Orla do Guaíba

The recovery of a beloved waterfront in Porto Alegre

By Jimena Martignoni

Porto Alegre is the largest city and capital of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. With a population of 1.5 million in the city and almost 4.3 million in the metropolitan area, it is one of many Brazilian port cities. Although it is not on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, its location at the confluence of five rivers and the northern end of Lagoa dos Patos, the largest and most significant barrier lagoon in South America, makes it a city with an essential relationship with water. The Guaraní, the region’s original inhabitants, called the confluence of the five rivers Guaíba, which means “meeting of the waters.” Today, the local people indistinctly refer to this space as the Guaíba River or Guaíba Lake.

Given this geographical context, the city has historically been affected by floods, of which the most devastating was in the early 1940s. After this event, a wall covered most of the city’s edge on the river, eliminating its natural relationship with the water and the river’s green spaces. The city’s residents, however, maintained their longtime habits around these natural areas, visiting and using them spontaneously. Walking, resting, drinking mate (Tealike beverage, popular in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and other places in South America.) and especially watching the sunset always continued as typical actions performed by locals, despite the site’s increasing abandonment.

In 2011, during the term of Mayor José Fortunati (2010–2017), the Porto Alegre government finally decided to start a plan to recover the areas above the water’s edge, particularly emphasising those near the city’s historic centre. The project was one hundred percent funded by the Development Bank of Latin America. Although the funds were formally received in 2016, the construction of the first stage began in 2015, with the local government releasing and auditing all initial payments. For Latin America, three consecutive but different administrations were unusually responsible for the entire project’s implementation— Fortunati and his successors, Nelson Marchezan Júnior (2017–2021) and Sebastião Melo (2021-present day).

Called Orla do Guaíba in Portuguese (Coast of Guaíba), the plan includes the renovation and consolidation of the coastal areas and green spaces along the riverbank and the creation of a linear park at various levels on the edge between the city and the water— levels determined by the shoreline modelling and soil consolidation tasks executed over the years.

The Porto Alegre city government decided to award the project’s design to the internationally renowned Brazil-based office Jaime Lerner Associated Architects. In Brazil, selecting a professional based on the title of “renowned expertise” is applied in exceptional cases under the law of public procurement, prioritising the professionals’ specialisation and public prestige and leaving aside any call for competitions.

Jaime Lerner, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 83, was a three-time mayor of the city of Curitiba (1971–1975, 1979–1983 and 1989–1992), leading the transformation of the city and implementing a public transportation system and environmental programs that became international models of innovative and integrated urban planning. He was also governor of the state of Paraná (1995–2002) and has been recognised for his accomplishments by the United Nations Environment Program (1990), nominated among the 25 most influential thinkers in the world by TIME magazine (2010), and awarded with the Leadership in Transport Award by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2011).

Lerner’s office is located in Curitiba, and the government of Porto Alegre created a local coordination base for the development and implementation of the project. Architect Oscar Coelho represented the city as the general coordinator of the project and construction, and the environmental and landscape consultant was Carlos Oliveira Perna. Working closely with Lerner’s team, these professionals carried out both the site analysis and the implementation of the different stages of the project.

The first stage was completed in June 2018 and covered an extension of 1.3 kilometres, and the second stage was completed in 2021, covering 1.6 kilometres.

The inspiration and conceptual basis of the project was, from the beginning, the patterns of urban-social behaviour performed by locals over the decades, and the design proposal included all the many possibilities to use and enjoy a unique section in the city. The clear objective of offering the best possible viewpoints and spaces to observe the sunset on the water is realised in many ways throughout the project, especially with the incorporation of the existing different levels of the site.

The difference between the street and the water level is 4.7 meters, and the consolidated soil is about halfway up, 2.5 meters above the water level. This established level, which evolved as a natural portion of the rim, was shaped out of the containment slope system built along the waterfront over the years as part of the flood-protection works carried out by the local government. In the project, this natural platform was adapted to create a continuous access promenade for commercial spaces, cafés, services, and a large pedestrian lawn slopes gently toward the water. The back of the slope was reinforced with gabions, as retaining walls shielded with greenery. On the surfaces that descend toward the water, horizontal gabions help strengthen the natural soil. To further hold the soil and to recreate the original aquatic environment, the design team incorporated some of the existing riverbank vegetation cover into these structures.

Regarding the planting proposal, the landscape project responds to the levels segmentation of the site. “We differentiated five areas between the water and the street levels, defined by the existing topography, with a list of one hundred percent native plants”, says Oliveira Perna, and then adds, “To assure an adequate list [of species], we toured the natural reserves of Porto Alegre and the region.”

The five areas can be identified at the site: The first two correspond to the aquatic and natural edge environment, allowing only conservation and management actions. The third one is the low promenade and the large pedestrian area that