themselves to a larger population and through this representation give their cries and demands some force. By claiming space in public, by creating public spaces, social groups themselves become public.” - Don Mitchell, 1961, p. 129 It is in public space where the public sphere becomes more tangible. It is where dissent is publicized, where insatisfactions are expressed and represented.

Of course, public space becomes fundamental because of its potential to bring people together, to question and represent who they are and to foster community. Public spaces facilitate encounters, and thus social learning. Public space teaches. The coexistence of the different in public space is important for the cultivation of tolerant and empathetic societies, not to mention the productive conflict it generates between different interests, political groups and classes, and the consequent exchanges, compromises and negotiations.

The use, transformation and appropriation of public space, consequently, become particularly instrumental as forms by which political action takes place and citizenship emerges. In increasingly disintegrating public spaces and abandoned public spheres, the resulting erosions of citizenship have become

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evident. The spatial appropriation and transformation, therefore, can become a mechanism for larger transformations within those who are involved, changing their motivations, and the depth and character of engagement within the city.

People become citizens through their participation in the conception, construction, and management of the city, and particularly, through the negotiations of the use of public space.

The collective association linked to the everyday uses and practices can produce, over time, new space for political action.

Using rather than possessing, exploring ways of sharing and taking responsibility for what is shared also ties the relation between commoning, public space and the building and redefining of citizenship.

Commons and commoning are, therefore, important spaces and forms of being in common, engaged in collective action that can generate the most varied outcomes, such as the very social interaction, cultural production, local economies, knowledge exchange, stewardship, participation, and, ultimately, political action. Rethinking and reinventing the concept of commons is in fact inseparable from reinventing and extending the scope of democratic participation and control over our living context. This contemporary democratic project necessarily involves a reappropriation and indeed a reinvention of the commons, which requires new categories and institutions, new forms of management and governance, and new spaces and actors15.

METHODOLOGY

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This project was based on the theoretical framework described previously, which shaped the research and design proposal. Divided in two phases, Research & Analysis and Design Strategy, different methods were employed, although that doesn’t mean that they happened in separate moments nor that one excluded the other. Throughout the process, the different methods

have been informing both the research and the design concomitantly, allowing for new reflections and iterations.

Research & Analysis Field Research This research began 3 years ago, when still in Brasilia I co-founded Coletivo Mob, an organization engaged in urban and social transformation through the activation and transformation of public space. The year previous to the MS in Design and Urban Ecologies, I was involved in discussions regarding public space in Brasilia, and active within cultural and social movements of the city, from where I extracted many lessons and built networks that were fundamental to the development of this thesis. During then and even before, I attended many of the events and spaces mentioned here, as well as helped organize or worked closely to those who were involved in their organization and promotion.

Literature review Secondary sources defined the theoretical concepts of public space, right to the city, insurgent citizenship and commons, as well as design processes and methods. They were also important informing the history of Brazil’s urban development and reform, instances of participation, and more specifically on Brasília’s conception, evolution and regulations. Furthermore, newspapers, online articles and documentaries were other sources on appropriation of public space in Brazil and Brasilia, specifically.

Mapping Mapping was used as an analytical tool to understand disparities in urban development in Brasilia, as well as to spatially visualize the political ecology of public spaces of the city. The beginning of this research was done through the mapping of temporary appropriations of public space though organized events for collective, social and/or political purposes (parties, markets, happenings, interventions, carnival blocks, protests, debates,

lectures, movie screenings) in the course of 5 years, with data provided by lived experience in Brasilia and data retrieved from Facebook events and local newspapers. Using Facebook events as a source of data was a powerful way to demonstrate how most of these organizations have been using social media for organizing, although is potentially biased by my own networks and experiences. This exercise also led to the mapping of permanent spaces that have similar purposes as those mentioned previously, but that are either spaces of resistance and community organization, such as community gardens and cultural centers, or that support social, cultural and political life, such as specific bars and coffee shops. This initial mapping was essential to define criteria on the initiatives I wanted to know more in depth and begin categorizing people, resources (space, time, access, etc) and means of action.

Participant Observation Apart from previous experience, during my focused field work in the months of December 2017 and January 2018, I attended meetings, frequented parties and gatherings, as well as met organizations and spaces in person, where I gathered pertinent insights.

Workshops & Lectures In November 2017, I was a part of a workshop led by PezEstudio, “Biotic City: Socio-ecological urban transformations through public space”, where we met local initiatives and learned about Spanish examples that are based on socio-techno-ecological urban transformation, and were given tools and methods to analyze them. I later applied their analysis categories to the interviews I conducted with the selected initiatives in Brasilia and used some of their methods for the design proposal. Later in April 2018, I also attended a panel discussion organized by SOM Architecture, on The Future of Public Space, which gathered interesting observations from NY urban practitioners. During Spring of 2018, I was enrolled in a course called “Civic

Imaginaries: Urban Commons”, through which I experienced insightful readings, discussions and mentorship from professors Eduardo Straszowski and Nidhi Srinivas, from Parsons’ Desis Lab. Interviews During December and January I was able to meet some of the organizations mentioned in this study and conduct in depth interviews in their spaces of action.

Before that, I had conducted informal interviews through the phone with experts, academics and grassroots organizations, as well as been in contact with cultural producers online. While in Brasilia, I spoke to members of Mercado Sul Vive, Dulcina Vive, Horta Girassol, Horta da 416 Norte, Horta Projeto Reação, Casa Frida, Mimo Bar, Café Objeto Encontrado, Balada em Tempos de Crise, Feira Livre, Coletivo Mob and Coletivo Labirinto. Back to New York, I spoke to other organizations, such as Confronto Soundsystem, Calango Careta, Bloco das Divinas Tetas and members of Bicicletada, as well as to government officials through phone calls. Unfortunately, there were many initiatives that I was unable to reach, because of my limited time in Brasilia and lack of connections to them. Moving forward, I intend to promote workshops in other administrative regions to collect more data and expand the network.

Surveys In order to get a more comprehensive picture of the organizations that promote events in public spaces, but that I was unfortunately unable to meet in person, I conducted online surveys as well, that were important to base and generalize assumptions I had.

Case Studies Among the organizations I interviewed, I gathered from one to a couple of initiatives to be representative of the type of practices they embodied, and described them in full detail, as to exemplify the existing practices of appropriating, transforming and reclaiming public space.

The criteria in choosing the initiatives

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were based on some definitions of public space and appropriation. To simplify the scope of the project - as I understand the concept of public space is an ongoing debate - , for effects of this project, public space is that which is openly accessible; that consumes collective resources; that has common impacts; and/or that is stage for the performance of public roles, according to John Parkinson’s “Democracy and Public Space” 16. For that reason, I did not consider paid and/ or closed events that also use, appropriate and/or transform public space. Based on a more phenomenological approach, public space is also defined as the space of political action, where individual and collective experience are expressed. In choosing the initiatives, I selected those who were occupying public space for collective and public purposes, not considering informal settlements, for example, which occupy public land for private/ housing purposes, nor graffiti artists who appropriate public space for personal motives, although I do understand their claims are also of collective nature.

Tactics of Translation After conducting interviews and going through the surveys, I began to analyze the practices of the different initiatives, trying to detect their patterns and protocols, extracting frameworks for organizing and programming activities in public space. I called this method, Tactics of Translation17 in reference to Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman’s work, by which I translated and represented the actors, their protocols, and resources, but also their outcomes and meanings, in the form of different diagrams. This was fundamental to understand the underlying principles of using, appropriating, transforming and reclaiming public space and what is needed in order to replicate and amplify the existing actions, and where are needs and opportunities for intervention.

Design Strategy The design proposal is a multiscale strategy towards the democratic gover-

18

nance of public space, which uses methods including online and offline tools for engagement, participatory workshops and mapping sessions, and establishes a framework for the use and appropriation of public spaces to be adopted by the city. As an urban process, it was not prototyped, is hypothetical and speculative, and very much depends on its future application in order to validate its success.

Endnotes 1 Venicio A. de Lima.

"Mídia, Rebeldia Urbana E Crise De Representação." In Cidades Rebeldes: Passe Livre e as Manifestações Que Tomaram as Ruas do Brasil, (São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial, 2013): 161.

2 Lima, 163.

3 James Holston. "Right to the City, Right to Rights, and Urban Citizenship." (Berkeley: University of California, 2010): 9.

4 David Harvey. "A Liberdade Da Cidade." In Cidades Rebeldes: Passe Livre e as Manifestações Que Tomaram as Ruas do Brasil.

(São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial, 2013): 58.

5 David Harvey. Rebel Cities. (London: Verso, 2012): 4 6 Andy Merrifield. Henri Lefebvre. (Florence: Routledge Ltd, 2006): 68.

7 Mark Purcell. "Excavating Lefebvre: The Right to the City and its Urban Politics of the Inhabitant"In GeoJournal, vol. 58 (2002): 102.

8 James Holston. "Spaces of Insurgent Citizenship." In Making the invisible visible: a multicultural planning history. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998): 47-48.

9 Holston, 2010: 22 10 Holston, 1998: 39 11 An Architektur. "On the Commons: A Public Interview with Massimo De Angelis and Stavros Stavrides" (E-Flux Journal no. 17, 2010).

12 Doina Petrescu. "A Feminine Reinvention of the Commons" In The Journal of Design Strategies: Cooperative Cities.

(New York: The New School, 2018): 38.

13 Harvey, 2012, 73 14 Clara Irazábal. Ordinary Places/Extraordinary Events: Citizenship, Democracy and Public Space in Latin America. (London: Routledge, 2008): 1 15 Petrescu, 38.

16 John R. Parkinson. Democracy and Public Space. (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2012): 16.

17 Teddy Cruz. "Where is our Civic Imagination?" In Concurrent Urbanities: Designing Infrastructures of Inclusion. (New York: Routledge, 2016): 15.

PROJECT TIMELINE

Previous engagement & networking September 2017

October 2017

Literature review

Data collection Mapping

November 2017 Participation in workshop Biotic City: Socio-ecological urban transformations through public space by Pez Estudio December 2017 Focused field work in Brasilia Site visits

January 2018

February 2018

March 2018

Interviews Surveys

Participation in course Civic Imaginaries: urban commons

Tactics of Translation Data Analysis

Design proposal

April 2018 Panel and book release The Future of Public Space

May 2018 Final Presentation Ongoing

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1

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS + EMBEDDED CONTEXT

THE PLANNED Brasilia was conceived in the late 1950s as the materialization of the utopian symbolism of its time and is today widely known due to its Modernist architecture and unique urban design. The standardization of buildings and separation through large green areas, its functional zoning and consequent extinction of the urban center, the elimination of the street corridor with the segregation between pedestrians and vehicles, for which Brasília is famous for, have been extensively discussed and criticized by urban planners all around the world. Utopic, authoritarian, impersonal, segregator, car-centric, void of public life and spontaneity, among many others, have been adjectives to describe the city that “went wrong”. While on the one hand, many of these allegations are true to some extent, on the other, after the many years since its inauguration, brasilienses are redefining what it means to inhabit the functional city in ways that might be invisible to those who look at it from above.

Born from the transfer of the capital from Rio de Janeiro to the center of Brazil, Brasilia was conceived by Lucio Costa as a civic and monumental center that should reflect the country’s power and modernity. Building a new capital in the hopes of the rising of a new society meant that not only were the physical forms sketched, but also the promise of “new forms of social experience, collective association, perception and personal habit” 1. Consonant to but not blindfolded by the Athens Charter, Lucio Costa’s Parisian memory, the English green lawns of his childhood, the Chinese terraces of the pictures he saw and the American highways of a trip he made, along with Brazilian traditional inland cities he met early in his career as an architect, inspired him to create the “native and original”2 city, drawn by the crossing of two main axes, separated into the functions conscribed by the Congres Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) – to inhabit, to work, to recreate and to circulate.

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In a document named Relatório do Plano Piloto (Pilot Plan Report), Lucio Costa describes the concept of his creation in 1957, along with drawings and recommendations, which continue to be the basis for the construction and preservation of the city: a monumental axe cutting the city in the East-West direction, where the administrative buildings and monuments are located; and the expressway axe in the North-South direction, along which are the superblocks and neighborhood units (the housing sector), interspersed with greenery. In the intersection of both axes is where the main bus station is located but also the center of the city, given its functional (connection between the various sectors), geographical (node of its urban layout), and symbolic (meeting of people) characters. The main activities of the city, although concentrated in the center, were divided into sectors, among them the Banking Sector, the Commercial Sector, the Hotel Sector and the Amusement Sector, all separated by extensive lawns and roadways.

Consequently, Brasilia is characterized by the interaction of 4 urban scales integrated to the road structure, as Lucio Costa called them later – monumental, residential, gregarious and bucolic, denoting both their physical aspects and the feelings and symbols they evoke. The center’s low density and the low-rise residential buildings, surrounded by green belts as a garden city, as well as the view of the sky and the horizon were some of traits that made Brasilia exceptional and, therefore, considered a landmark to be preserved as soon as 1987, less than 30 years after its inauguration. The superblocks, the most striking aspect of Brasilia’s longitudinal axe, were considered an innovative multifamily way of living, in which a set of buildings are linked together by a common access and occupy a delimited area. Differently from a condominium, the superblocks are not fenced nor guarded, and the ground floor and the spaces in between them are public, leaving the inhabitant free to experience the territory3. Surrounded by trees and

green spaces, the superblocks were to be linked to their commercial streets and to the contiguous superblocks as neighborhood units, in which the inhabitants would share common spaces, such as the public schools, churches, markets, movie theaters and other public amenities, as to provide the coexistence of different social classes and avoid stratification.

However, as the city was being built, the very egalitarian and democratic ideals that were present in Lucio Costa’s plan were soon perverted by the logics of the market and the state itself. Unlike other cities, where as the city expands, the poorer populations are increasingly suppressed from the center, in a planned city like Brasilia, the center itself didn’t allow for improvisation and self-construction , for example. In 1957, when the construction began, thousands of workers from all regions of the country were attracted to the capital, eager to make the project of President Juscelino Kubitschek a reality. Attending to his calls on the radio,

newspapers and magazines of the time, they were seduced by the possibility of employment and the desire to participate in the intensely propagated task4.

While the city was being built from the intersection of the two main axes, and the center was consolidated as professionals and the high state bureaucracy began to move in, another reality – that of camps and temporary installations –, continued to grow at the same pace. The separation between center and periphery in Brasília arises even before the city’s inauguration, where the workers who came to help build a city that had neither been idealized nor built for them, were soon displaced from the center and settled in remote camps, often violently removed from informal settlements. In this way, “the mechanisms of repression, removal and social stratification were present in the dream of the modern city that embraced the ideal of modernity as progress, participation and solidarity” 5.

Residential scale.

Photo by Joana França

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Building of superblock in Asa Norte, 19591960. Source: Arquivo Público do Distrito Federal - ArPDF

Informal settlements during Brasilia’s construction.

Source: Arquivo Público do Distrito Federal - ArPDF

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Thus, the first satellite cities (as they were called) emerge kilometers away from the center and, consequently, from most jobs, services and quality public spaces, expressing in a clearer and sharper way than other Brazilian metropolises, the disparity between center and peripheral areas. Where its center concentrates less than 10% of the residents of the Federal District, but 70% of its jobs, its social inequality index is higher than in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro6 . The disparities are manifested mainly in economic terms, where the per capita income in the Pilot Plan is R$ 5,569.46, while in Estrutural, one of the poorest neighborhoods born out of the proximity to a landfill, it is R$ 521.80, ten times lower. Yet this indicator also reveals racial inequality, where the lower the income, the blacker and browner are the population. These differences are expressed in social and infrastructure terms as well. Access to schools and hospitals is deficient in these regions, as are cultural or leisure options, which are concentrated in the Pilot Plan.

“Along with its urban and historical importance, Brasilia integrates the social, cultural and economic contradictions of the country.

Therefore, although its idealization and conception seeked to achieve a socially harmonious and aesthetically pure space, its urban reality shows the same conflicts and challenges of other Brazilian cities. After all, if it were not so, the Modern Movement would have finally concretized the utopia of the ideal city.” - Carlos Madson Reis, 20097 Even many years after Brasília was built, informal settlements built near the Pilot Plan were removed and transferred to distant undeveloped areas and entire neighborhoods were developed to accommodate lower income populations, which attracted even more migrants from all around the country, only to live in precarious conditions in the peripheries of the city. The city’s population, which continued to increase year after

year, led to disordered urban development all around, in the form of camps or suburbs, often in plans but with little planning and integration. While jobs and services weren’t offered in the new neighborhoods, populations from all around the city had to move towards the center, creating a high dependency between center and periphery.

As many of the new development began to occupy the territory in a dispersed way, in which the car shared a large responsibility, urban expansion took place outside the great structuring axes of the city. Getting to the center of the city required the construction of more highways to connect the populations to jobs and services in the Pilot Plan.

Car-centric policies and the beginning of the development of the automobile industry in Brazil conformed an urban scenario that privileged the automobile, in detriment of public transportation.

Combined with dispersed urbanization, lack of integration of policies related to urban development and institutional instability, public transportation became an afterthought, becoming expensive, inefficient, and relegated to the masses.

As policies and design shaped the city, the city shaped inhabitants’ behavior as well. Brasilia expresses spatially, through its functions and internal structure, its social relations. In this scenario, the division is marked by the long physical and social distances that separate the nobler and less privileged classes. The upper class, which commutes by car, rarely encounters the reality of the lower class directly, which lives far away and commutes by the inefficient public transportation. The distances between neighborhoods, but also between homes and jobs, commercial and leisure areas, traveled by cars, restrict the spontaneous encounters that happen in cities where different uses and people are allowed. In brief, “such inhuman environment promotes social exclusion by limiting interaction, preventing the ‘unexpected’, and controlling access and use, resulting in a sterile urbanity” 8.

25

Urban sprawl over time Source: SEGETH, 2017.

26

27

Median Monthly Income Monthly Median Income less thanR$ R$1,152 up to 1152 R$ 2289 R$1,152 1152- -R$R$ 2289 R$ - R$ 3,727 R$2,289 2289 - R$ 3727 R$ - R$ 5,448 R$3,727 3727 - R$ 5448 R$ - R$ 10,939 R$5,448 5448 - R$10939

Source: IBGE

“When we analyze it in terms of what it systematically set out to abolish – the traditional street system of public spaces (…) – its social consequence becomes clear. By eliminating this type of street, it also eliminates the urban crowds and the outdoor political domain of social life that the street traditionally supports. Alienated from and fearful of the no-man’s land of outdoor public space that results, people stay inside.

But the consequent displacement of social life from the outdoor public “rooms” of streets and squares to the indoor rooms of malls, clubs, homes, and cars does not merely reproduce the outdoor city public and its citizenry in a new interior setting. Rather, this interiorization encourages a privatizing of social relations. Privatization allows greater control of access to space, and that control almost invariably stratifies the public that uses it. The empty no man’s spaces and privatized interiors that result contradict modernism’s intentions to revitalize the urban public and render it more egalitarian. “ - James Holston, 1998.

