Extrametropolis:
Urban Design Across the Scales of the Paulista Macrometropolis A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University Graduate School of Design by
Rafael Ferreira Marengoni In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Architecture in Urban Design May, 2020 The author hereby grants Harvard University permission to reproduce and distribute copies of this Thesis, in whole or in part, for educational purposes.
Rafael Ferreira Marengoni
Rahul Mehrotra Renee Tapp Gabriel Kozlowski
Advised by: Rahul Mehrotra, Renee Tapp & Gabriel Kozlowski
Extrametropolis Harvard Graduate School of Design Spring 2020
Developed by: Rafael Marengoni, Master’s in Architecture of Urban Design Candidate 2020
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Acknowledgements
I would like to begin by stating my gratitude to the Lemann Foundation and to the Jorge Paulo Lemann Scholarship program alongside the GSD’s Financial Aid for making my education at the Harvard Graduate School of Design possible. Neither of these would have been possible if it weren’t for the support and motivation to apply I received from Prof. Felipe Correa, long ago. I could also not have done this without the support from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Haddad Foundation, who supported my research with the Prof. Rafael Urano at the University of Campinas in the very first iteration of this research. I would like to thank my advisors, Rahul, Renee and Gabriel Rahul for showing me time and time again how to continue to push questions of Urban Design, for his unwavering support and continuous ability to inspire me to continue moving forward. Renee for the conversations, references and support given to me since the Urban Economics and Market Analysis course in 2019, and for so promptly agreeing to join my committee of advisors early on, and for every single insight you contributed with. Gabriel for the discussions, friendship and never-ending souce of motivation from long before I arrived at the GSD - working with the three of you has truly been a privilege. To my colleagues at the GSD, to my colleagues from Unicamp - which have taught me and continue to teach me every day - I thank you. None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the support from my family Hilcea, Mauricio, Bruna, Claudio and Karla. I owe them my whole world. and to Ava.
Contents
Introduction
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of SĂŁo Paulo
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Chapter 2: The Paulista Macrometropolis and the TIC
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Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
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Reflections
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References
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Introduction
This thesis is an investigation of urban design in São Paulo beyond the metropolitan scale, and focuses upon issues of regional urbanization, transportation infrastructure and urban form, multiscalar urban design, and transit oriented development. The investigation looks into how urbanization has happened across the different scales of São Paulo, by looking into the City, Metropolitan, Macrometropolitan and State Scales. It does so by highlighting the way transportation infrastructure development plays a role in shaping urban form and distribution across all scales. By looking into the specific relationship between transportation and urban form, this project also seeks to propose a framework to reimagine the agency that urban design may have in conditioning the future of cities and urbanization processes within this specific geography. The framework attempts to advance the current discussions around the Trem Intercidades,
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a regional train project currently being developed by the state government of São Paulo. The train would connect the largest cities of the state, with over 450km of rail, in a region that is home to over 30 million people. As such, it would represent a paradigm shift from a road dominant autocentric system, towards a centralized collective rail network. Historically, each phase of expansion in the State of São Paulo has relied on a different type of infrastructure, and has historicaly transitioned from fluvial transportation, to rail transportation, to road transportation. Each of these shifts conditioned urban life in unique ways. Yet, this begs the question: if transportation infrastructure is a main force in shaping urban environments across the scales of the state of São Paulo historically, what would this shift back towards centralizing rail infrastructure mean to the cities? What could become of urban design within this new context, and what would be the opportunities for reshaping the practice of urbanism in São Paulo? These are questions that Extrametropolis engages with as a starting point, in an
Introduction: Extrametropolis
attempt to propose a scalable framework around this new paradigm shift of regional mobility in SĂŁo Paulo.
a vision of designing for a reality in spite of that reality, and through doing so can inspire new visions for tomorrow, a tomorrow that looks beyond the metropolis.