Under those circumstances, it wouldn’t be so surprising to find paradoxes in a city like Brasilia, where on the one hand,

28

there are many open spaces and parks for those with high income that live in the planned modernist center or in its immediate surroundings, but that have little sense of community and political engagement because of the way they use and navigate urban space – individually and privately in their cars – and on the other, peripheries that lack public amenities, quality spaces and infrastructure but with higher political and cultural organization that find marginalized space for self-expression and political action. Again, these two realities happen apart from each other and, consequently, today there are little opportunities for the different to encounter or interact, which is very prejudicial for urban life and democracy in general.

Similarly, the inflexibility of uses and activities allowed instated by the early landmark attribution encourages dispersed urban development as the center doesn’t absorb the city’s growth.

The same rigidness keeps activities and people apart and prevents the organic evolution and transformation that are inherent to cities as living organisms, which is again detrimental to the city’s urbanity, diversity and mobility. Not being able to intervene, transform and recre-

Density (people/km2) density 25-477 25 - 477 477 - 866 477-866 866 - 1250 866-1250 1250 - 1823 1250-1823 1823 - 23573 1823-23573

Source: IBGE

ate the city violates the very right to the city. In a city as young as Brasilia, the premature preservation makes it very difficult for the city to adapt and support the emerging practices of those who inhabit and define it, especially in the fast changing world that we are living in now. An entire city frozen in time doesn’t account for the behavioral, cultural and technological changes, which in effect, doesn’t account for its people.

Although pressing and determinant to all urban matters, it is a very controversial subject, by which scholars and professionals have discussed in length but don’t seem to find an agreement. Many different studies, policies and plans have been proposed throughout the years since the city’s construction, but taken place in a politically troubled, technically confused, institutionally unstable and operationally discontinuous and deficient environment. What makes it especially difficult is that its status as a UNESCO heritage site is not in respect to artifacts and spaces consolidated by time, but to the urban conception as a whole. There is an idealization of the city as a finished object, allowing only small alterations and being treated as a single

thing, without differentiating its parts, which should have different treatments once they have different forms and functions. The boundaries of preservation as well as what in fact is being preserved is also questionable, while it fails to preserve certain spaces, preserves others without any historical, architectural or artistic significance, and preserves empty spaces that have not yet been built.

Otherwise, it insists on disregarding the dynamics of a city that is evolving and unfinished, and inserted in a metropolitan reality marked by strong socio-economic contrasts, notorious social exclusion and environmental constraints, factors that, inevitably, interfere in its structure, performance and sustainability 9.

In short, a center with low density but high concentration of jobs and services, to which workers from all around the metropolitan area need to access, but with an onerous and expensive public transportation leads to the endemic use of cars. This, in turn, leads to the construction of more highways, expands urban development further away, makes public transportation and infrastructure even more expensive and creates even more divisions between classes.

29

Typical Neighborhood Unit in the Pilot Plan.

Photo by Joana França

Aerial view of Ceilândia (satellite city). Photo by Joana França

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While open spaces are an important mark of Brasilia’s urban design and what characterize the bucolic scale of the garden city for which it is protected, they become problematic for a few reasons.

The absence of a clear function for those spaces combined with the high costs of its maintenance overburdens the city and are often perceived as empty and abandoned, becoming informal parking lots, clandestine waste deposits and camps for the homeless. In 2006, the city’s planning department (then named SEDUMA - Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente) carried a study on the empty spaces of the Federal District, identifying and describing such spaces and seeking alternatives to re-qualify them. What they failed to point out, however, is that aside from all the physical and normative issues related to empty spaces in the city, there is also a feeling of neglect by the residents themselves, who don’t feel responsible for their maintenance and care. As the real estate market privatizes and interiorizes spaces and the state centralizes the design and management of urban spaces and restricts the activities allowed, the citizens feel distanced from the process and, consequently, from the spaces, resulting in a lacking feeling of ownership for and engagement with these spaces and with each other.

In fact, in the absence of true public spaces, it seems like many of the inhabitants of Brasilia’s Pilot Plan have forgotten or never learned what it means to live in a city and the implications that come with it, or its very definition. The idea of the city, of the polis, and its origins come from the principle of equality of differences: the city as a fact is based on the

great open spaces

urban expansion

La nd

The high dependence on cars demands more parking lots, therefore more use of open space and favors a very individualist lifestyle. The concentration of parking lots and open spaces in detriment of the built environment and mixed activities thus contributes to the low density of the center, which then again repeats this never ending spiral10 .

rk ma

high cost of maintenance

s atu st

expensive & inefficient public transportation

fragmentation & segregation

low density unequal access to public goods

modernist city

loss of social + political function of the city lack of public space

iminent use of cars

individualization of lifestyles

high demand for highways & parking lots

possibility of different people being able to live together and establish a political contract between them. “The miracle of a city occurs when a man or woman, in addition to his or her private life, his or her existence as a natural being or part of nature, creates a kind of second life, a kind of political bios or political being that comes to fruition with other people.

Life in the city is constituted not only by the coexistence of different people, but also by their participation in a social contract that has a public character; a tacit contract based on words and persuasion, non-violence and non-force.

It is through language, but not the discourse of force and violence, that it is possible to establish the public space, to form that contract permanently” 11.

As the public dimension is increasingly losing its political dimension, it is merely reduced to the administration of traffic, water and sewage, etc. As goods and spaces become privatized, public space becomes purely spaces of circulation, and functions that used to fill and give life to public space migrate to private areas as well. The collective dimension and the multi-functional purpose of public space, of streets, of places made simply

Effects of modernist planning and landmark preservation in Brasilia.

31

to stay, to meet, in which to have pleasure, leisure, celebrations, circus, spectacles, commerce, is emptied. Evidently, public space isn’t the only support for the public sphere; the Internet and other means of communication are increasingly important for the modern public sphere. However, as a reflection of the social, economic and political inequality that modern urbanization and privatization have brought, exacerbated by globalization and neoliberalism, a kind of agoraphobia has been installed particularly in Brazilian society, in relation to the city and the public space. At first, it came in the form of a general escape, a non-use and emptying of the symbolic political function of the city; later, this agoraphobia turned into fear, rejection, dread of public space, because it no longer felt protective neither connective12.

Moreover, those who do try to use or appropriate public space end up being criminalized for their actions. In Brazil, the neglect and fear of public space cre-

Public space // parking lots.

Photo by Joana França

32

ated a censorious association with those who in fact use public space, as “thugs” (arruaceiros ou farofeiros). Street ven-

dors and artists are many times removed or prohibited of using certain spaces, as well as other initiatives who try to promote events and encounter many formal barriers for using public space, despite the many laws that guarantee their right to do so. In fact, since 2001 the Brazilian Constitution guarantees the right to the city and stipulates our urban policy.

While urban policy in Brazil has made great advances in the past 30 years with the urban reform being pushed during the re-democratization of the country in the late 80s, there are still many challenges and barriers for the use of public space and for democratic participation within the existing governance instances.

Endnotes 1 Holston, 42.

2 Lucio Costa. Registro de uma vivência. (São Paulo: Empresa das Artes, 1995).

3 Maria Elisa Costa and Adeildo Viegas de Lima. "Brasília 57-85: do plano piloto ao Plano Piloto" In Brasília 1960 2010 : passado, presente e futuro (Brasília : Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente, 2009): 45-68.

4 Maria Cecilia G. F. Lima. "Musealização do Patrimônio Arquitetônico: inclusão social, identidade e cidadania". (PhD dissertation, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, 2012): 149.

5 Risla Lopes Miranda. "Brasília como obra de arte: O moderno e a marginalização do espaço urbano e cultural." (XXVIII Simpósio Nacional de História. Florianopolis, 2015): 7.

6 Maria Fernanda Derntl. "Além do Plano: A construção das cidades-satélites e a dinâmica centro-periferia em Brasília."

(XIV Seminário de História da Cidade e do Urbanismo, UnB, Brasília 2016): 377.

7 Carlos Madson Reis, "Preservação do conjunto urbanístico de Brasília: alguma coisa está fora da ordem" In Brasília 1960 2010 : passado, presente e futuro (Brasília : Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente, 2009): 222.

8 Marc Angellil, Rainer Hehl Eds. Minha casa, nossa cidade: Innovating Mass Housing In Brazil. (Germany: Ruby Press, 2014): 333.

Holston, 1995 9 Madson, 229.

10 Anamaria A. C. Martins. "Vazios urbanos em Brasília" In Brasília 1960 2010 : passado, presente e futuro (Brasília : Secretaria de

Estado de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente, 2009): 186.

11 Raquel Rolnik. "O lazer humaniza o espaço urbano". (São Paulo, 2000): 4.

12 Rolnik, 4.

IMPROVISED PLANNING After the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, the years that followed were characterized by intense debate on behalf of civil society, political parties and governments, on the role of citizens and their organizations in the management of cities. The deep mobilization on the part of social movements, architects, urbanists, engineers, lawyers, universities and municipal technicians to strengthen policies related to human rights and citizenship culminated in a chapter on urban policy in the new Constitution (1988), in which the social function of the city and the property were asserted, as well as the recognition and integration of informal settlements and the democratization of urban management, understood as an increase in spaces of participation and social control of urban policies.

In 2001, the Estatuto da Cidade (City Statute) was approved at the federal level, establishing guidelines and instruments for the enforcement of the urban policy and instating the right to the city as a right of the citizens of Brazil. One of the instruments was the Plano Diretor (local masterplan), which became the official planning document in cities where populations exceeded 20,000 inhabitants, and were supposed to be developed through participation. In fact, at the local level, there were progressive actions towards the urbanization of precarious settlements, as well as multiplying experiences of popular participation and social control of policies and budgets, such as participatory budgeting, management councils and self-management programs. However, this movement toward inclusionary urban policies wasn’t immediately followed by the formulation and revision of a new institutional framework of state organization in the field of

urban development in federal instances.

According to Rolnik, “the decentralization of land use management without establishing a state organization that allows for the coordination of policies between levels of government and sectors and an installed local capacity to make feasible the implementation of a long-term urban strategy is to condemn the practice of local urban planning to a rhetorical exercise that, as in other normative corpus, works in the same register of “constitutive ambiguity”: it is a law that can or cannot be implemented, depending on the will and capacity of the local political power to insert it in the vast field of intermediation of the political system” - Raquel Rolnik, 2009, p. 45.

What happens is that in Brazil, it is within the political-electoral game where a good part of the decision-making processes on urban policies and development, especially in regard to investments in public works and expansion of urban services, take place, expressed in different forms.

In the process of democratization, as new political parties emerged, they had to compete for the popular vote to continue governing and defending their political interests. Therefore, investing in urbanization and the regulation and promotion of informal settlements became a political electoral device with great possibilities of return for their promoters, whether in the form of votes by constituents or in the form of campaign funding by contactors. Additionally, the limited revenues of cities - more than 70% of Brazilian cities obtain 90% of their revenues through transfers from other levels of government because of their low tax capacity - and the restricted access to credit make municipal government highly dependent on voluntary transfers, which happen through agreements with State and Federal governments or through parliamentary amendments, which function again as devices for reelection. It’s no accident that urban

33

development, together with health, are the areas that receive the most amendments on the part of congressmen1.

Moreover, governance of the territory is structured in different sectors (housing, sanitation, transportation, environment, urban planning, historical heritage, etc), with their correspondent regulatory frameworks and verticalized bureaucracies located in all sorts of agencies, public authorities, municipalities and direct administrative bodies linked to the municipal, state and federal spheres.

According to Rolnik (2009), institutional fragmentation, constantly addressed as responsible for inefficiency and low managerial capacity, excessive bureaucratization and disorder in cities, are in fact part of a strategy to maximize the particular interests of bureaucrats, parliamentarians and suppliers, who provide goods and services. In fact, the complex and opaque language used in urban planning and the formal normative apparatus “privatize” the space of interlocution and decision-making for planning technicians and those directly involved in the networks of influence of the political-bureaucratic apparatus.

This leaves little space for those who in fact want to participate in the conception and in the making of the city they desire.

Namely, the city’s governance structures make it very difficult for communities, organizations and cultural producers to use public space for their different purposes, although there are specific laws that guarantee their right to do so. For example, in order to organize an event in public space, depending on the number of people attending, there are at least 8 different agencies, public bodies or administrations that should be consulted and over 50 documents that should be forwarded in order for the administration to grant an authorization. Not to mention the fact that this process is not available online, requiring organizers to move around in agencies distributed throughout the city. This itself presents an issue of inequality, once those who don’t know

34

the protocols, don’t have the means to access these spaces, don’t have the language to engage, the resources to pay the authorizations nor the connections for forwarding agents that speed the process, etc, are already excluded of the possibility of participating in this formal process.

In Brazil, public space doesn’t formally receive the status of urban infrastructure, except for the road system, which continues to privilege the car, relegating public transportation, pedestrians and cyclists to the back plan. Likewise, they aren’t among the priorities of public authorities and aren’t effectively planned.

When not neglected entirely, the transformation of public space has been done through the private initiative or by civil society. An exception has been through Codhab’s (Brasília’s Housing Authority) Ações Urbanas Comunitárias2 (community urban actions) as part of their technical assistance efforts, where in a mutirão format, together with residents and architecture students and volunteers, they transform public spaces where they have their technical assistance posts in different administrative regions. Although this example could provide an opportunity, it still operates independent of other city agencies and is fairly top-down.

Other than that isolated case, there are no other comparable initiatives in terms of top down and bottom up cooperation or of democratic governance of public space. Although Lei 448/1993 provides for the adoption of squares, public gardens and roundabouts by entities and private companies, it mostly concerns embellishments and maintenance of those spaces, which in reality become devices for advertising. Other cities in Brazil, such as São Paulo and Porto Alegre, have similar laws and programs, where urban parks and squares are managed and maintained by entities and private companies, in the form of concessions or private-public-partnerships. In São Paulo, over 400 squares participate in “Adopt a Square” (Adote uma praça) program and, inspired by it, many different congressmen in the

federal and state level have proposed laws in similar formats in 2016 and 2017.

On the federal level, congresswoman Mariana Carvalho proposed PL 6779/2016 and on the state level, city council (deputado distrital) Delmasso proposed PL 1426/2017, which in brief exempt the public administration of the maintenance and management of public space, while giving space for publicity to private companies.

While the state law seems to reproduce more of the same, the federal law proposal extends the scope beyond squares and includes all public spaces for leisure, culture, recreation and sports, including parks, playgrounds, popular gyms, courts, roundabouts, viaducts, medians, gardens, squares, arenas, bus stops, bike racks, monuments, footbridges, fountains, sidewalks, signs and waste collection stations. It also refers to a program, which addresses implementation and extends it to both legal entities and individuals, which gives leeway for residents and community associations to be included as well. However, it fails to address democratic governance models

and government support for underprivileged communities that would like to “adopt” or manage public spaces, doesn’t focus on any type of programming or activation of such spaces, and is once more tied to publicity of private sponsors.

It is fairly understandable given the complexity of entities involved in the governance of public space, and even more considering the special condition Brasilia has as a capital, a city and a state, of which one is considered a heritage site. In fact, defining what is Brasília, Pilot Plan, federal capital and Federal District is rather difficult, and in many aspects these spaces get confused and their distinction very much depends on each author’s approach. Even within the city, one might find divergences between the residents, who might identify as living in Brasilia or not being a part of it at all, when living or coming from administrative regions other than the Pilot Plan. This has a lot to say about how the city of Brasilia has been managed and planned, and who feels included and a part of it, and who doesn’t.

Ação urbana comunitária (community urban action) at São Sebastião, 2017. Photo by CODHAB-DF

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Political organization of the Federal District. Source: Segeth, 2017.

36

For effects of this study, BrasĂ­lia was considered both the state and the city, by means of identity and by ease of communicating the subject to an international public. The distinction, however, was made between BrasĂ­lia as the entire city and state, and the Pilot Plan and the administrative regions (satellite cities) as parts of the whole. However, as a Federal District, it is a special and unique federal unit and has attributions of both state and municipalities. That means it has a governor as its agent, has autonomy to institute and collect taxes and other state and municipal tributes, has a Legislative constituted by deputies (and not councilman), who form a Legislative Chamber (and not Assembly), which like a Town Hall, legislates on land parceling, use and occupation (which is usually a prerogative exclusive of municipalities).

However, its territory cannot be subdivided into municipals, which entails its political organization by Administrative Regions (RAs) - the satellite cities, which are managed by appointed officials. This particularity, associated to a territorial occupation formed by dispersed urban nuclei (RAs) that don’t have political-administrative autonomy, directly inter-

feres in its spatiality and management.3 The current 31 regional administrations are responsible for the management of their respective regions, although as mentioned previously, there are many different public bodies involved according to the different uses of space. When it comes to the Pilot Plan in particular, other entities are involved as well, such as Iphan - the historical and artistic heritage institute - and Conplan, the territorial and urban planning council, the highest collegiate body of the System of Urban and Territorial Planning of the Federal District. The latter has a consultative and deliberative role to assist the Administration in the formulation, analysis, monitoring and updating of guidelines and instruments for the implementation of urban policy.

The multiplicity of agencies and managers makes planning and coordination difficult, and the disarticulation and overlapping of functions lead to conflicts of competencies. Moreover, the instability that comes with the change of every new government and management also changes the priorities and responsibilities concerning public space. Regulating, managing, maintaining and activating public space in these con-

ditions are as hard for public servers as for organizations who wish to participate in the programming of cultural activities or formulation of policies as well. Although the City Statute provides for participation in urban development and the civil code establishes streets and squares - public spaces - as those of common use of the people, the many challenges described in the existing governance impede this from actually happening.

Endnotes

approves

IPHAN

monitors

(Landmark Preservation Inst.)

SEGETH

regulates

(Territory & Housing Dept)

SEMA

(Environment Dept)

SEAGRI

(Agricultural Dept)

SECULT

(Culture Dept)

AGEFIS

(Inspection Agency)

supervises

IBRAM

(Environment Institute)

VIGILÂNCIA SANITÁRIA

(Health Inspection)

SEC. SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA

(Public Security Dept.)

CORPO DE BOMBEIROS

(Fire Department)

VARA DA INFÂNCIA

(Youth Court)

DEFESA CIVIL

protection and Defense Dept)

CAESB

(Water & Sanitation Company)

ADASA

(Water Regulation Agency)

REGIÃO ADMINISTRATIVA

manages

CONSELHO DE CULTURA

advises

TOP-DOWN

In other words, in Brazilian urban development, there is very little autonomy in the local decision-making grounds whether the City Statute requires participation or not - since urban development in Brazil remains structured in highly sectored and centralized bureaucracies that function through decision-making processes sufficiently penetrated by the interests of economic and political actors who depend on them to survive . Accord- (Civil ing to Rolnik, “the advance of the Urban Reform in Brazil therefore lacks a new political grammar based on the strengthening of spaces for the exercise of direct democracy and social control - traditional axes of its agenda -, the formulation of a project for political reform and development of the current federative model of government and urban management, fundamental elements for the consolidation of full democracy in the country” 4.