To answer, the thesis looks into existing legisilation for brazilian urban planning, what instruments are available and how they have been applied. It also looks into the governance structure that exists in the state of SĂŁo Paulo, and asks how it may continue to lay out possibilities for regional collaboration. Aside from analyzing existing conditions, extrametropolis also attempts to draw a framework that builds from the legacy of existing legislation and governmental structures to imagine what an integrated regional approach for designing the intersection between urban form and transportation infrastructure within existing urban fabric across the state. In attempting to do so, this investigation advocates for new approaches and methods in addressing urbanization in SĂŁo Paulo. Extrametropolis seeks to advocate for
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Chapter 1
Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.1 A Brief History of São Paulo’s Urbanization To begin, a disambiguation is necessary otherwise everything might become terribly confusing: São Paulo is both the name of a state and a city (the capital of said homonymous state). In this hydrologically advantaged area, the first large-scale work of infrastructure to be explored in this region was none other than fluvial. Because of its unique geological morphology, São Paulo has a peculiar characteristic: the Tietê River basin. Why it is unique? It is particularly unique due to its origin and destination — contrary to the vast majority of Brazilian rivers, the Tietê river and its tributaries flow inland, cutting across the entirety of the state of São Paulo from East to West, further connecting to the Paraná River. Because of this, the rivers became a main instrument of Brazil’s colonization process, and was instrumental for the historic settlements along its margins across the state. Unsurprisingly, São Paulo’s urban development shares an intricate history with its rivers, and with the ways in which they have been perceived. It was on the margins of
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the Tamanduateí and Anhangabaú rivers that the Portuguese priests first settled, and where the center of the city of São Paulo has developed since 1554. The rivers were for over 300 years a main economic asset of the city, providing fresh water, fishing, and transportation. They were also the main connection from outer regions of the city to trading centers located near the ports, where commerce would prosper (Image 1). Benedito Calixto’s painting beautifully illustrates not only the proportion the river had within the urban fabric, but also how it organized life around it. The rivers provided a platform through which the organization of the city and its life took place, as is common to the prevalent infrastructures in any city. It was the primary infrastructure that would allow for a possible human settlement. This is mainly the reason why during the 18th century the networks of waterways expanded extensively and connections were made across the country, connecting São Paulo to Mato Grosso and Goiás, later expanding northward to the Tocatins, Tapajós, Araguaia and Madeira rivers1 (Stefani,
Stefani, Celia Regina Bader. “O Sistema Ferroviário Paulista : um estudo sobre a evolução do transporte de passageiros sobre trilhos.” Master’s. diss., University of São Paulo, 2007.
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.1 A Brief History of São Paulo’s Urbanization
Image 1: Calixto, Benedito.”Inundação da Várzea do Carmo.” University of São Paulo Paulista Museum’s Permanent Collection, 1892.
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.1 A Brief History of São Paulo’s Urbanization 2007). This, however, happened at a great expense given the challenges of structuring a functional and seamless navigation system throughout such a vast territory (thousands of kilometers of navigable waterways). Rivers continued to structure regional relationships between cities — a dynamic that would only undergo drastic change in the late 1800s. The pressing economic transformation happening in São Paulo over the course of the 1800s would press its landscape to transform with it. The times required infrastructure that could keep up with the pace of economic growth, and soon enough, railways began to span across the state. The largest shift was the emergence of the coffee economy in Brazil, which quickly overtook the vast majority of São Paulo’s territory and would become a defining element of the state’s culture, economy, and legacy to this day. The first main coffee production site emerged in the Paraíba Valley, west of Rio de Janeiro. At the time, Taubaté was the first regional leader of the
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Paraíba Valley, and subsequently other local hubs emerged with expansion toward western parts of the state of São Paulo. The production of coffee would become very successful in western region of the state due to a variety of geological and climatic reasons, and as a because of the region’s increasing prosperity, soon railways would connect the port of Santos to the main production sites across the state. This directly affected the landscape of the region, which was modernizing due to the inflow of capital and rail infrastructure, but also directly impacted population growth in these cities. Here a shift took place: as the cities grew — accelerated by trade that was enabled by rail infrastructure — their economies became more dynamic and attracted an increasing number of people, and with them, new services. This is the beginning of São Paulo’s rapid and regional urbanization process. With rapid urbanization came other challenges. The late 1800s were also the moment in which São Paulo’s industrialization
Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.1 A Brief History of São Paulo’s Urbanization first accelerated2 (Cardoso, 1960), leading to two main social-ecological problems in more intensely urbanized locations: First, railways that were built in São Paulo would benefit from the flat margins of the rivers (Delijaicov, 1998), which also meant that most of the industries would develop there as well. Industrial waste became one of the main contributors to the pollution of the rivers. Second, the location of industries would influence the location of workers’ housing, which agglomerated near the waterbody resulting in continuous and prolonged exposure to the polluted rivers, which ultimately led to diseases. These factors were the main drivers of a narrative in which the rivers became regarded as a hazard. This would intensify in the beginning of the following century, and the rivers went from an “assets” that allowed for trade, fishing and recreation to a public health challenge. The response that followed was that rivers should be controlled and their externalities tamed. Here, it is curious to notice that the shift from rivers to rail generated the effects that would form the basis of arguments for the shift from rail to roads.