CLDF

(City Council)

(Community Board)

(Culture Council)

PUBLIC SPACE

1 Raquel Rolnik, "Democracia no Fio da Navalha" In R. B. Estudos Urbanos e Regionais v.11, n.2, 2009: 43.

2 Ações Urbanas Comunitárias (Codhab, Brasília, 2018).

3 Madson, 222.

4 Rolnik, 46

BOTTOM-UP

CULTURAL PRODUCERS COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS URBAN EXPERTS ACTIVISTS

use appropriate imagine transform reclaim common

37

LAWS AND POLICIES 1960

Decreto 7 Approves construction norms in Brasilia

1967

Decreto 596/67 Construction and Building Codes: provides for zoning, building, licensing and inspection of projects, and execution of all public and private works in Brasília, and determines prefecture or administration as responsible for execution and maintenance of streets, sidewalks, squares and open spaces.

1987

Decreto 10.829/87 Regulates the preservation of Brasilia’s urban design, according to the 4 scales recommended by Lucio Costa in his document, Brasilia Revisitada (Brasilia revisited).

1992

Portaria 314/1992 do Iphan Preservation of Brasilia’s urban complex, with established definitions and criteria by the Ministry of Culture and National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, based on the 4 scales previously defined by Lucio Costa.

1993

38

Lei Orgânica do DF Organizes the powers of the Federal District, establishes its responsibilities, and gives other measures, such as: - The participation of the population in choosing the Regional Administrator - Each Adm. Region should have a Council of Community Representatives, with advisory and supervisory functions - The assets of the Fed. District should be used primarily for public use, while protecting the environmental, historical, cultural, architectural and landscape heritage, and guaranteeing social interest.

- The policies that guide governmental action to promote the socioeconomic development should observe the demands of civil society, overcome socio-cultural and economic disparity between the RAs, and through democratic mechanisms of participation in the planning process.

-Guarantees to all the full exercise of cultural rights and access to the sources of culture; and supports and encourages the valorization and diffusion of cultural manifestations

- Public areas, especially parks, squares, gardens and road terminals may be used for artistic and cultural manifestations, provided they are non-profit and compatible with environmental, landscape, architectural and historical preservation.

- The guiding principles of urban development policy are: I - the socially just and ecologically balanced use of its territory; II - access to adequate housing, basic sanitation, transportation, health, public safety, education, culture and leisure; III - the fair distribution of benefits and burdens arising from the urbanization process; IV - maintenance, security and preservation of the landscape, historical, urban, architectural, artistic and cultural patrimony, considered the condition of Brasília as Federal Capital and Cultural Patrimony of Humanity; V - the prevalence of collective interest over the individual and of the public interest over the private; VI - the incentive to cooperativism and associativism, with support to its initiatives, in the form of the law; VII planning for the correct expansion of urban areas, either by the formation of new nuclei or by the densification of existing ones.

Lei 448/93 Provides for the adoption of squares, public gardens and roundabouts, by entities and companies.

1995

Decreto 17.079/95 Provides for charging for the use of public areas.

1998

Lei 2.105/98 Current Building Code for the Federal District, which among many things, provides for temporary construction in public space (requiring authorization from Regional Administrational and payment).

2001

Estatuto da Cidade (City Statute) Establishes general guidelines for urban policy in Brazil, and guarantees the right to the city as the right to urban land, housing, sanitation, urban infrastructure, transportation, public services, work and leisure.

Also guarantees the democratic governance through participation in the

formulation, execution and monitoring of urban development plans, programs and projects; and the provision of urban and community facilities, transportation and public services according to the interests and needs of the population.

2002

Lei 10.406/2002: Civil code Among many things, the civil code classifies public goods and determins that roads, streets and squares are public goods of common use of the people, which are alienable and maybe be free or paid.

taxes, fees, tributes, authorization and registration.

Lei 4.772/2012 Provides guidelines for policies that support urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Federal District.

2016

Portaria VIJ 002/2016 Provides for the procedure for requesting permits for admission, stay and participation of children and adolescents in events.

Lei 3.024/2002 Institutes incentives for spectacles and cultural manifestations with artists from the Federal District.

2008

2009

Portaria 166/2016 Complements and details Portaria 314/1992 on the preservation of Brasilia.

Lei 4.201/2008 Provides for the licensing of economic and non-profit activities and establishes the need for permits. For temporary events, the law provides an eventual operating permit, conditioned for the period of its duration, with a maximum of 60 days.

Lei Complementar 803/2009 Approves the revision of the Master plan of the Federal District (Plano Diretor de Ordenamento Territorial - PDOT), which among many things, determines that 15% of the area should be destined for urban and community facilities and open spaces for public use.

2010

Portaria 420/Iphan, Provides for the procedures to be followed for interventions on landmarked buildings and surrounding areas

2011

Lei 4.639/2011 Defines criteria for the support and incentive for the participation of private entities in the conservation, maintenance and recovery of public places.

2012

Lei 4.202/2012 Provides for the regularization, organization and operations of open and permanent markets in the Federal District.

Lei 4.821/2012 Establishes that artistic and cultural manifestations in the streets, avenues and public squares of the Federal District, observed certain requirements, are free from any censorship, coercion, prohibition,

Lei 5.627/2016 Concerns the commercialization of food in food trucks in the Federal District and gives other measures.

PL 6779/2016 Institutes a sponsorship program of public spaces, characterized by the zeal and administration of spaces and public equipment by legal persons and individuals.

2017

PL 1426/2017 Establishes the "Adopt a Square" program, and makes other arrangements.

39

THE IMPROVISED Eu organizo o movimento, eu oriento o carnaval, eu inauguro o monumento no planalto central do país.

- Tropicalia, Caetano Veloso

Jornadas de Junho: Brasília, 2013.

Source: Midia Ninja

As much as the general narrative about Brasilia is that of lack of public life, in the last few years, something has changed in the way the inhabitants of Brasilia have been experiencing public space. There are many social movements, community associations and cultural producers that are challenging the notions of inhabitation of the functional city, finding new venues and means for social interaction, cultural production and political action, redefining citizenship and participation.

As a response to the urban asymmetries that systemic disinvestment and social exclusion have created, to the political and economic crisis that we face today, but also of a contemporary society to premodern and modern urbanistic concepts, there are innumerable initiatives in the city that are re-imagining relation-

ships, economies, politics and space, whether through political manifestations and protests, artistic gatherings, cultural occupations, community gardens, markets, happenings, carnival blocks or parties. Using public spaces as platforms, different actors are appropriating, transforming and/or reclaiming these spaces for mutual benefit, in what Harvey refers to as “commoning”, demanding among many things (even if indirectly), the right to the city: the right of creation and full fruition of social space1.

The right to the city as the right to urban life, defended by Lefebvre, is one that arguably the population of Brasilia has been deprived of. To that end, he expresses that it is necessary to counter the status quo of segregation and standardization of daily life, by challenging it and embodying alternative experiences, more spontaneous and authentic, propitiated, for example, by art and communal ludic activities, such as parties and games in public space2.

In recent years, an exponential expansion of cultural and political movements occupying public spaces has reached not only Brasilia, but other Brazilian cities such as Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Recife. After the 2011 demonstrations that happened from Cairo to New York in cities all around the globe, in 2013 it hit Brazil as well. Beginning in June 2013, what began as a protest against the increase in bus fairs turned into the biggest manifestation since the impeachment of Fernando Collor in the 90s. After the outbreak of protests in cities across Brazil, namely Jornadas de Junho (June Journeys), activist actions merged with cultural actions began to expand3. Markedly, many gatherings and parties began to surge informally in Brasilia, supported by social media, who became catalyst of activities that were not traditionally connected or that were usually located in other (private) spaces.

A movement that was timidly rising gained force with the popularization of Facebook and other social media. The social network fulfilled a function that until then was not possible, of expansion and visibility, potentializing many dispersed initiatives and making it possible for a new generation, that of Brasilia-born residents, to begin reacting to the fragmented city made of highways and large empty spaces. Proposing from outdoor parties and gatherings to platforms that connect neighbors through skills (Projeto Pilotis) or food (Bêco Restaurante, Coma no Jardim), apps for donations, loans and exchanges (Boomerang), various online groups for meet-ups and timebanks, Whatsapp groups for street neighbors and community-organizing, and alternative guides to the city (Novo Guia de Brasília, Experimente Brasília), this new generations is reinventing narratives, relationships and even economies.

After years of population growth due to migrations from other states, Brasília now has the first generations to have been born and raised in Brasília, who experience, perceive and represent their city

in different forms, and imagine different possibilities of inhabiting it as well.

At the same time, the city has been undergoing a period of intense urban and cultural debate about the “Lei 4092/2008”, popularly known as Lei do Silêncio (Law of Silence). While leisure and cultural options are increasingly constrained due to lack of public investment, and especially by virtue of the privatization of such activities coupled with the expansion of suburban urbanization and the creation of shopping malls, subject to high prices, regulations and surveillance, for many of the city’s residents, one of the major shortcomings are areas of collective encounter other than its gardens and green spaces. While Brasilia has vast bucolic areas, it lacks in botecos (informal bars that can be found in any corner), for example, an old urban habit of the country. Clubs, bars, show houses and other establishments of the Pilot Plan that are close to residential areas, which promoted cultural events such as live music and movie screenings, but also political debates of different civil society movements are being assessed or even closed for exceeding the maximum sound emission stipulated by the legislation, including Balaio Café, Senhoritas Café, Café da Rua 8, Tartaruga Lanches, closed between 2012 and 2015.

O Novo Guia de Brasília, by Gabriela Bilá. Courtesy of the author.

41

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As a result, many art collectives, DJs and cultural producers began to organize parties and occupy neglected commercial areas and recreate spaces through picnics in the extensive lawns, soirées in the subterranean passages and parties under the viaducts, which convey the scale and the social function of public space.

The economic crisis has also played an important role, where especially the youth – university students and newly graduates – have been discovering sites for free and cheap events and alternative options to the homogeneous mainstream, proposing parties such as Balada em Tempos de Crise (Ballad in Times of Crisis), Feira Livre (Free Fair) among others.

As regulatory agencies’ tolerance began to diminish and other measures that limit

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42

The law provides for the monitoring of sound emissions throughout the city, in urban and rural areas, residential and commercial blocks and even in the socalled “mixed areas with a recreational vocation”. The intention is to ensure “quiet and public welfare”. Being one of the most rigid laws of the country regarding sound limit, the law does not provide exceptions for cultural activities and is impacting the economic development and cultural scene of the city, and consequently, the rare opportunities for social encounter that the population has.

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Timeline of global, national and local events

cultural activities increased, expressly the approval of the Constitutional Amendment that reduces public expenditures (2016), the announcement of the end of the Ministry of Culture (which was later reversed) by interim president Michel Temer, as well as the little support provided for typical cultural manifestations such as Carnival, led to the increase of these events as a form of protest as well.

Operating in the interstices of what is allowed in the Pilot Plan, between the formal and informal, these spaces and actions become spaces for insurgent citizenship. In different ways, they "empower, parody, derail or subvert state agendas” and “introduce into the city new identities and practices that disturb established histories” 4. Although many of them happen temporarily, for a short period of hours during the day or night, and especially over the weekends, and aren’t necessarily political – not every party or fair has a claim or political intention, although it has become custom to see or hear a Fora Temer! 5 –, the appropriation of space by the organizers and participants re-imagine citizenship in the everyday politics. Dividing and negotiating space with other people, assigning values and creating identities, recognizing differences and creating collectivities. Experiencing urban and public life enables

them to then make demands that were before unnoticed, such as better mobility, infrastructure, safety, bureaucracy, etc. “(...) it is in the midst of this privatizing, individualistic and commercial culture (...) that independent collectives meet and play a role of counterculture, of alternative and of renewal of the old logics of coexistence and usufruct of space. From the moment in which there is this compaction of ideologies among those that promote this type of event, to hold parties in the street becomes a political act” - Ivan Longo, 2014.

Balada em Tempos de Crise: Túnel do Lago Norte. Courtesy of Balada em Tempos de Crise.

According to Teddy Cruz6, “when the top-down and the bottom-up collide, the political emerges”. The barriers imposed by the formal frameworks such as zoning, legislation and bureaucracy (among others) changed the switch from purely social and cultural practices to political ones as well. In fact, many of the cultural producers have been organizing and making claims of their own due to the lack of recognition of their work, on the one hand, and the lack of public investment and support on the other. This year, one month before carnival – Brazil’s largest and most traditional national celebration – and the city hadn’t allocated funding and infrastructure nor organized the event. Consequently, many street blocks that started informally and autonomously decided not to participate as a form of protest.

Confronto Soundsystem, for example, which has been promoting open parties for 12 years, was one of the groups who decided not to partake, publishing a public letter on Facebook explaining their motivations and stating their claims, which to cite a few were related to permit issuing, funding criteria, democratizing opportunities, safety and police abuse, and nonconformity of law.

Many other so-called “alternative blocks” echoed them, either posting similar letters on their Facebook pages, sending them to the responsible city officials or leading their blocks without authorization.

Feira Livre 2 Anos.

Courtesy of Feira Livre

43

Bloco do Peleja: "Fora Temer" Source: Midia Ninja

Bloco do Peleja.

Source: Midia Ninja

44

With this in mind, Carnival - specifically street carnival (which hasn’t yet been commodified) – is an important example because it is one of the most significant street rituals today. Through the celebration of the sacred and the profane, the popular celebration’s mission has always been to break paradigms, reinvent spaces and favor relationships7. According to Mikhail Bakhtin, in medieval times, carnival was “the triumph of a sort of temporal liberation of the dominant truth and the current regime, which supposed the provisional abolition of all hierarchical relations, privileges, rules and taboos.

It was the authentic feast of time, that of the future, alternations and renewals. It was opposed to all perpetuation, all perfection and regulation, pointed to a future still incomplete”8. And in fact, opposing the enclosed parades, blocks and VIP sections in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and other cities, street carnival is still one of the few opportunities for expression of democracy, liberation and appreciation of our culture.

This in part explains why street carnival has been increasing all over Brazil, in so-called alternative carnival blocks, where especially the middle-class youth are finding spaces for contestation to a very unpopular government. The context of reclaiming streets post- Jornadas de Junho, the political and economic crisis, added to the lack of support for artists, is leading to an increase in alternative carnival blocks, where musicians are finding space for artistic and political expression.

It is in the street where their claims can be embodied and exposed, which helps justify the emergence of many feminist and LGBT blocks in the past few years, such as Bloco do Amor (Block of Love), Virgens da Asa Norte (Virgins of Asa Norte), Vai com as Profanas (Go with the Profanes) e Tuthankasmona9, which have found in the carnival blocks their own spaces of representation. Bloco das Divinas Tetas is in fact an allusion to Tropicalia, a Brazilian counterculture movement in the 70s that opposed the extreme right conservatism of the military dictatorship.

In the midst of the privatization of our everyday lives, Carnival has also become an opportunity for visiting forgotten urban spaces. In times of mediated violence and privatized leisure, it is during Carnival that people experience coexisting with the different, with otherness. Wandering throughout the city becomes a form of contesting modern urbanism, evoking the tradition of the flaneurs, who walked slowly, without a fixed destination, attentive to the surroundings and the encounters. In Carnival, however, the wandering is almost always collective, in a relationship between bodies, space and time. Inclusive, democratic and horizontal, it is “an arenistic game, like a rite, a circus or an agora”10.

Bloco das Divinas Tetas Courtesy of Bloco das Divinas Tetas

There are obviously different carnivals, but the one described is very specific in the modes of dress, the relationship with space, the narrative constructions and the non-hierarchical structure that together conform this urban expedition that is at the same time festive, activist and errant . Celebrating becomes a fight for the power to define what is and what is not a celebration. Through this process of contesting and building a collective, Carnival suggests “the strength that glitter and folly have as political instruments” 11.

“In short, it is less about praising and exalting the party itself than about seeing, in some of its characteristics, gaps and glimpses for other ways of life in the cities. If Carnival is desirable, it is not so much for the "facilities it affords as a body market," as Alan Pauls wrote about the beach, but for the political experiment it entails: a masterless procession, stateless collectivism, pedestrian protagonism, openness to others, an urban tour in tropical gala costumes” - Roberto Andrés, 2015.

Bloco do Calango Careta Photo by Mariana Fernanda Amaral

45

While the increase in the number of people adhering to the carnival blocks and parties in public space is great to promote the gathering of people in Brasilia, care must be taken to ensure that what has often started as political is not lost.

Although many people are gathering in these spaces and events, few know the history or understand the meaning of these occupations and gatherings. Many attend what they expect to be a moment of leisure and entertainment, without reflecting on the meanings of occupying a public space or of being part of a collectivity. The use of the word occupation for social events in public space has been used more often than not, which could implicate the emptying of its initial - more political - meaning. This explains the concern that exists for the participants to be aware of these political movements - in Brazil and globally. In this sense, the urbanist collective Coletivo MOB, for example, encourages people to ‘move and occupy their neighborhoods’, while sharing content online and creating pedagogical frameworks for people to understand the processes within the contexts in which they are inserted.

Not to say that the phenomenon is not positive per se; people do need alternative forms of leisure and social encounter, especially in Brasilia. Spaces that allow the interaction of different social classes, races and backgrounds; spaces that allow us to perceive ourselves in relation to others; spaces for us to practice the very meaning of cities and democracy. But as Arendt stresses, “the greater the population of any political body, the greater the likelihood that the social, not the political, will constitute the public domain” 12.

In that sense, there has been an increase in many other events in public space as well, because of its relative cheapness compared to private venues or given its ‘hip’ status, without the reflection on the intentions and outcomes of such gatherings. In some cases, these events begin to capitalize upon and restrain access to the use of public space, by charging entry fees or fees from vendors,

46

for example. In fact, a few of them have become elitist and homogeneous, not contradicting the logics of consumption of private spaces and shopping malls.

But for the most part, there is a genuine concern in hosting the events in central spaces, accessible by public transportation and free of charge, although most people come in their cars because of the faulty public transportation.

The expansion of these events and the volume of people using the streets and lawns gives visibility to them and yet demonstrates a repressed demand for culture and sociability. As many of these initiatives promote events on forgotten or neglected spaces, they also try to bring awareness to such spaces, in particular forgotten cultural amenities, which are not promoted, used, or maintained, demanding from city officials but also from the residents a renewed perspective and care. Whether they are spaces for celebrating, making friends or protesting, these temporary events play a fundamental role in opening up spaces for plural discussions or for action, given the diversity of subjects that assemble and their experiences and views of the world.

“In great cities, spaces as well as places are designed and built: walking, witnessing, being in public, are as much part of the design and purpose as is being inside to eat, sleep, make shoes or love or music. The word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organized around citizenship around participation in public life.”

- Rebecca Solnit, 2002, p.176.

Of course, there are flaws and challenges as well. For one, most of the events are restricted to the Pilot Plan - not because there isn’t a will or capacity for them to happen in the other neighborhoods and cities, but especially because of the lack of public amenities in those regions.

That is due to the unequal distribution of public and cultural amenities throughout the city, but also with the type of spac-

Appropriations of Public Space (2012-2018) Temporary Permanent

Source: Facebook, Correio Braziliense, Interviews

es and infrastructure available, as well as the resources. In addition, the protocols to ask for authorizations for such events are costly and time demanding.

For those who do organize in the Pilot Plan or elsewhere, the lack of information added to the formal barriers such as the bureaucracy involved, authorizations required, high costs and lack of support from the government, which in addition criminalizes cultural activities, imposes absurd limits in terms of permits, policing, etc., become an impediment for the events to happen or continue. Even for the middle class organizers, there are still obstacles that in the long run discourage organizations from continuing their work. However, when compared to those of other regional administrations, there is still the fact that these organizations have the facility to raise funds, establish contacts with the government, obtain knowledge and receive privileged treatment.

Parallel to this movement, there are also others of citizens getting together to not only appropriate space, but transform-

ing them and making claims, configuring permanent spaces of collective action and experimentation. This is the case of community gardens and cultural occupations, as well as certain coffee shops and bars, that have been emerging in the past years, that have a more permanent character than the events mentioned before. A desire and necessity to create spaces of conviviality; to improve eating habits; to solve environmental and health conditions; to promote certain values; to resist and create more autonomous forms of living has led communities of neighbors, artists, students, social movements, to organize and intervene in public spaces surrounding their homes, schools and/or work environments.

Horta ComunitĂĄria Girassol, for example, is the oldest and largest community garden in the region and was born out of a hantavirus outbreak in SĂŁo SebastiĂŁo, in which community members decided to occupy a publicly owned vacant lot used as a garbage deposit and to transform it into a garden. After 15 years of struggle and resistance,

47

today it is the only garden that is authorized to use public infrastructure and natural springs for its maintenance.

“Urban gardens have opened the way to a ‘rurbanization’ process that is indispensable if we are to regain control over our food production, regenerate our environment and provide for our subsistence. The gardens are far more than a source for food security: they are centers of sociality, knowledge production, and cultural and intergenerational exchange” - Silvia Federici, 2001.

Rolê do Biquini: feminist walk

by Coletivo Mob and independent activists. Courtesy of Coletivo Mob

48

Horta da 416 norte, on the other hand is an example of a community garden located in the Pilot Plan, in which residents with similar interests decided to create a space to extend their neighborhood events and to teach their children healthier habits. While it is very small compared to Horta Comunitária Girassol, its initiative in the center of the city, occupying Lucio Costa’s precious bucolic scale has brought a lot of debate but also visibility, inspiring many other similar initiatives to spread. As a result, together with other gardens, they are helping create the regulatory framework that doesn’t yet exist in Brasília for urban agriculture.

These are also sites for insurgent citizenship. In fact, the collective orga-

nizing of the garden has also led them to form a political body and they are now representatives of the local prefecture, where they promote neighborhood events and make changes to their sidewalks, playgrounds and communal space. Other similar examples can be found in other spaces, such as in universities and neglected sectors in the central area. Students and artists are transforming public spaces around and within the buildings, promoting events to sustain their activities, such as Dulcina Vive, in the South Amusement Sector and SCS Vive in the South Commercial Sector; and among urban experts, such as Coletivo MOB, who have been transforming the landscape through creative placemaking and pedagogical activities.

Formed by 4 architects and a psychologist, Coletivo Mob has been partnering with activists and using public space as a tool to question and raise awareness about urban and social issues in the city, while inspiring and empowering citizens to transform their own neighborhoods.

Além do plano // beyond the plan There are also other examples that extrapolate the Pilot Plan. As mentioned before, in the process of urbanization, Brasilia became a set of nuclei spread throughout the territory, composed by the center (Pilot Plan) and the satellite cities. According to Paviani, opposing the “rigid, elitist territory”, declared Cultural Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO, the other cities are made up of flexible spaces, which "receive the surplus population, the working class, the low-level officials of the federal and district governments, the inhabitants of favelas that have been eradicated" 13. In this context, there are movements and collectives of strong counterculture organization, such as Mercado Sul, in Taguatinga; Casa Frida, in São Sebastião, to cite a few, among the many that are spread throughout the cities of Guará, Paranoá, Ceilândia, Recanto das Emas, Santa Maria, etc. While many of these cities were either informal settlements that were regulated or planned

neighborhoods that substituted camps and favelas, most of them lack open public space, like in the Pilot Plan, or cultural and leisure amenities. Therefore, in many of these cities, residents either rely in private facilities – if they can afford it, or community-based and cultural organizations that provide activities and space for, especially youth, to express themselves.

In fact, in the absence of open spaces and/or in the feeling of insecurity in those that exist, groups had to internalize their public spheres, promoting cultural, social and political events in private spaces in their own homes, local bars and by creating cultural houses or community centers. Throughout the Federal District, there are many of these organizations and spaces who act as community catalyzers and foster civic engagement and collective action, reclaiming public space within their possibilities. While most of them stimulate diversity, cultural production, knowledge exchange, and periphery appreciation and empowerment, some have more specific agendas, embracing gender and feminist perspectives in their claims. Such initiatives include Mercado Sul (Taguatinga), Casa Frida, Olaria Cultural, Movimento Cultural Supernova, Escola na Rua (São Sebastião) Casa Ipê, R.U.A.S., Espaço Cultural Filhos do Quilombo (Ceilândia), Espaço Imaginário Cultural, Galpão do Riso, Sarau Complexo (Samambaia), Espaço Cultural Moinho de Vento (Santa Maria), Coletivo da Cidade (Estrutural), A Pilastra (Guará), Espaço Cultural Ubuntu (Recanto das Emas), Galeria Pólvora (Gama), F.O.D.A Pública, etc. Among their activities, there are conversations, circles of care, film debates, poetry readings and slams, workshops, musical presentations, etc., assuming a much more political tone than those in the Pilot Plan and becoming true spaces of resistance.

These cultural and community-based organizations, contrary to the examples 1. Mercado Sul, 2016. Photo by Webert da Cruz 2. 34a Ecofeira do Mercado Sul, 2016.

Source: Facebook Mercado Sul Vive 3. Sarau VA, 2017. Source: Facebook Sarau VA

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Feira Livre 2 anos.

Courtesy of Feira Livre

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cited before, not only appropriate and transform spaces, but reclaim them, having very clear political agendas. By occupying spaces provided in the local administration or using inactive cultural centers, partnering with public schools, renting out spaces or even occupying private land, these organizations create spaces for knowledge exchange, cultural production, solidarity economies, political debate and self-expression. Though many of these spaces aren’t necessarily publicly owned, they become public from the relationships that are established, the agendas that are placed and by means of access and inclusion.

by need or aspiration, which establish different possibilities of inhabiting the city. Although the actions don’t carry an explicit educative purpose, there are signs of political, transformative and emancipatory pedagogical practices, which dialogue with the processes of Paulo Freire’s liberating education, on praxis, reflection and action. Through the appropriation, transformation and/or reclaiming of public space, they are not only creating new spaces for collective action, but also new means. In the process of intervening in space, relations are being transformed, knowledges are being built and a different type of citizenship is emerging.

While the examples cited before differ spatially, temporally, demographically, and in their intentions, means and outcomes, they are all bottom-up, horizontal, collective initiatives that are born either

Some of the actions might only be temporary, yet the accumulation of knowledge through experience and networks is nevertheless passed on to other initia-

tives that continue, appropriate, develop and expand the original model by means of similar protocols and processes, in a "rhizomatic transmission"14 . Making a rhizome is in fact a way of constructing an infrastructure of the commons.

Although there might be some lack of civic engagement in traditional spaces of representative democracy, in which space itself has played a partial role, these initiatives demonstrate that something is changing. Neighbors that started organizing to have a space for growing vegetables and socializing, had to face the challenges regarding zoning restrictions and the non-existence of a legislation to, as a result, participate in the formulation of one that would allow them to do so. Musicians who wanted to play music and gather friends had to figure out the channels and protocols to so, in agreeance with the required sound emission limits, zoning restrictions and permits.

The barriers imposed by the unequal distribution of public goods and the formal frameworks of zoning, legislation and bureaucracy (among others) changed the switch from purely social and cultural practices to political ones as well.

to the unpopular interim president that took over after Dilma’s impeachment.

6 Teddy Cruz, 2016, 12.

7 Manuela Allo. "Velhas ruas, novos espaços: A ressignificação dos espaços urbanos como locais de encontro e criação coletiva". Blend, March, 2016. https://medium.com/blend-juicing-ideas/velhas-ruas-novos-espa%C3%A7os-a11efe17ec27.

8 John Holloway, Crack Capitalism. (New York, Pluto Press, 2010): 31.

9 Mona refers to a mode of treatment between homosexuals, drags and transvestites.

10, 11, 12 Roberto Andrés. "O Cortejo Errante". (Belo Horizonte, Piseagrama,2015): 78-85 11 Allo, 2016.

12 Hannah Arendt. A condição humana.

(Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária, 2011): 52.

13 Aldo Paviani. "Brasília: conceito urbano espacializado?" Vitruvius, December, 2004. http://www.vitruvius.com.br/ revistas/read/arquitextos/05.051/552 14 Petrescu, 48.

Younger generations - the first to actually be born in Brasilia - are shaping the city after 'their own heart's desire'. Co-creating and transforming their environment, these initiatives demonstrate that they have a lot to say about the future of their city and are in fact, acting towards it. However, they still have little voice and, therefore, power and influence in the decision making processes of a city that prioritizes its form over its people.

Endnotes 1 Henri Lefebvre. O direito à cidade.

(São Paulo: Centauro, 2001): 105-118.

2 Lefebvre, 105.

3 Natasha Rena, Paula Berquó and Ana de Sá, "Cartografias emergentes: a distribuição territorial da produção cultural em Belo Horizonte" In Indisciplinar, Belo Horizonte, 2014): 176.

4 Holston, 1998, 47-49.

5 Fora Temer! means "Out Temer",

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3 CRITICAL INSIGHTS + OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION

"People slide off cardboard on the lawn of the congress" in Situações Brasília (2012) by Poro

INSURGENT PRACTICES OF RECLAIMING PUBLIC SPACE

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The previous chapter outlined the conditions under which different practices of reclaiming public space have emerged - their responses and reactions to modernist planning and to the political and economic crisis we are facing. Not only that, the proliferation of such events also evidenced the desire to be in public and to participate in the building of alternative futures for the city. In this thesis, the improvised is in fact a provocation to the planned, although even in the informal and spontaneous there is planning involved.

ing them. In this sense, the first part is composed by stories and descriptions of selected practices mentioned previously.

The second one is a series of diagrams developed through the analysis of each individual practice and the combination of them all, where connections and patterns were identified between actors, actions and resources, as well as in their ideas, outcomes and meanings. This was fundamental to understand the underlying principles of appropriating, transforming and reclaiming public space, and where are needs and opportunities for intervention.

According to Teddy Cruz, the informal is a praxis: a set of practices, procedures, and protocols. As he suggests, by visualizing the procedures, we expose other ways of constructing the city as well as citizenship, in a process he names ‘tactics of translation’1 . Influenced by his work, this next section aims to visualize these creative acts of citizenship by visualizing, translating, interpreting and represent-

Endnotes 1 Tactics of translation: a deliberate effort to expose and visualize urban conflict as an operational and creative tool capable of reappropriating these broken pieces of urbanization that have been manifested in the space of the metropolis, the by-products of imposed, exclusionary political and economic urban recipes of privatization. Cruz, 15.

APPROPRIATING

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63

Balada em tempos de crise

SCSamba

60 Confronto Soundystem 64 Bloco do Calango Careta

65 Bicicletada Feira Livre

TRANSFORMING

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Mimo Bar/Contem

68 Horta Comunitรกria Girassol

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Coletivo MOB

RECLAIMING

69 Horta 416 norte 71 Casa Frida

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Mercado Sul Vive

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Confronto Soundsystem (2004-today)

Appropriation: party Similar:Balada em tempos de crise, SUJO, Mimosa, Criolina, Forró do B, Forró de Vitrola, Vai tomar no cover

Description: Confronto Soundsystem’s parties began in 2004 as a response to their perception of a segmented city, not only in terms of the physical space and the distances imposed by the city's design, but also the distances echoed in the social stratification and relations between the people. Therefore, during the last 12 years, as a precursor of the parties that were to come, their street parties intended to promote a mix of different types of people and to provide unexpected and fortuitous encounters between people who would not run into each other naturally in a “corner” of a superblock. The commercial sector in the city center, which was empty during the weekends, became the target in which to intervene and reoccupy, while the parties became the tool to foster new relationships between people and public space, subversively appropriating an area originally intended for institutional use.

Organize: To get the necessary permits, they usually need a month in advance to prepare. However, many times they use guerilla tactics to dribble the bureaucracy and discouragement they face, and organize informally, using the loopholes of the system. To finance the street parties, they hold paid parties or play as DJs at other parties and revert their revenue into the free events. Since many of the members are designers, they mainly spread out flyers and wheat-paste posters around the city and use social media to announce the parties. Back in 2004, Facebook didn’t exist yet, so they used Orkut, a social media platform that was very popular among Brazilians.

Program: Using the relatively simple Jamaican sound system adapted to the Brazilian context (mixed with various local influences, from the informal street vendors to the periphery balls), they chose the Praça do Povo, precisely because of its location and its rich transportation network (close to the main bus station and subway stop), where they could gather not only their friends and people who knew their music, but also the doormen that worked in the buildings, the transvestites, the crack users, the rap fans from the peripheries, where they could all be equal, “without their social identity or economic level being the passport for their participation”. Since 2004, they have held over 30 parties and in 2011, they began to play during carnival as well. This year, they decided not to participate in Brasilia’s carnival, and instead, wrote a letter to the government attesting their reasons and their claims.

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Balada em tempos de crise (2014-today)

Description: Balada em tempos de Crise began in 2015, when the economic crisis was at its peak in Brazil. A group of friends who always organized parties found themselves unsettled when in the midst of unemployment and austerity, they couldn’t hold their parties in one of their houses nor could afford the existing parties. Among them there was also a discontent with the lack of innovation in the nightlife scene, coupled with the high prices. On a certain night, reunited at the TV Tower and impressed with the majestic architecture of the city and its antagonisms, they had the idea of organizing parties in the amazing but forgotten spaces of the city.

Appropriation: party

Similar: Confronto Soundsystem, SUJO, Mimosa, Criolina, Forró do B, Forró de Vitrola, Vai tomar no cover Organize: The crisis has guided their discourse and choice in space and the first party was under the JK Bridge. In the beginning, they acted quite ‘anarchically’, organizing the parties informally without permissions, in underutilized and forgotten spaces, which has included underground passages and galleries, civic squares and aeromodelling club. One of the problems was they didn’t have funding for cleaning and trash bins and that was a big issue. As the parties began to get more popular and more frequent, they had to change their dynamics. That means from free parties they had to start charging entry fees because of the costs of authorizations, permissions, maintenance and the risks involved. However, they stress that the fees are symbolic and quite lower than those of other parties in the city. Additionally, they have organized cleanups in the spaces where they host the parties, such as in the Calçadão da Asa Sul. Program: Their parties happen every month, in different formats and spaces. The free parties still happen, funded by the paid ones. This Carnival they have organized a series of events in the newly inaugurated Calçadão da Asa Sul (South Boardwalk) and plan to host a similar format during the drought season. While the parties are usually electronic music, they have also experimented with gastronomy, exhibitions and creative economy.

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Feira Livre (2014-today)

Appropriation: market Similar: Picnik, SOM+AR, Mimosa, Dente Feira, Feira Analógica do Conic, Feira Baixo Asa Norte, Domingo no Parque, Ecofeira do Mercado Sul

Description: Feira Livre started in 2014 as a group of 4 friends who wanted to find alternative forms of entertainment in the city, that were free and open, more accessible than the existing options and that would promote different social interactions. In doing so, they decided to occupy the green space in between Eixinho and Eixão (two avenues that cut the Pilot Plan from north to south) during a Sunday afternoon when the Eixão is closed as a leisure street by the city.

Organize: The first version was improvised and small, in which they used a van and a speaker and invited some friends, which invited other friends and somehow, they were able to gather around 150 people. Since then, Feira Livre happens every three months and started to attract not only friends and residents of the nearby superblocks but also people from all around town, attracting up to 500 people.

Program: After the second edition, they started investing in decoration, using fabric and bamboo to make the structures for the performances and workshops. They consider themselves a platform for local bands to showcase their work, in a place and time that counters the Lei do Silêncio (Law of Silence), once it happens during the day, and where artisans and marketers can sell their work without rentals or fees.

They also provide space for workshops (previous editions have included traditional toy making, vertical gardens, yoga, acrobatics, etc) and open mics that have discussed indigenous, feminist, gender and drug related issues, as well as the coup.

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Do trabalho para o samba (2016-today)

Description: Rodas de samba (samba circles) are a traditional component of Brazil’s street bohemia and are very common in cities such as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Salvador. These samba circles usually don’t require much infrastructure or costs, where a great number of people get together and dance around a table where musicians play instruments and sing. While this is very common in other Brazilian cities, in Brasilia they usually take place in bars and closed venues.

As a means to revitalize the South Commercial Sector, different collectives have been promoting parties in the underground garages and allies, and articulating different city agencies, private entities, cultural producers and social services.

While most of the events are paid, the roda de samba (samba circle) that has been happening every Friday for the past year, has been attracting hundreds of people, mixing the upper class youth with the homeless that live in the area.

Appropriation: roda de samba (samba circles) Similar: Roda do sudoca, Roda de choro na Entrequadra 13/14 Lago Norte

Organize: The South Commercial Sector is central and is where many jobs and services are located. However, at night it becomes empty and is considered a dangerous place by the population's imaginary. In 2016, a new bar opened and began to bring musicians to play samba during the weekends. In the beginning, around 20 people would show up. As the number of people grew, the movement began to attract street vendors, which competed with the bar responsible for paying the musicians and the infrastructure. The musicians and owner of bar, therefore, began to organize with the vendors, which now are allowed to stay there too, paying a small contribution to help pay the artists. This way, the business owner, artists and street vendors together contribute to the programming and activation of the space, help in its maintenance and cleanliness and generate income for all.

Program: The samba happens every Friday night, where people just gather around the square and the music, attracting hundreds of people.

It is one of the few events that have such a regularity and that attract so many different stracts of people from the city.

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Bloco do Calango Careta (2015-today)

Appropriation: street carnival

Description: Calango Careta is a carnival block that was born from 5 friends who wanted to contribute to the not so popular celebration in Brasilia. Without any musical background, they started dressing up and holding a large scale lizard puppet, invading other carnival blocks. At first, they invited other musicians Similar: Babydoll de to play for them, and in 2015 they finally started their own orchestra. Today Nylon, Suvaco da Asa, Aparelhinho, Vai com as the block is composed of 4 fronts, the orchestra, the percussion, a choro-band profanas, Virgens da Asa composed by older men and a troupe of circus and theatre artists, comprising Norte, Bloco do Peleja, approximately 100 people. The block itselft attracts up to 3,000 people. The Bloco do Amor, Bloco das idea is to create a unique identity for Brasilia’s carnival, mixed and diverse.

Divinas Tetas, Galinho, According to one of the organizers, they are more than a carnival block; but a "collective of people, a support network in the city, from the city and for the Pacotão, Baratona, city, a means through which to build a reality in which they believe in".

Raparigueiros,Menino da Ceilândia, Segura Organize: For the block to work, the members are divided in different fronts, which o Coco, Amai-vos have distributed tasks in order to decentralize the responsibilities. Different uns aos loucos whatsapp groups, meetings and rehearsals are held throughout the year to keep the large group motivated. Whereas in the first years, they followed the formal protocols, in the last carnival (2018) they decided to do it unauthorized. Concerned with the repercussion and the amount of people that could show up, they decided not to announce the event on Facebook, using only Whatsapp as a means to communicate the event. Not requiring any infrastructure (such as power) for their instruments, they could do it in the form of a parade, where the meeting point had the necessary amenities (bathrooms, food, etc) as did the final destination. Going along the superblocks, the parade invited passerbys and residents to join, without interfering in the neighborhood for too long. Along the way, informal street vendors joined to provide beverages and a recycling cooperative was paid to clean the streets. To finance the activities, members of the orchestra pay a symbolic monthly fee and play in paid parties, although they don’t think this is a good approach - one of the reasons for which they intend to formalize their activity, so that they can apply for grants and get sponsorships.

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Program: Although Carnival only happens once a year, the block consists of a year-long effort to angariate funds, to prepare the band to play, as well as to continue motivating the participants. This includes planning other activities such as open rehearsals and meetings. Now that the block is growing, they have plans to create a street festival.

Bicicletada(Critical Mass) (2008-today)

Description: Bicicletada is a part of the critical mass movement, in which on a set date and time, cyclists occupy the streets in a celebratory, spontaneous gathering. Starting in 1992 in San Francisco, in the early 2000s Brasilia had the first event of its kind. While the bike movement had started earlier through different organizations acting either non politically through leisure activities, in the university or in segments of the government, and some critical mass attempts were made by different sporadically, it was in 2008, facilitated by online communication through yahoo groups,that the Bicicletada in Brasilia was resumed.

Appropriation: critical mass

Organize: It is not the intent for critical masses to be meticulously organized, but they currently happen every first and last Friday of the month at 6:00 pm, parting from either the Praรงa do Museu in the Pilot Plan, namely Praรงa das Bicicletas (Bike Square), or from the Praรงa do Relรณgio in Taguatinga. In 2008, the Praรงa do Museu was the meeting point, due to its centrality, which could gather people from around the city and particularly from the Pilot Plan. As it began to happen frequently, it was baptized Bike Square, and a paracycle and sign with its name were installed, as a symbol of the appropriation of the space. In the beginning, people were invited through the distribution of flyers and posters, but with the popularization of social media, Facebook events, whatsapp groups and email groups began to serve that purpose.

The whatsapp and email groups, in particular, are spaces for discussions on mobility, whereas the event itself is an embodiment and celebration of the collective.

Program: The event happens every month, either composed by 3 people or by 100.

Although there are certain moments in which the movements is more active, such in 2013 in a certain political climate, on special occasions such as Car Free Day and when a cyclist dies, the event gathers more people. The occasion of the bicicletadas in Brasilia and around Brazil have helped in the creation and proliferation of other groups and movements, such as the World Bike Forum in Porto Alegre in 2011.

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Mimo Bar/Contem (2017-today)

Transformation: itinerant bar

Description: Mimo Bar/Contem is an itinerant bar, meeting space and mini cultural center that occupies the open green space adjacent to Funarte Cultural Center in the Monumental Axis. Partially fenced, but with free access, the space is made up of 3 containers, tables made of reused oil tanks, beach chairs, canopies and a different scenography every month. The idea came from the 4-yearold party Mimosa, organized by the scenographer Sandro Biondo and his business partner Julia Melo, which happened sporadically during the year, occupying public spaces around the city, where they gathered local entrepreneurs who sold their designs and food, along with Brazilian music, and attracted particularly the LGBT community. Although it moves around the city, they hope to leave some type of legacy to the spaces they occupy, for example, bike rails.

Organize: The initiative started earlier in 2017, when they occupied a vacant private lot in 105 norte (a commercial street next to a residential superblock) that was used as a parking lot, for 5 months, 5 days a week. They recently moved to where they are today, although they intend to keep moving around the city.

Originally,their income came from the bar in the free parties they organized, thus the idea to revert the situation: create a fixed bar, open to the public, and promote free events. However, this type of occupation and use of public land had no precedent and therefore, no legal framework to authorize it. The city therefore conceded a Temporary Operating Permit (AlvarĂĄ de Funcionamento Eventual), which authorizes their stay for 2 months, which can be then renovated for other 2 months.

Program: Other than the food vendors and stores that occupy 2 of the containers, the third one is destined to what they call the Mimo Cultural Center, in which exhibitions are held and on top of which a DJ plays. Far away from the residential zone, they are authorized to play music that doesn’t counter the Lei do Silêncio, and to promote other events, such as independent and feminist movie screenings and gatherings (thrift stores, pets, etc.)

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Coletivo Mob (2015-today)

Description: Coletivo MOB was born of the union of five urbanist friends who believed that people needed to restore the collective consciousness that was lost with the increasing individualized lifestyle that Brasilia’s urban design and modern culture impose. Public space therefore becomes a tool and means for the encounters and exchanges they think are necessary for the formation of a collectivity. Partnering with local organizations, MOB temporarily activates existing public space through placemaking, walks, participatory mappings and pedagogical activities, instigating the participants to look and intervene in their public spaces and neighborhoods differently, realizing that they have active roles in their planning and transformation.

Transformation: placemaking

Organize: Each project requires different planning frameworks, but usually MOB partners with a community organization or cultural producers to co-create events and workshops. For smaller interventions, MOB creates facebook events and announce them in local whatsapp groups, which are usually self-funded and require few materials and resources, such as for the walks and pedagogical activities. For the placemaking projects, meetings with different organizations and local administrations and city agencies are held, and funding usually comes in the form of donation or purchase of materials from the partnering groups. Depending on the scale of the intervention, the project can be planned from two weeks to a couple of months in advance.

Program: Most of MOB’s projects come from a demand that is perceived or organizations that reach out, and that’s why they are very diverse. Because MOB’s members have other full time jobs, it is hard to maintain a temporal regularity or spatial consistency, so the interventions are usually those close to their homes or where they have established ties and networks. The proposed activities usually gravitate around themes of mobility, feminism and waste, and try to encompass different age brackets, although children and youth are always more involved.

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Horta Comunitária Girassol (2005-today)

Reclaiming: community garden Similar: Horta 416 norte, Projeto Reação,

Description: Horta Comunitária Girassol is a community garden in São Sebastião that was born out of a hantavirus outbreak in São Sebastião. Community members decided to occupy the publicly owned vacant lot that was used as a garbage deposit and to transform it into a garden. After 15 years of struggle and resistance, today it occupies 5,000m² and is the only garden that is authorized to use public infrastructure and natural springs for its maintenance. Today the garden is used as a classroom for local public schools and institutions, for 5 families that sustain themselves by selling their produce and for community members who want to work with gardening, bringing healthier eating habits and practices to the peripheral community.

Although it is the biggest community garden in the region, infrastructure and funding still lack for certain activities, such as for the courses and workshops they hold.

Organize: the community began occupying the garden by contacting the administration and asking for help to clean the lot. Then, they began planting a small garden to stop people from throwing garbage, and along the years, through donations and mobilization, they expanded the garden. Today, the garden has a simple authorization from the local administration to use the space, but is still fighting with Terracap (who owns it) for the use concession. Whoever helps is granted the permission to take produce, and whoever is from the community but doesn’t help, can buy produce for a discounted price. Along with small grants, it is what sustains the garden. There are currently approximately 30 volunteers and 5 families that work in the garden everyday. Even though the garden uses community radios and social media to communicate about the garden, there is still little engagement from the neighborhood itself.

Program: Aside from the gardening activities, Horta Girassol also promotes workshops and mutirões, in partnership with local public schools, community organizations, health centers and higher education institutes. The workshops include agroecological practices, such as composting, pisciculture, jam confection and medicinal planting, to name a few. The reclaiming of the space has been very important in creating new spaces for food production, social encounter, environmental preservation, but also avoiding real estate speculation in the area.

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Horta 416 norte (2015-today)

Description: In the end of 2015, a group of neighbors of SQN 416, which had already established ties due to their children and dogs, began to plan an agroecological garden, where they could socialize, have access to organic produce and where their children could learn about food and planting. While in the beginning, they were mainly organizing events for their children and family, such as Easter Hunts and Halloween parties, along the years, they created mutual trust for larger projects.

Organize: For the garden, they chose a space with little pedestrian circulation, where the landscaping pattern of the superblock was less rigid, in an area zoned as bucolic. This space was originally considered unsafe, often occupied by the homeless and by drug dealers, containing only grass and sparse trees. While the group had little experience with agriculture, there were some agronomists and students, who created the initial sketches of the agroforestry system, and the vegetable garden was installed and managed collaboratively by the community, in mutirões¹, during the weekends.

In the beginning, the community faced complaints from a few neighbors that resorted to several fiscal agencies and, finally, to the Public Prosecutor's Office for the Defense of the Environment, alleging privatization of public space, food insecurity, environmental impact, and visual pollution that could devalue their properties. None of the accusations were confirmed and as they began to mount, the identity of the group strengthened as a network, new sympathizers approached, and the press gave visibility to the experience.

Program: In the meantime, some participants have articulated politically with other groups creating an urban agriculture movement in the Federal District, helping co-create the GT de Agricultura Urbana (Urban Agriculture Working Group) in the Movimento Nossa Brasília (Our Brasilia Movement), in which they are helping develop a regulatory framework for urban agriculture in Brasilia. Others have won the election of the superblock’s prefecture, ensuring continuity to the garden and political representation in the local administration. Today, they also partner with the local school and with the University, who use the garden for pedagogical activities. The garden activities have expanded to the rest of the superblock and today they organize other activities and events, such as outdoor movie screenings, Yoga, Tai Chi, talks, parties and sustainable practices festivals.

Reclaiming: community garden Similar: Horta Comunitária Girassol, Projeto Reação

¹Mutirão is the name given in Brazil to collective mobilizations to achieve an end, based on the mutual help provided free of charge. It is an expression used originally for the work in the field or the construction of popular houses. Currently, by extension of meaning, "mutirão" can designate any collective initiative for the execution of an unpaid service, as a joint effort for the painting of the neighborhood school, cleaning of a park and others.

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Mercado Sul Vive (2015-today)

Description: Mercado Sul Vive is a cultural occupation in Taguatinga, which gathers Reclaiming: cultural occupation initiatives of activism, crafts, music, carpentry, dance, theatre, urban mobility and Similar: Vila Cultural

community radios. Built in the 1950s, Mercado Sul was one of the first commercial centers of the Federal District, a “free market� that gathered small shops, warehouses, butchers and luncheonettes. The arrival of supermarket chains in the 70s led to the decline of the market, when several spaces were vacated, initiating a mixed dynamic of abandonment and occupation. By the 80s it had become a bohemian place with bars and prostitution houses, attracting the many musicians, poets and artists of the region, who began to experience the alleys of Mercado Sul, setting up their shops but also inhabiting the vacant units, making it a cultural point by the mid-90s and 2000s. In 2015, the increase in rents led to the occupation of 8 remaining empty boxes by local residents and workers, who used them for cultural activities, community cooking, permaculture, among other activities. The movement began to play a role of social, cultural and political resistance, holding meetings of artists, musicians, rural and urban women, social movements, popular knowledge groups and academics.

Organize: In between 2014 and 2015, MSV began to articulate with several social movements, and decided to occupy the remaining vacant spaces overnight. During this period, they also approached a popular legal advisory and, supported by the Estatuto da Cidade (City Statute), they claim the recognition of Mercado Sul as a cultural heritage site, the expropriation of the abandoned buildings and the assignment of the right to use the idle units by Mercado Sul, as well as government support for the revitalization of the space. In 2015, both IPHAN (National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage) and the Federal District’s government demonstrated support to the initiative and in 2016, the legal action filed against them was suspended and now they have a temporary authorization to occupy the space.

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Program: It currently houses several trades, an ecostore, a multiuse space, a seamstress, a communal kitchen, a bike center, a composting center and a hack lab. Aside from the shops and local production that happen inside, the movement organizes assemblies that involve merchants and residents, capoeira circles, yoga sessions, traditional parties (such as the Festa Junina), the Ecofeira (Ecomarket) that takes place every month, movie debates and bike protests to attract people to visit the space. They also house travelling artists from around Latin America.

Casa Frida (2014-today)

Description: Casa Frida is a feminist cultural house in São Sebastião. Coordinated by women who were disappointed with the existing collectives - linked to political parties and very sexist -, they decided to create their own space of resistance, that would be both a cultural center and a shelter for women and marginalized bodies. It is currently a space for knowledge sharing, female emancipation and community building.

Organize: At first, Casa Frida rented a house near a skatepark, which was highly frequented by those who frequented the park. Having an open door policy, they hosted travellers and anyone seeking shelter. The many parties and workshops they organized weren’t well received by the neighbors, which complained a lot, poisoned their animals and called the police. In many occasions, the police would come arguing that the house was a drug dealing spot. Therefore, they decided to find a new location, which had a better acceptance by the community.

They still have to pay rent and maintenance, which is currently covered by grants, donations and contributions of the girls who live there. Events are also organized as a means to raise funds, where they sell beverages and clothes, or ask for contributions for those organizing and participating. Resources and infrastructure for the events are sometimes borrowed from other cultural centers in the city, which are also the main participants of the events.

Reclaiming: cultural house Similar: Olaria Cultural, Movimento Cultural Supernova,Escola na Rua Casa Ipê, R.U.A.S., Espaço Cultural Filhos do Quilombo, Espaço Imaginário Cultural, Galpão do Riso, Sarau Complexo, Espaço Cultural Moinho de Vento, Coletivo da Cidade, A Pilastra, Espaço Cultural Ubuntu, Galeria Pólvora

Program: Casa Frida hosts many different events and organizes workshops, presentations, gatherings and debates. Among them, there are workshops geared towards art and crafts, to help women become autonomous in their livelihoods; self-care circles for militant women; roundtables for pregnant women; theatre of the oppressed; political debates; reike; aromatherapy; vogue lessons.

The house is open for those who want to organize workshops and events, which vary according to the availability of members and organizers.

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INFOR STREET V

URBAN EXPERTS

PEDAGOGICAL WALKS

KNOWLEDGE STEWARDSHIP Coletivo MOB CROWDFUNDING

Cala Car STREET CARNIVAL

PARTICIPATORY MAPPING

PLACEMAKING LOCAL ARTISTS

LOCAL BANDS CULTURAL PRODUCTION

CULTURAL PRODUCERS

PLAYGROUNDS

LOCAL ECONOMY

ARTISANS

SHOWS Coletivo Livre

MARKET GAS STATION: POWER AND WC

FOODTR FUNDI

SOCIAL GATHERING

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

WORKSHOPS

CULTURAL PRODUCTION

COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS NEIGHBORS

AGROECOLOGY EVENTS

Coletivo 416 Norte

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A

ARTISTS

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

COMMUNITY GARDEN

SOCIAL GATHERING

SOCIAL GATHERING

URBAN AGRICULTURE LEGISLATION

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

MARKET

PRESENTATIONS

DISCUSSIONS NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENTS

Mercado Sul Vive

ACTIVISTS

LOCAL ARTISTS

CRITICAL MASS BIKING Bicicletada

MEMBERSHIPS: FUNDING KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

RECYCLING COOPS

ango reta

REGULARITY

ABANDONED SPACES

PLACEMAKING

CENOGRAPHY LOCAL DJS PARTY Balada em Tempos de Crise STEWARDSHIP CLEAN-UPS BAR: FUNDING

RUCK: ING

FOOD PRODUCTION

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NEIGHBORS

VACANT LOT

ARTISANS

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

LOCAL ECONOMY IDENTITY

COMMUNITY GARDEN

COMMUNITY GARDEN Horta Comunitรกria Girassol

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

PEOPLE / ACTIONS / RESOURCES / OUTCOMES

CULTURAL PRODUCTION

ACCESSIBILITY

TACTICS OF TRANSLATION

POLICY CHANGE

ADVOCACY

RMAL VENDORS

TECHNICAL SUPPORT KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE STUDENTS

POLITICAL CLAIMS

WORKSHOPS

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actors & connections RODA DO SUDOCA GROUPS OF FRIENDS

COLETIVO MOB NEIGHBORS

CÉU COM CINEMA

FEIRA DE DISCOS

HORTA 416 NORTE

URBAN EXPERTS

CALANGO CARETA

BLOCO DAS DIVINAS TETAS

INSTITUTO COURB

HORTA GIRASSOL

COMMUNITY GARDENS

PICNIK

PROJETO REAÇÃO

VTNC! BURACO DO JAZZ

CULTURAL PRODUCERS

FORRÓ DO B MIMOSA

CRIOLINA

CONFRONTO SOUNDSYSTEM

FEIRA LIVRE BALADA EM TEMPOS DE CRISE

MIMOBAR

VILA CULTURAL

COMMUNITYBASED ORGANIZATIONS

MERCADO SUL VIVE

SARAU VA

CASA FRIDA

ACTIVISTS

DULCINA VIVE

RODAS DA PAZ MOVIMENTO PASSE LIVRE

BICICLETADA MOVIMENTO NOSSA BRASILIA

cultural producers community-based organizations activists urban experts connection

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vacant lot

cultural ammenities

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skate park

square

alley

lake boardwalk

locations

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actions

MARKETS OUTDOOR CINEMA CÉU COM CINEMA

MUSIC VTNC

JAM SESSIONS

FEIRA DE DISCOS

SELLING FOOD

SCS SAMBA

EXHIBITIONS

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FORRÓ DO B

STREET CARNIVAL

INTERVENTIONS DIVINAS TETAS

CONFRONTO SOUND SYSTEM

BURACO DO JAZZ

PICNIK

COLETIVO MOB

DISCUSSIONS MIMOSA

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HORTA 416 NORTE

MEETINGS

BALADA TEMPOS DE CRISE

FEIRA LIVRE

CRIOLINA

SCENOGRAPHY

CALANGO CARETA

HORTA 206 NORTE

ORGANIZING

BICICLE TADA HORTA GIRASSOL

MERCADO SUL

GARDENING CYCLING

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PAINTING

WORKSHOP

WALKS

resources

weekend

night

shaded

size

E UR CT

RU decoration

signage

container pallets

stands

vacant

furniture

RESOURCES

INFRASTRUCTURE

power protocols

technical

soundsystem

waste collection urban

facebook

water

crowdsourcing

experience

bathroom

CO

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whatsapp

private sponsors

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donations

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special occasions

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proximity to home

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holiday

ts en em el

shared bike stations

day

zoning

bike paths

weekday

circulation

open

parking lot

subway

season

ME

bus stop

ST

TI

ACCESS

regularity

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themes of action

COLETIVO MOB

GENDER

CONFRONTO SOUNDSYSTEM BALADA EM TEMPOS DE CRISE

RACE

MIMOSA BLOCO DAS DIVINAS TETAS

INDIGINOUS RIGHTS

CALANGO CARETA APARELHINHO FEIRA LIVRE

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

PICNIK FEIRA DE DISCOS

SUSTAINABILITY

SCS SAMBA VTNC

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

BURACO DO JAZZ FORRÓ DO B

ARTS & CULTURE

CÉU COM CINEMA BICICLETADA

MOBILITY

MERCADO SUL SARAU VA

DECRIMINALIZATION OF DRUGS

HORTA GIRASSOL HORTA 416 NORTE PROJETO REAÇÃO

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SOCIAL JUSTICE

outcomes

COLETIVO MOB

BEAUTIFICATION

CONFRONTO SOUNDSYSTEM BALADA EM TEMPOS DE CRISE

SOCIAL GATHERING

MIMOSA BLOCO DAS DIVINAS TETAS

CULTURAL PRODUCTION

CALANGO CARETA APARELHINHO

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

FEIRA LIVRE PICNIK

POLITICAL ACTION

FEIRA DE DISCOS SCS SAMBA

LOCAL ECONOMY

VTNC BURACO DO JAZZ

FOOD PRODUCTION

FORRÓ DO B CÉU COM CINEMA

COMMUNITY INTEGRATION

BICICLETADA MERCADO SUL

EMPOWERMENT

SARAU VA HORTA GIRASSOL

STEWARDSHIP

HORTA 416 NORTE PROJETO REAÇÃO

POLICY CHANGE

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ACTION + POSSIBLE PARADIGM SHIFTS

"Imagination sector" in Other sectors for Brasilia (2012)

By Poro

The previous examples demonstrate a variety of actors engaged with the everyday transformation of the city, whether for social, cultural, economic or environmental purposes. In the midst of a crisis, it is reassuring to see that there are people concerned and mobilized towards alternative forms of inhabiting the city.

In fact, these practices are happening organically, autonomously and independently. However, they seem dispersed and, in many cases, disconnected from one another. While cultural groups in the city have established networks, and community gardens and bike activists, for instance, are connected in their own circles, there is little cross-field connection and exchange. Even though they diverge in their aspirations, expertise or how they are actually appropriating or occupying public space, their outcomes and claims are similar. They generate social encounters, knowledge exchange, political action and stewardship of space, and they demand acknowledgement, support and participation within the existing formal decision-making grounds.

The common agenda that many of these groups share is also noticeable: there is a general concern for issues of gender, valorization of arts and culture, social justice and sustainability. However, they also seem to be restrained in their own circles of conversations and there are little exchanges between bottom-up community organizations and cultural groups, and top down institutions of representation across government, academia, and development. While bike activists dialogue primarily with mobility and transportation city agencies, and cultural producers with those of cultural affairs, there is no space or occasion for these agendas to be manifested simultaneously.

The lack of support and amount of bureaucracy that organizations have to face to make things happen is two fold. On the one hand, it makes them use the resources they have at hand creatively - outsourcing power from gas stations, making playgrounds out of bamboos, to

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cite a few. The knowledges and capacities created by the very engagement with these practices give rise to a new relationship with each other, with the city and with politics - new forms of citizenship emerge. Spaces, time, objects and communication are reimagined to suffice the lack of public amenities and funding, and to be in tandem with the allowed uses and activities, which explains the temporal and informal aspect of much of the initiatives. On the other hand, the restraints imposed do become disencouraging in the long run and this creative energy becomes very difficult to sustain.

On the other side of things, urban planners and architects in both government and academia have been systematically ignoring the informal and self-organizing dynamics of the city to inform land use plans and policies. Furthermore, our institutions of representation seem unable to mediate the multiple forces that shape the politics of the territory and resolve the tensions between the top-down urban strategies of official development as well as the bottom-up tactics of community activism.

In this context, this thesis is based not only on the problematization of these issues, but primarily on their visualization combined with a design strategy towards the democratic governance of public space, described in this chapter.

As a designer, I believe in my role as a mediator and supporter of the networks and actions observed. Unearthing, translating, mapping, triggering and transforming the content and nature of the existing links and urban practices, while coordinating and allowing the collective futures to emerge. This renewed approach to the design of urban processes and social innovation is based on the work of Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman, aaa, Ezio Manzini and Miodrag Mitrasinovic, among others.

In their works, they all stress the possibilities and opportunities that exist within the everyday practices of those who occupy and produce urban space,

innovate socio-spatially and create new forms of urban cohabitation and governance. Design should therefore be employed to strengthen those practices and scale up and replicate their capacities.1 In Ezio Manzini's words, a designer should use its skills "to recognize existing social inventions and transform them into more effective, attractive, lasting, and potentially replicable solutions" 2, by "generation visions and proposals that are able to create collaboration (between actors) and synergies (between different projects); connecting local initiatives with those on a larger scale so they reinforce each other; interweaving economic and technical issues with cultural ones, so that the former make the latter more concrete, and the latter make the former more meaningful".

Miodrag Mitrasinovic adds that design also acts as a link between the notion of civil society and the "democratic impulse" of urban citizens aimed towards radical democratization of society - that means creating openness towards plurality, inclusion and socio-spatial justice3.

The design proposal, therefore, attempts to do all of that simultaneously through different strategies. It is meant to reveal and connect the existing practices in order to coordinate and synergize their efforts; it translates and shares the found protocols to amplify and replicate these initiatives; it leverages the existing spaces of collective action as legitimate grounds for decision-making; and, finally, it provides means for a more inclusive and plural governance of public space.

As an urban process, much of it is hypothetical and speculative, and very much depends on its future application. Nevertheless, the strategies outline the necessary resources, timeframes, collaborators and stakeholders involved for its implementation.

In Holloway’s words, “the only possible way to think about radical change in society is within its interstices” and that “the best way of operating within interstices is to organize them” 4.

Photo by Coletivo Mob

Endnotes 1,3 Miodrag Mitrasinovic. "Concurrent Urbanities: Design, Civic Society, and Infrastructures of Inclusion" In Concurrent Urbanities: Designing Infrastructures of Inclusion. (New York: Routledge, 2016): 179-198.

2 Ezio Manzini. Design, When Everyone Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation. (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2015): 58.

4 John Holloway, "Un mouvement ‘contre-et-au-delà’: À propos du débat sur mon livre" In Variations: Revue internationale de théorie critique, 18(04), 2006: 15-30.

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CONCEPTUAL & STRATEGIC PLAN CO

OR

offline

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rms info

E

REVEAL + CONNECT about

resources

know your rights

collaborate!

collaborative tools

Feira Livre

online

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CO-DESIGN + ENGAGEMENT

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D LE W O KN ES VE TUR I U T EC E F L L L CO SIB S E AT PO L CU ION R CI VIS EN

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visibility & empowerment

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STRATEGY #1 REVEAL + CONNECT

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The first strategy consists on revealing and connecting the existing practices through a hybrid offline and online platform; the offline being the publication, translation and dissemination of the thesis, and the online a website that both shares this information and allows for interaction and coproduction. The intention is to on the one hand, make the ignored socio-political and economic territorial histories of injustices visible, while simultaneously exposing the different ways of constructing the city and citizenship.

Revealing these invisible practices is a way of bringing awareness to different actors, be them the very own organizations, governmental institutions, academia, while representing and empowering citizens. At the same time, it is intended to coordinate and synergize a dispersed movement that has similar demands and needs (autonomy, democratic governance, funding, government support) and an active role in shaping their en-

vironment, and who want to participate in the decisions regarding their city.

Through an interactive map, people will be able to engage with the events and spaces and passively participate (by knowing when, where and how to get there), or be provided the tools and resources to organize on their own. Displaying the available and most commonly used public space to be appropriated and commoned can encourage a change in perspective of what is public space, its use and management, and facilitate processes of commoning. Likewise, showing the actors involved in such initiatives can enable potential partnerships and collaborations, which can expand existing networks, but also give visibility to movements that are traditionally marginalized and made invisible. The map is also intended to become a visual and political tool by on the one hand showing inequalities regarding access to, availability and quality of public spaces, and

Stories of initiatives About project + report available for download

Collaborate!

Crowdsource mapping

Resources

Existing practices

Critical analysis Resources

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Description of initiative

Website prototype

on the other, representing a demand by showing the quantity and diversity of organizations and initiatives in public space - once again showing demands that are usually disconsidered. The idea is for the online platform to act as a facilitator of a process that is already happening organically, but that needs a space that coordinates and synergizes the different and scattered initiatives so that they can see themselves as part of a collective and a larger network. Since most of these initiatives are already organizing online through Facebook and Whatsapp groups, using online platforms is familiar and, at the same time, has a potential for expansion and interactivity.

Making this information available and accessible online will also aid city officials to understand the protocols that already happen informally and incorporate them into institutional frameworks, by adapting and/or flexibilizing existing legisla-

tions, zoning and permitting processes, for example. Based on the actual use and appropriation of spaces, the zoning plans and legislations that are to be approved in the next years can be supported by real, grounded practices. The current legislation that considers roads, streets and squares not only as public goods, but specifically of â&#x20AC;&#x153;common use of the peopleâ&#x20AC;? could really use examples of commoning to help inform a more just use and management of those spaces.

Changes in zoning and, specifically, in preservation regulations could use everyday examples to sustain a more flexible use of certain areas. This, in turn, could encourage more density and diversity, especially in the center of the city. Having a comprehensive document that systematizes this information will be useful for social movements and city officials to dialogue about these matters as well.

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framework for city

collaborative tools

guidelines for action & collaboration

STRATEGY #2 TRANSLATE + SHARE Through the understanding of the necessary actors, resources and protocols to occupy public space, the second strategy is to translate and share that information in the form of collaborative tools: a series of pamphlets that summarize and guide people on how to organize a community garden or start their own street carnival, for instance. The idea is that these guidelines can provide support for other people to participate in the existing initiatives and movements (go to the events, join community gardens, for example), and/ or begin to organize their own actions, amplifying and replicating the movement that has begun. As it is based on the existing practices, it also provides a framework for the city to build upon.

The collaborative tools would be available in the online platform PUBLIC // SPACE, which is meant to share collective knowledges and resources, while connecting the organizations and amplifying,

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replicating and politicizing the actions.

The guides would be divided in themes, based on the values thay generate - cultural, environmental, pedagogical, etc., and would follow the outlined structure: About Brief explanation about the project, the methods used and the importance of public space in regards to inclusion, plurality and social justice.

Rights & Responsibilities Summary of important laws and policies in terms of appropriating public space, participating in urban development and public life, but also specifically related to Brasilia's landmark status, cultural manifestations and urban agriculture, for example. Equally

organize

about

approves

CLDF

(City Council)

monitors

IPHAN

PUBLIC SPACE //

(Landmark Preservation Inst.)

regulates

SEGETH

(Territory & Housing Dept)

SEMA

(Environment Dept)

guide with People good

SEAGRI

(Agricultural Dept)

SECULT

(Culture Dept)

AGEFIS

IBRAM

(Environment Institute)

+ Space: The location and conditions of space are important things to consider. Proximity to home to carry materials and objects might be convenient, but consider the proximity to transportation networks, such as subway and bus stops and bike amenities, in order to include different audiences.

Look into the allowed activities per zoning, the openness or constraints that allow for larger or smaller crowds and if it is a highly circulated or not very dense area.

VIGILÂNCIA SANITÁRIA

(Health Inspection)

SEC. SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA

(Public Security Dept.)

CORPO DE BOMBEIROS

(Fire Department)

VARA DA INFÂNCIA

(Youth Court)

DEFESA CIVIL

(Civil protection and Defense Dept)

CAESB

(Water & Sanitation Company)

+ Time: Consider your availability of time, but also that of those who work in different shifts, depending on your audience. What times are the spaces empty? When is there more or less people in a certain space? How can you make it more regular? Consider the weather: Brasilia has long periods of draught, which are perfect for day-long events, but not so good for gardening. Take time into consideration.

ADASA

(Water Regulation Agency)

REGIÃO ADMINISTRATIVA

manages

CONSELHO DE CULTURA

advises

(Community Board)

(Culture Council)

+ Access: Make sure you think of inclusive forms of access to your event. How are people getting to the event or space?

Are they connected to larger transportation systems? Is there bike and pedestrian infrastructure, or is everyone bound to come in cars?

PUBLIC SPACE

shaded

central

E UR CT

RU ST

signage

container pallets

stands

vacant

furniture

RESOURCES

INFRASTRUCTURE

power

legal

protocols

technical

soundsystem

waste collection urban

facebook

water

crowdsourcing

experience

bathroom

CO grants

whatsapp

private sponsors

OW KN

MM

radio

LE

DG

E

al rm fo

l rma nfo & i

decoration

flexible

size

roofing

sidewalks

UN

IC

AT

IO

N

press

donations bar memberships

sound car wheat-paste posters

ublic he p o t & t

+ Knowledge: Consider the different knowledges necessary and who might be a collaborator. Technical, legal and urban knowledges might be important, but also informal knowledges provenient from experiences, etc. Connect to and collaborate with other people!

SPACE

stage special occasions

s er mb me

condit ions & l oca ti on

holiday

constrained

n ee tw be

zoning

parking lot

bike paths shared bike stations

day circulation

open

bus stop

subway weekday

proximity to home

+ Funding: The Ministry of Culture provides different grants and incentives for cultural initiatives. Pay attention to their announcements and other private grants, but also consider crowdsourcing the event through the contribution of the general public, through donations, by using the bar as revenue, or creating forms of memberships that can fund your event.

weekend season

ME

ce spa of

+ Communication: How will you collaborate with other organizations and publicize your event? Consider creating whatsapp or facebook groups for organizing, and then communicating it to larger publics using facebook events, radio, press, sound cars and wheat-paste posters.

regularity

night

TI

ts en em el

+ Portaria 314/Iphan: Preservation of Brasilia’s urban complex + Lei 10.257/2001 Estatuto da Cidade: Establishes general guidelines for urban policy and guarantees the right to the city and the right for democratic governance through participation. + Lei 10.406/2002, Civil Code: Among many things, defines that public space such as streets, roads and squares are of common use of the people. + Lei 3.024/2002: Institutes incentives for spectacles and cultural manifestations with artists from the Federal District. + Lei 4.821/2012: Establishes that artistic and cultural manifestations in the streets, avenues and public squares of the Federal District, observed certain requirements, are free from any censorship, coercion, prohibition, taxes, fees, tributes, authorization and registration.

+ Infrastructure: Consider where you will get power from, if you need it. In this case, you might need a generator or you can ‘borrow’ power from gas stations and public amenities.

Think about waste collection - who will collect the trash and where will it go? Where will the water come from?

BOTTOM-UP

how to organize a street carnival

As citizens, we are entitled to many rights. The deep mobilization on the part of social movements culminated in the inclusion of the very right to the city in our Constitution. However, other than rights, as citizens we also have responsibilities. When it comes to our cities and public spaces, we are responsible for our actions, for how we treat space and neighbors. As a collective creation, the city is ultimately a reflection of our attitudes and relations.

FUNDING

Bloco do Calango Careta www.facebook.com/calangocareta Aparelhinho www.facebook.com/Aparelhinho Bloco das Divinas Tetas www.facebook.com/divinastetas Babydoll de Nylon www.facebook.com/babydolldenylon Suvaco da Asa www.facebook.com/SuvacoDaAsa Vai com as profanas www.facebook.com/VaicomasProfanas Virgens da Asa Norte www.facebook.com/virgensdaasanorte Bloco do Amor www.facebook.com/blocodoamors2 Galinho www.facebook.com/galinhodebrasiliaoficial Baratona www.blocobaratona.com.br Raparigueiros www.raparigueiros.com.br Menino da Ceilândia acmeninodeceilandia.blogspot.com.br/

use appropriate imagine transform reclaim common

CULTURAL PRODUCERS COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS URBAN EXPERTS ACTIVISTS

ACCESS

rights + responsibilities

supervises

(Inspection Agency)

+ Structure: What do you need for your event? Make a checklist. Will you serve food - do you need tables and chairs? Will you have music - do you need a stage? Think of signage to orient people, but also consider decoration to make the space inviting, using reusable materials such as pallets, bamboos, etc. Do you need roofing or any type of stands?

connect + share

For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co

+ People: There are many people involved with the transformation of the city. The last section of the provides actors which you can connect to, but start your friends, neighbors, work or school colleagues. who have similar interests and aspirations can be a start, but remember to diversify!

TOP-DOWN

Public space is fundamental because of its potential to bring people together, to question and represent who they are and to foster community. Public spaces facilitate encounters, and thus social learning. Public space teaches.

The coexistence of the different in public space is important to cultivate inclusive and plural societies, not to mention the productive conflict it generates between different interests, political groups and classes, and the consequent exchanges, compromises and negotiations. In the city, the neoliberal practices that enclose, privatize and, therefore, diminish the availability of public spaces, the practice of appropriation and commoning is important to protect and ensure these spaces have the democratic values they inscribe. A recent phenomenon happening in many cities around Brazil, and particularly in Brasilia, has given rise to new forms of citizenship. It has been through the reclaiming of public spaces, for social, cultural, economic or environmental purposes that social movements, community organizations and cultural producers have been creating new spaces and new means for action, experimenting with different collective forms of democratic governance and communal decision-making.Through the understanding of the necessary actors, resources and protocols to occupy public space, this is a series of collaborative tools that summarizes and guides on how to appropriate, transform and/ or reclaim public space. It provides support for people to participate in the existing initiatives and/or begin their own actions, amplifying and replicating the movement that has begun.

For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co/rights

Collaborative tools prototype

important to citizen's rights, this section also reminds the responsibilities that are inherent into citizenship and coexistence with others in cities.

Connect + share List of the different actors involved in the practices exemplified, in order to provide previous experience, knowledge transfer and potential collaborations.

This section highlights the importance of sharing the new practices with a larger public to guarantee its scaling up and replication. It also asks the new practioners to share their actions in the online platform, so that it can be represented, included in a larger network and connected to other initiatives. Doing so not only strengthens the action itself, but also the larger movement.

Organize Outline of resources and things to be considered when promoting and event or organizing a community garden, playstreet or cleanup, including people, space, time, access, structures, infrastructure, funding, permitting, etc. It outlines what is necessary in order to create regularity and sustaine initiatives, ensuring its persistence through longer periods of time, and also provides existing governance structures of public space.

85

&

#

^ !

@ workshops

existing events

#

@

%

*

# % # $ ? ! % ^# @ &* & @

&

?

%

#

$

participatory mapping visioning sessions & discussions

STRATEGY #3 CODESIGN + ENGAGEMENT

86

The practices and demands that a younger generation is embodying and proposing could also help inform a vision for the city to develop in the future. Although many issues are problematized and discussed during these events, little is known about the outcomes of such conversations and panel discussions. Since hundreds of people are meeting in these events and spaces, they should be leveraged and become de facto platforms for codesigning and envisioning possible futures for the city, regarding pertinent urban issues, such as transportation, housing, sustainability, jobs, etc. In a series of workshops, participatory mappings and activities, the different actors already engaged in this process, as well as others can partici-

pate and, together, discuss demands and unify voices. Added to the online platform that exposes how they have been inhabiting the city so far, they can provide visions for how they want to move forward, and inform policies, programs or any possible outcome of such gatherings. In this scenario, the online platform can become a mediator between bottom up demands of civil society and top down governmental institutions.

CLDF

(City Council)

IPHAN

(Landmark Preservation Inst.)

SEGETH

(Territory & Housing Dept)

SEMA

(Environment Dept)

SEAGRI

(Agricultural Dept)

SECULT

(Culture Dept)

AGEFIS

(Inspection Agency)

IBRAM

(Environment Institute)

VIGILÂNCIA SANITÁRIA

(Health Inspection)

SEC. SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA

(Fire Department)

VARA DA INFÂNCIA

(Youth Court)

regulates advises supports

DEFESA CIVIL

(Civil protection and Defense Dept)

PUBLIC SPACE

design manage maintain activate program

BOTTOM-UP

CORPO DE BOMBEIROS

TOP-DOWN

(Public Security Dept.)

use appropriate imagine transform reclaim common

CULTURAL PRODUCERS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS URBAN EXPERTS ACTIVISTS

CAESB

(Water & Sanitation Company)

ADASA

(Water Regulation Agency)

REGIÃO ADMINISTRATIVA

(Community Board)

CONSELHO DE CULTURA

(Culture Council)

ENVISIONING POSSIBLE FUTURES: STEWARDSHIP OF PUBLIC SPACE In particular, one of the outcomes and discussions of such codesign sessions could be in terms of the law proposal for the stewardship of public space, a model for self-managed use of space based on the existing informal practices combined with existing legislations and formal protocols. Although there are many different issues and interests at stake, as well as levels of investment, the stewardship and democratic governance of public space affects organizations across fields.

This can be the first policy and program the organizations already invested can help codesign, in ways that most of their

demands can be met, either for cultural activities or for urban agriculture, for example. The series of participatory workshops could inform and lead to a program proposal, added to the current laws and those being debated, based on the needs and aspirations of different groups, but also on current practices.

In reality, there are already laws that support such programs but there is no organized effort for its implementation. The coordination of different groups can motivate and pressure political will for it to be organized and implemented at an institutional level as well, especially if research and framework are already provided. Important to say that such program would not only assert the right to the city, but also demand the responsibility of organizations, cultural producers, institutions, private entities and in fact of the govern-

87

ment itself towards the care, activation or management of public space. Although groups are already organizing autonomously, many of them need incentives and support (financial, resources, legal, institutional). The following paragraphs shortly describe guidelines to be considered when developing such program, informed by the research and insights collected. It does not mean to completely formalize the current practices, but give them the institutional support they lack.

88

Regarding zoning, the spaces that already have a consolidated use should also have a more flexible zoning related to cultural and community activities. In that regard, property taxes could also be reduced in some of those areas to minimize the conflicts between cultural producers and residents.

Time and space In this sense, the stewardship program could be established through distinct periods of time, other than the two months that the existing eventual permitting (alvará de funcionamento eventual) provides for, depending on the type of organization and event. This type of permitting, in fact, has proved to be insufficient to unprecedented types of uses of public space, such as MimoBar, which currently occupies the lawn adjacent to a cultural center for longer periods of time, and needs constant renovation and paperwork.

Central spaces, in particular, which have the potential of congregating different stracts of society, should receive special attention, ensured they aren’t enclosed or excluding individuals or groups from participating. Since they are spaces of high circulation during the day but of low frequency during the night, different types of management and programming can be arranged, according to the needs and opportunities that different situations offer. Joint partnerships between commerce, cultural organizations and street vendors can be forged, as has been happening already in the case of Do trabalho para o Samba (see page 61), ensuring the maintenance and programming of such spaces in different times of the day.

For community-based organizations, such as community gardens, concessions can be given for longer periods of time as well, with possibilities of being renewed or not be necessary at all. Lawns, gardens and plazas (as public goods of common use) near people’s homes and communities should all be allowed to be managed by communities, as they are the primary interested parties, as long as the collective and sustainable interests and outcomes are ensured.

Structure and Infrastructure As a part of this program, local administrations should all be supplied with minimal structural and infrastructural components to be borrowed by community organizations and cultural producers. This would include generators, sound systems, tables, chairs, stands, etc., that could assist groups that don’t have the resources to pay for these equipments, making sure that there is a just distribution of cultural events and resources across the city.

In spaces that already have a consolidated use or events that have a certain regularity, a year-long authorization could be issued (or something of that nature) so that those groups don’t have to request a permit for each event, reducing both the hassle organizations currently face but also the amount of paperwork that the responsible agencies have to go through. This would also ensure that cultural spaces that are currently abandoned, such as Concha Acústica, among others, always have programming, leveraging arts and culture, which are often overlooked and unsupported.

Internet In the highly connected era we are now living and considering that most of the initiatives are already using the internet to organize, the internet should be better leveraged to attend and support organizations, and to mediate government and civil society. The many different agencies (from which approvals are required for the issuing of permits) should be centralized - if not physically - then through an online interface. This way, in asking for a permit for any type of event or use, groups would have the option of either going somewhere physically (in the case of not having access to the internet) or submitting all information online.

Funding Funding is always a big issue and constraint for many of these organizations to continue their work. Although the Ministry of Culture provides grants for cultural events, it is not enough and there is still very little support other than private grants and sponsorships for community spaces, such as community gardens and plazas. Community grants could be created, using the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s property taxes or state-owned companiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; profits.

If not in the form of grants, then the revenue already destined to the maintenance of public goods should be managed through participatory budgeting, through which community organizations and individuals collectively decide where and how that money is being used.

Governance and collaboration Different partnerships can be made in respect to the interests, roles and capacities of the involved parties. Design, management, maintenance, and activation can be distributed among actors, but in a participatory and inclusive manner.

Private companies and government might maintain, communities manage and cultural producers activate, or communities can be responsible for managing, maintaining and activating, supported by the government. The important is to emphasize the goal and values of inclusiveness, plurality and social justice in the use and management of public goods.

Programming and activation Most of the spaces that are perceived as abandoned and neglected are more so related to the emptiness and lack of activities taking place in such spaces. The little circulation of people in such spaces is due to the lack of pedestrian friendly streetscape and transportation networks, but mainly due to the lack of adjacent activities that would attract them to those spaces in first place. However, if the vast open spaces that the city provides had partners responsible for the activation and programming of those space, the perception of abandonment most likely wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exist. It is important, therefore, to always include programming or activation as a component to the management of public space, partnering with cultural and community organizations that can hold markets, festivals, parties, shows or use those spaces for community events and activities, such as gardens, sports tournaments, etc. The activation of space motivates the general public to frequent public space, which reduces the feeling of abandonment and insecurity, and promotes plurality and inclusion.

Technical Assistance An important component to be considered should be that of technical assistance that the responsible planning entities could provide for such partnerships and agreements. Since Codhab (the housing authority) already has technical assistance posts in different regional administrations and has been assisting not only with individual homes, but with the refurbishing of squares and public spaces in certain neighborhoods, this should be a fundamental piece in which the city could be involved, providing technical assistance when needed, for the design and implementation of projects for such spaces.

89

PROJECT OUTCOMES

ACTIONS

PHASE 1: SHORT TERM

» REVEAL + CONNECT Expose and problematize injustices and link different ways of constructing the city and citizenship through an online & offline platform

PUBLIC // SPACE Thesis Report & Website

» TRANSLATE + SHARE

COLLABORATIVE TOOLS How to pamphlets

Translate existing practices into applicable and replicable framework

» DISTRIBUTION & EVALUATION

Translate developed work into Portuguese

Engage participants in continuing efforts

Send developed work to partners for feedback

Create working group

» PARTICIPATORY WORKSHOPS

Expand networks & make new partnerships

Mapping other initiatives in different RAs

» CODESIGN + ENGAGEMENT

Collect more input for website & collaborative tools

Visions sessions for stewardship program plan

Circulate collective knowledges and envision possible futures

Collect inputs for stewardship plan proposal » RECLAIMING PUBLIC SPACE FESTIVAL

PHASE 2: MEDIUM -LONG TERM

Secure funding: FAC/LIC Private grants

Launch website & collaborative tools Exhibition with different initiatives

Expand reach of information about public space, citizenship & democratic governance

Thematic discussions & panels

Additional inputs for stewardship plan proposal

Interventions & workshops Music/presentations/etc

IMPACTS

Prototype participatory efforts in public events as a decision making ground Increase opportunities for social gathering, cultural production, knowledge exchange & political action

ACTORS & PARTNERS

DESIRED OUTCOMES

General public Visualize, coordinate & synergize existing practices

Community organizations Cultural producers Activists

Amplify & replicate intiatives

Urban experts Government

Circulate & enhance collective knowledge Established contacts from case studies + extended networks: Âť cultural producers, community organizations, activists & urban experts Begin & establish dialogue between different actors on claims regarding governance of public space

General public Cultural producers: Coletivo Labirinto + others Bring more awareness of general public to issues being discussed

Community organizations Activists: Mov. Nossa BrasĂ­lia, Rodas da Paz

Promote exchanges between organizations, producers, activists and government

Urban experts: Coletivo Mob, Instituto Courb Universities: UnB, Faculdade Dulcina

Create Stewardship Program proposal

Encourage reflection, care & demand for urban/social change

Government: Segeth, Iphan, Codhab, Semob, Sema, Seagri, Detran, DER, Secult, RAs

Promote appropriation, stewardship & democractic governance of public space

91

GOVERNMENT

CITY AGENCIES

Coletivo Mob

URBAN EXPERTS

COMMUNITY BOARDS

GDF

FAU/UnB

Instituto Courb

COORDINATE & SYNERGIZE

existing events

offline participatory mapping

workshops REVEAL + CONNECT about

resources

know your rights

collaborate!

collaborative tools

Feira Livre

online

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CO-DESIGN + ENGAGEMENT

CIRCULATE COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGES & ENVISION POSSIBLE FUTURES

TRANSLATE + SHARE STEWARDSHIP OF PUBLIC SPACE AMPLIFY & REPLICATE

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE OF PUBLIC SPACE

ACTIVISTS

CULTURAL PRODUCERS

COMMUNITY-BASED

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Movimento Nossa Brasília

Artists

Neighbors

Rodas da Paz

DJS

Friends

Bike Anjo

Bands

Community organizations

Bicicletada

Designers

Producers

Schools

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS The strategies and tactics proposed don’t intend to and could never be final resolutions. Instead, the insights and guidelines described intend to trigger reflections and conversations among designers, urban practitioners, government and community organizers in regards to the problematics and, especially, the possibilities the city and the citizens already offers. It questions the existing governing structures, points out the inherent injustices and leverages the existing practices that dare to imagine and embody their own idea of a city. If there is a will, is there not a way?

Altogether, the research and strategies are a means of looking at Brasilia through a different lense - one that focuses not so much on the built Brasilia, but the lived and experienced one; not so much on the values that guided it, but the values that are generated in the everyday lives of those who inhabit it.

What are the collective visions of the city and how can they be attained?

Luckily, the visions already exist. It is a matter of coordination, synergy and replication. In essence, that is what this thesis aims to do.

Although Brasília has been extensively criticized for its lack of public life, brasilienses are redefining what it means to inhabit the city in ways albeit invisible to those who look at it

from above. People are creating public spaces, beginning to make claims and participating in the city’s political life. This project, therefore, means to expand these practices so more people can be in proximity with each other, experience life in a collective manner and be concerned with, reflect about and demand urban and social change. It also intends to strengthen and politicize a movement that together has the power to question, envision and demand a future according to their desires and needs.

It is an attempt to describe, analyse and disseminate initiatives started by citizens, in order to foster imagination, creativity, collective experiments and criticism in contemporary cities such as Brasilia.

It is not about attacking Brasília or the failures of modernist planning - in fact, the very characteristics of the city have originated unique behaviors and creativity. It is about questioning the rigidness of policy and government that don't consider desires and, more importantly, needs of the population.

It is also about rethinking democracy and our roles as urban citizens. Thus the importance for groups that are reimagining the city to be more inserted in local politics, to participate, to speak and to be heard. Thus the importance for the different voices to be joined, so that Brasília can be that inclusive and democratic city it was envisioned to be.

Thus the importance of public space +

93

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Bomtempo, Mariana. Urban pedagogies as a practice of the right to the city in Brasilia.

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Codhab-DF. "Ações Urbanas Comunitárias". Brasília, 2018.

Federici, Silvia. "Feminism and the Politics of the Commons." In The Commoner (January 24, 2011), http://thecommoner.org/.

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Harvey, David. "A Liberdade Da Cidade." In Cidades Rebeldes: Passe Livre E as Manifestações Que Tomaram as Ruas do Brasil, 47-60. São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial, 2013.

———. Rebel Cities. London: Verso, 2012.

Costa, Lucio. Registro de uma vivência.

São Paulo: Empresa das Artes, 1995.

Hilderbrandt, Viktor and Predrag Milic. Political Space Matters. 2016.

Costa, Maria Elisa and Adeildo Viegas de Lima. "Brasília 57-85: do plano piloto ao Plano Piloto" In Brasília 1960 2010 : passado, presente e futuro edited by Francisco Leitão, 45-68. Brasilia: Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente, 2009.

Holloway, John. Crack Capitalism. 1. publ. ed. London: Pluto Press, 2010.

Cruz, Teddy. "Where is our Civic Imagination?" In Concurrent Urbanities: Designing Infrastructures of Inclusion, edited by Miodrag Mitrasinovic, 9-23. New York: Routledge, 2016.

Holston, James. "Right to the City, Right to Rights, and Urban Citizenship." (2010): 1-24.

———. "Mapping Non-Conformity: Post-Bubble Urban Strategies". E-misferica 7.1 Unsettling Visuality. http://hemisphericinsti-

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de Aragão Costa Martins, Anamaria. "Vazios Urbanos Em Brasília." In Brasília 19602010: Passado, Presente E Futuro, edited by Francisco Leitão, 185-200. Brasilia: Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente, 2009.

———. "Un mouvement ‘contre-etau-delà’: À propos du débat sur mon livre" In Variations: Revue internationale de théorie critique, 18(04), 2006.

———. "Spaces of Insurgent Citizenship." In Making the invisible visible: a multicultural planning history, 37-56: University of California Press, 1998.

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Tominc, Matej Nikšič and Barbara Goličnik Marušić. "Human cities: Civil Society Reclaims Public Space, Cross Perspectives Based on Research". International Symposium Proceedings. Brussels, 2012.

Irazábal, Clara. Ordinary Places, Extraordinary Events. 1. publ. ed. London [u.a.]: Routledge, 2008.

Lefebvre, Henri. O direito à cidade.

5-141. São Paulo: Centauro, 2001.

Lima, Maria Cecilia G. F. "Musealização do Patrimônio Arquitetônico: inclusão social, identidade e cidadania". PhD dissertation, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, 2012.

Lima, Venicio A. de. "Mídia, Rebeldia Urbana E Crise De Representação." In Cidades Rebeldes: Passe Livre E as Manifestações Que Tomaram as Ruas do Brasil, 159-169.

São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial, 2013.

Mitchell, Don. The right to the city: social justice and the fight for public space.

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Mitrašinović, Miodrag. Concurrent Urbanities. New York ; London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.

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Parkinson, John R. Democracy and Public Space. 1. publ. ed. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2012.

Paviani, Aldo. "Brasília: conceito urbano espacializado?" Vitruvius, December, 2004. http://www.vitruvius.com.br/ revistas/read/arquitextos/05.051/552 Petrescu, Doina. "A Feminine Reinvention of the Commons". The Journal of Design Strategies: Cooperative Cities, 2018. 38-51.

Longo, Ivan. "Festa Na Rua Também É Ato Político". In Revista Forum Semanal, March 28, 2014.

Purcell, Mark. "Excavating Lefebvre: The Right to the City and its Urban Politics of the Inhabitant". GeoJournal 58, (2002): 99-108.

Madson Reis, Carlos. "Preservação do Conjunto Urbanístico De Brasília: Alguma Coisa Está Fora Da Ordem." In Brasília 1960-2010: Passado, Presente E Futuro, 219-238. Brasilia: Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Urbano e Meio Ambiente, 2009.

Queiroga, Eugenio F. "Sistemas de espaços livres e esfera pública em metrópoles brasileiras". Resgate, vol. XIX, No 21, (2011): 25-35

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Miranda, Risla Lopes. "Brasília como obra de arte: O moderno e a marginalização do espaço urbano e cultural." XXVIII Simpósio Nacional de História. Florianopolis, 2015.

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———. "O Lazer Humaniza O Espaço Urbano." In Lazer Numa Sociedade Globalizada. São Paulo: SESC SP, 2000.

San Francisco Planning. Public Space Stewardship Guide, 2016. http://sf-planning. org/public-space-stewardship-guide Solnit, Rebecca. Wanderlust: A History of Walking. Penguin Books, 2001.

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about Public space is fundamental because of its potential to bring people together, to question and represent who they are and to foster community. Public spaces facilitate encounters, and thus social learning. Public space teaches.

The coexistence of the different in public space is important to cultivate inclusive and plural societies, not to mention the productive conflict it generates between different interests, political groups and classes, and the consequent exchanges, compromises and negotiations. In the city, the neoliberal practices that enclose, privatize and, therefore, diminish the availability of public spaces, the practice of appropriation and commoning is important to protect and ensure these spaces have the democratic values they inscribe. A recent phenomenon happening in many cities around Brazil, and particularly in Brasilia, has given rise to new forms of citizenship. It has been through the reclaiming of public spaces, for social, cultural, economic or environmental purposes that social movements, community organizations and cultural producers have been creating new spaces and new means for action, experimenting with different collective forms of democratic governance and communal decision-making.Through the understanding of the necessary actors, resources and protocols to occupy public space, this is a series of collaborative tools that summarizes and guides on how to appropriate, transform and/ or reclaim public space. It provides support for people to participate in the existing initiatives and/or begin their own actions, amplifying and replicating the movement that has begun.

PUBLIC SPACE //

how to organize a street carnival connect + share

rights + responsibilities

Bloco do Calango Careta www.facebook.com/calangocareta Aparelhinho www.facebook.com/Aparelhinho Bloco das Divinas Tetas www.facebook.com/divinastetas Babydoll de Nylon www.facebook.com/babydolldenylon Suvaco da Asa www.facebook.com/SuvacoDaAsa Vai com as profanas www.facebook.com/VaicomasProfanas Virgens da Asa Norte www.facebook.com/virgensdaasanorte Bloco do Amor www.facebook.com/blocodoamors2 Galinho www.facebook.com/galinhodebrasiliaoficial Baratona www.blocobaratona.com.br Raparigueiros www.raparigueiros.com.br Menino da Ceilândia acmeninodeceilandia.blogspot.com.br/

As citizens, we are entitled to many rights. The deep mobilization on the part of social movements culminated in the inclusion of the very right to the city in our Constitution. However, other than rights, as citizens we also have responsibilities. When it comes to our cities and public spaces, we are responsible for our actions, for how we treat space and neighbors. As a collective creation, the city is ultimately a reflection of our attitudes and relations.

For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co

+ Portaria 314/Iphan: Preservation of Brasiliaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban complex + Lei 10.257/2001 Estatuto da Cidade: Establishes general guidelines for urban policy and guarantees the right to the city and the right for democratic governance through participation. + Lei 10.406/2002, Civil Code: Among many things, defines that public space such as streets, roads and squares are of common use of the people. + Lei 3.024/2002: Institutes incentives for spectacles and cultural manifestations with artists from the Federal District. + Lei 4.821/2012: Establishes that artistic and cultural manifestations in the streets, avenues and public squares of the Federal District, observed certain requirements, are free from any censorship, coercion, prohibition, taxes, fees, tributes, authorization and registration.

For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co/rights

organize

CLDF

approves

IPHAN

monitors

(City Council) (Landmark Preservation Inst.)

regulates

SEGETH

(Territory & Housing Dept)

+ People: There are many people involved with the transformation of the city. The last section of the provides actors which you can connect to, but start your friends, neighbors, work or school colleagues. who have similar interests and aspirations can be a start, but remember to diversify!

SEMA

(Environment Dept)

guide with People good

SEAGRI

(Agricultural Dept)

SECULT

(Culture Dept)

AGEFIS

supervises

(Inspection Agency)

IBRAM

(Environment Institute)

+ Space: The location and conditions of space are important things to consider. Proximity to home to carry materials and objects might be convenient, but consider the proximity to transportation networks, such as subway and bus stops and bike amenities, in order to include different audiences.

Look into the allowed activities per zoning, the openness or constraints that allow for larger or smaller crowds and if it is a highly circulated or not very dense area.

VIGILÂNCIA SANITÁRIA

(Health Inspection)

SEC. SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA

(Public Security Dept.)

CORPO DE BOMBEIROS

(Fire Department)

VARA DA INFÂNCIA

(Youth Court)

DEFESA CIVIL

(Civil protection and Defense Dept)

CAESB

(Water & Sanitation Company)

+ Time: Consider your availability of time, but also that of those who work in different shifts, depending on your audience. What times are the spaces empty? When is there more or less people in a certain space? How can you make it more regular? Consider the weather: Brasilia has long periods of draught, which are perfect for day-long events, but not so good for gardening. Take time into consideration.

ADASA

(Water Regulation Agency)

manages

CONSELHO DE CULTURA

advises

(Community Board)

(Culture Council)

+ Access: Make sure you think of inclusive forms of access to your event. How are people getting to the event or space?

Are they connected to larger transportation systems? Is there bike and pedestrian infrastructure, or is everyone bound to come in cars?

PUBLIC SPACE

night

shaded

central

E UR

RU

roofing

sidewalks decoration signage

flexible

size

container pallets

stands

vacant

furniture

RESOURCES

INFRASTRUCTURE

power

legal

protocols

technical

soundsystem

waste collection urban

facebook

water

crowdsourcing

experience

bathroom

grants

whatsapp

private sponsors

OW KN

MM

radio

LE

DG

E

al rm fo

CO

UN

IC

AT

IO

N

press

donations bar memberships

sound car wheat-paste posters

ublic he p o t & t

l rma nfo & i

special occasions

s er mb me

SPACE

stage

constrained

n ee tw be

zoning

holiday

ce spa of

condit ions & l oca ti on

circulation

ts en em el

shared bike stations

day

open

bike paths

weekday

CT

season

ME

parking lot

ST

TI

bus stop

subway

FUNDING

+ Knowledge: Consider the different knowledges necessary and who might be a collaborator. Technical, legal and urban knowledges might be important, but also informal knowledges provenient from experiences, etc. Connect to and collaborate with other people!

weekend

ACCESS

regularity

proximity to home

+ Funding: The Ministry of Culture provides different grants and incentives for cultural initiatives. Pay attention to their announcements and other private grants, but also consider crowdsourcing the event through the contribution of the general public, through donations, by using the bar as revenue, or creating forms of memberships that can fund your event.

use appropriate imagine transform reclaim common

CULTURAL PRODUCERS COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS URBAN EXPERTS ACTIVISTS

+ Infrastructure: Consider where you will get power from, if you need it. In this case, you might need a generator or you can ‘borrow’ power from gas stations and public amenities.

Think about waste collection - who will collect the trash and where will it go? Where will the water come from?

BOTTOM-UP

+ Structure: What do you need for your event? Make a checklist. Will you serve food - do you need tables and chairs? Will you have music - do you need a stage? Think of signage to orient people, but also consider decoration to make the space inviting, using reusable materials such as pallets, bamboos, etc. Do you need roofing or any type of stands?

+ Communication: How will you collaborate with other organizations and publicize your event? Consider creating whatsapp or facebook groups for organizing, and then communicating it to larger publics using facebook events, radio, press, sound cars and wheat-paste posters.

TOP-DOWN

REGIÃO ADMINISTRATIVA

about Public space is fundamental because of its potential to bring people together, to question and represent who they are and to foster community. Public spaces facilitate encounters, and thus social learning. Public space teaches.

The coexistence of the different in public space is important to cultivate inclusive and plural societies, not to mention the productive conflict it generates between different interests, political groups and classes, and the consequent exchanges, compromises and negotiations. In the city, the neoliberal practices that enclose, privatize and, therefore, diminish the availability of public spaces, the practice of appropriation and commoning is important to protect and ensure these spaces have the democratic values they inscribe. A recent phenomenon happening in many cities around Brazil, and particularly in Brasilia, has given rise to new forms of citizenship. It has been through the reclaiming of public spaces, for social, cultural, economic or environmental purposes that social movements, community organizations and cultural producers have been creating new spaces and new means for action, experimenting with different collective forms of democratic governance and communal decision-making.Through the understanding of the necessary actors, resources and protocols to occupy public space, this is a series of collaborative tools that summarizes and guides on how to appropriate, transform and/ or reclaim public space. It provides support for people to participate in the existing initiatives and/or begin their own actions, amplifying and replicating the movement that has begun.

PUBLIC SPACE //

how to organize a community garden connect + share

rights + responsibilities

Agricultura Urbana Brasília www.facebook.com/Agricultura-UrbanaBras%C3%ADlia-734877106575136/

As citizens, we are entitled to many rights. The deep mobilization on the part of social movements culminated in the inclusion of the very right to the city in our Constitution. However, other than rights, as citizens we also have responsibilities. When it comes to our cities and public spaces, we are responsible for our actions, for how we treat space and neighbors. As a collective creation, the city is ultimately a reflection of our attitudes and relations.

Horta Comunitária Girassol hortagirassol.blogspot.com/ Horta 416 Norte www.facebook.com/vizinhanca416N/ Projeto Reação 206 Norte www.facebook.com/projetoreacao206/ Horta Comunitária 712/713 norte www.sandrafayad.prosaeverso.net Horta MMA/305 Norte www.facebook.com/groups/hortamma Horta Comunitária 114 Sul https://www.facebook.com/Horta-Comunit%C3%A1riada-114-Sul-217357481777432/ Horta Comunitária do Mercado Sul www.facebook.com/mercadosulvive/ Horta Comunitária 312 Norte For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co

+ Portaria 314/Iphan: Preservation of Brasilia’s urban complex + Lei 448/93: Provides for the adoption of squares, public gardens and roundabouts, by entities and companies. + Lei 10.257/2001 Estatuto da Cidade: Establishes general guidelines for urban policy and guarantees the right to the city and the right for democratic governance through participation. + Lei 10.406/2002, Civil Code: Among many things, defines that public space such as streets, roads and squares are of common use of the people. + Lei 4.772/2012: Provides guidelines for policies that support urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Federal District.

For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co/rights

organize

CLDF

approves

IPHAN

monitors

(City Council) (Landmark Preservation Inst.)

regulates

SEGETH

(Territory & Housing Dept)

+ People: There are many people involved with the urban agriculture in the city. The last section of the guide provides actors which you can connect to, but start with your friends, neighbors, work or school colleagues. People who have similar interests and aspirations can be a good start, but remember to diversify!

SEMA

(Environment Dept)

SEAGRI

(Agricultural Dept)

SECULT

(Culture Dept)

AGEFIS

supervises

(Inspection Agency)

IBRAM

(Environment Institute)

+ Space: The location and conditions of space are important things to consider. Proximity to home to carry materials and tools might be convenient, but consider the proximity to infrastructure such as water. Look into the allowed activities per zoning, the openness or constraints that allow for larger or smaller crowds, or more or less plants, and if there is a lot of circulation of people. For gardening, pay attention to sun exposure and shade and the presence of other amenities for community meetings.

VIGILÂNCIA SANITÁRIA

(Health Inspection)

SEC. SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA

(Public Security Dept.)

CORPO DE BOMBEIROS

(Fire Department)

VARA DA INFÂNCIA

(Youth Court)

DEFESA CIVIL

(Civil protection and Defense Dept)

CAESB

(Water & Sanitation Company)

ADASA

+ Time: Consider your availability of time, but also that of those who work in different shifts, depending on your audience. What times are the spaces empty? When can people meet to organize and plant? Consider the weather: Brasilia has long periods of draught, which are perfect for daylong events, but not so good for gardening. Take time into consideration.

(Water Regulation Agency)

manages

CONSELHO DE CULTURA

advises

(Community Board)

(Culture Council)

+ Access: Make sure you think of inclusive forms of access to your garden. How are people getting there? Are there sidewalks and bike lanes near by? In the case of bringing large tools and plants, is it close to a parking lot?

PUBLIC SPACE

weekend

night

shaded

central

E UR CT

RU ST

roofing

sidewalks decoration signage

flexible

size

container pallets

stands

vacant

furniture

RESOURCES

INFRASTRUCTURE

power

legal

protocols

technical

soundsystem

waste collection urban

facebook

water

crowdsourcing

experience

bathroom

E OW KN

whatsapp

private sponsors

UN

IC

AT

IO

N

press

donations bar memberships

sound car wheat-paste posters

ublic he p o t & t

DG

radio

LE

grants

MM

s er mb me

al rm fo

CO

n ee tw be

l rma nfo & i

special occasions

FUNDING

+ Knowledge: Consider the different knowledges necessary and who might be a collaborator. Technical, legal and urban knowledges might be important, but also informal knowledges provenient from experiences, etc. Connect to and collaborate with other people!

stage

constrained

ce spa of

condit ions & l oca ti on

holiday

proximity to home

SPACE

bike paths shared bike stations

ts en em el

circulation

zoning

parking lot

weekday day

open

bus stop

subway

season

ME

ACCESS

regularity

TI

+ Funding: There isn’t a lot of funding for communityoriented initiatives in Brazil, but pay attention to private grants, and consider crowdsourcing the garden through the contribution of community members through donations or monthly memberships. Promoting events and getting the revenue from selling foods and beverages can also be a form of converting the income into funding for the garden.

use appropriate imagine transform reclaim common

CULTURAL PRODUCERS COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS URBAN EXPERTS ACTIVISTS

+ Infrastructure: Consider where you will get power from, if you need it. In this case, you might need a generator or you can ‘borrow’ power from gas stations and public amenities.

Think about waste collection - who will collect the trash and where will it go? Where will the water come from? Is there a building nearby, or some form of rainwater harvest?

BOTTOM-UP

+ Structure: What do you need for your garden? Make a checklist. Do you need furniture for people to gather in the garden as well? Do you need a place to keep the tools and seeds? What type of cheap, resusable materials can you use for that? Do you need roofing or any type of stands?

+ Communication: How will you collaborate among each other and with other organizations, and publicize the garden? Consider creating whatsapp or facebook groups for organizing, and then communicating it to other community members using facebook events, pamphlets, community newspaper, sound cars and wheat-paste posters.

TOP-DOWN

REGIÃO ADMINISTRATIVA

about Public space is fundamental because of its potential to bring people together, to question and represent who they are and to foster community. Public spaces facilitate encounters, and thus social learning. Public space teaches.

The coexistence of the different in public space is important to cultivate inclusive and plural societies, not to mention the productive conflict it generates between different interests, political groups and classes, and the consequent exchanges, compromises and negotiations. In the city, the neoliberal practices that enclose, privatize and, therefore, diminish the availability of public spaces, the practice of appropriation and commoning is important to protect and ensure these spaces have the democratic values they inscribe. A recent phenomenon happening in many cities around Brazil, and particularly in Brasilia, has given rise to new forms of citizenship. It has been through the reclaiming of public spaces, for social, cultural, economic or environmental purposes that social movements, community organizations and cultural producers have been creating new spaces and new means for action, experimenting with different collective forms of democratic governance and communal decision-making.Through the understanding of the necessary actors, resources and protocols to occupy public space, this is a series of collaborative tools that summarizes and guides on how to appropriate, transform and/ or reclaim public space. It provides support for people to participate in the existing initiatives and/or begin their own actions, amplifying and replicating the movement that has begun.

PUBLIC SPACE //

how to organize a pedagogical walk connect + share

rights + responsibilities

Caminhada da Joaninha www.coletivomob.com/caminhada-da-joaninha

As citizens, we are entitled to many rights. The deep mobilization on the part of social movements culminated in the inclusion of the very right to the city in our Constitution. However, other than rights, as citizens we also have responsibilities. When it comes to our cities and public spaces, we are responsible for our actions, for how we treat space and neighbors. As a collective creation, the city is ultimately a reflection of our attitudes and relations.

Role do Biquini www.coletivomob.com/single-post-vojat/2016/05/30/Rol%C3%AAde-Biqu%C3%ADni-por-Bras%C3%ADlia-1 Instituto Courb www.courb.org BrasĂ­lia para pessoas https://www.facebook.com/Bras%C3%ADliapara-Pessoas-1684539205151217/ Mobilize http://www.mobilize.org.br/

For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co

+ Portaria 314/Iphan: Preservation of Brasiliaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban complex + Lei 448/93: Provides for the adoption of squares, public gardens and roundabouts, by entities and companies. + Lei 10.257/2001 Estatuto da Cidade: Establishes general guidelines for urban policy and guarantees the right to the city and the right for democratic governance through participation. + Lei 10.406/2002, Civil Code: Among many things, defines that public space such as streets, roads and squares are of common use of the people. + Lei 4.821/2012 Establishes that artistic and cultural manifestations in the streets, avenues and public squares of the Federal District, observed certain requirements, are free from any censorship, coercion, prohibition, taxes, fees, tributes, authorization and registration.

For more info, access: www.espacopubli.co/rights

organize

CLDF

approves

IPHAN

monitors

(City Council) (Landmark Preservation Inst.)

regulates

SEGETH

(Territory & Housing Dept)

+ People: There are many people involved with urban and mobility issues in Brasilia. The last section of the guide provides actors which you can connect to, but start with your friends, neighbors, work or school colleagues. People who have similar interests and aspirations can be a good start, but remember to diversify!

SEMA

(Environment Dept)

SEAGRI

(Agricultural Dept)

SECULT

(Culture Dept)

AGEFIS

supervises

(Inspection Agency)

IBRAM

(Environment Institute)

+ Space: The location and conditions of space are important things to consider. Proximity to home to carry materials and objects might be convenient, but consider the proximity to transportation networks, such as subway and bus stops and bike amenities, in order to include different audiences.

Choosing a route beforehand can be interesting according to the topics you want to discuss during the walk, but letting the group decide on its own can be another good approach.

Pick space according to your objectives!

VIGILÂNCIA SANITÁRIA

(Health Inspection)

SEC. SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA

(Public Security Dept.)

CORPO DE BOMBEIROS

(Fire Department)

VARA DA INFÂNCIA

(Youth Court)

DEFESA CIVIL

(Civil protection and Defense Dept)

CAESB

(Water & Sanitation Company)

ADASA

+ Time: Consider your availability of time, but also that of those who work in different shifts, depending on your audience. What times can you observe certain activities during the walk? What time is there more or less traffic, that could be problematic or good for a large group of pedestrians? Consider the weather: Brasilia has long periods of draught, which are perfect for day-long events, but not so good for gardening, for example. Take time into consideration.

(Water Regulation Agency)

manages

CONSELHO DE CULTURA

advises

TOP-DOWN

REGIÃO ADMINISTRATIVA

(Community Board)

(Culture Council)

PUBLIC SPACE

regularity weekend

night

shaded

E UR CT

signage

container pallets

stands

furniture

RESOURCES

INFRASTRUCTURE

power protocols

technical

soundsystem

waste collection urban

facebook

water

crowdsourcing

experience

bathroom

E OW KN

whatsapp

private sponsors

UN

IC

AT

IO

N

press

donations bar memberships

sound car wheat-paste posters

ublic he p o t & t

DG

radio

LE

grants

MM

s er mb me

al rm fo

CO

n ee tw be

l rma nfo & i

decoration

vacant

FUNDING

+ Knowledge: Consider the different knowledges necessary and who might be a collaborator. Technical, legal and urban knowledges might be important, but also informal knowledges provenient from experiences, etc. Connect to and collaborate with other people!

roofing

sidewalks

flexible

size

legal

+ Funding: There isn’t a lot of funding for communityoriented initiatives in Brazil, but pay attention to private grants, and consider crowdsourcing the activity (if needed) through the contribution of community members through donations. Promoting events and getting the revenue from selling foods and beverages can also be a form of converting the income into funding as well.

special occasions

central

proximity to home

SPACE

stage

constrained

ce spa of

condit ions & l oca ti on

holiday

RU

shared bike stations

ts en em el

circulation

zoning

bike paths

weekday day

open

parking lot

subway

season

ME

bus stop

ST

TI

ACCESS

+ Infrastructure: Will you need any type of infrastructure?

If you need power for any reason, think about the amenities along the way - you can ‘borrow’ power from gas stations and public facilities. Think about waste collection - who will collect the trash and where will it go? + Communication: How will you collaborate among each other and with other organizations, and publicize the walk? Consider creating whatsapp or facebook groups for organizing, and then communicating it to other community members and greater audience using facebook events, pamphlets, community newspaper, sound cars and wheat-paste posters.

use appropriate imagine transform reclaim common

CULTURAL PRODUCERS COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS URBAN EXPERTS ACTIVISTS

+ Structure: What do you need for the activities within the walk? Make a checklist. Will you have a picnik afterwards?

Do you need towels or chairs? What materials do you need to carry? Think of signage to orient people and carts to carry your things along the walk.

BOTTOM-UP

+ Access: Make sure you think of inclusive forms of access to your event. How are people getting to the event or space?

Are they connected to larger transportation systems? Is there bike and pedestrian infrastructure, or is everyone bound to come in cars?

96