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As rivers began to be tamed, the narrative for the future of infrastructure was seeking to elect a new beacon of hope: roads, highways, and cars. One project clearly states the agenda shift in developing infrastructure for São Paulo: revitalizing the Tietê River. As industry established itself in the city, the rivers in the center of the city were beginning to be tamed such as the Tamanduateí. Yet, there was still a larger challenge ahead: the Tietê River. In 1923 a commission was created in the city of São Paulo to investigate improvements for the Tietê River, it was to be led by the engineer Francisco Rodrigues Saturnino de Brito, who had overseen the projects for the canals in the city of Santos, SP in the beginning of the 20th century. Saturnino de Brito had proven excellence in upgrading water features as a contained urban amenity as he had done in Santos, which made him highly regarded to direct this project. The prerogative to establish this commission and this project was to understand what infrastructure improvements could be done for the river in order to capitalize on surrounding lands and to reduce the outbreak of epidemics such as yellow fever. Amongst many schemes,
Cardoso, Fernando Henrique. “O Café e a industrialização de São Paulo”. Revista História n42 University of São Paulo, São Paulo, 1960.
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.1 A Brief History of São Paulo’s Urbanization one of them was Saturnino’s, which used the adjacent areas of the river as promenades and urban fabric, bringing city life closer to the river — a relationship that, at the time, seemed long forgotten. While accounting for preserved wetlands to accommodate the seasonal floodings, the changes in the river’s depth and width could hold the same volumes that the Tietê had, and the wetlands would provide for volume overages for the higher amount of rainfall in the summer. It was a scheme ahead of its time for Brazil. However, to quote Delijaicov (1998)3, “opposite ideas prevail” (p.6,). Brito’s idea was never implemented, and what Delijaicov is referring to is the agenda that privileged a shift towards motorized transportation, which would be strongly carried out by Francisco Prestes Maia, a two-term mayor of Sao Paulo who played a role in the urban planning of many of the state’s major cities. What would prevail instead, strongly influenced by international trends, was the scheme developed by Francisco Prestes Maia and Ulhoa Cintra. The plan promised hygiene, circulation, and the embellishment of
the city in a fashionable “City Beautiful”-esque aesthetic. At the time, it was perceived as so successful that Francisco Prestes Maia would later develop and implement the largest comprehensive scheme proposed in the history of São Paulo: “O Plano de Avenidas” (The Avenues Plan). The Avenues plan marks a new moment for the city, one guided by the logic of “functionality,” “beauty,” and “modernity.” Highly inspired by the Burnham approach to Chicago (Toledo, 2012), Prestes Maia sought to “make no small plans” and transformed the city by canalizing rivers and drawing avenues over the resulting “empty” land. The rivers were a problem, but they became a “tamed” problem, and they continued to be seen solely as a destination for waste and an inconvenience for development. Soon, rail would also become an inconvenience. The Avenues Plan disregarded natural elements and previous infrastructure in its conception, and created a metropolitan drainage problem, which in turn created a circulation problem and a health problem. Not only was this the case, but the sprawl generated by the road systems proposed by
Delijaicov, Alexandre. “Os Rios e o Desenho da Cidade” Master’s diss., University of São Paulo, 1998. 4 Toledo, B.L. “Make no Little Plans”. Estado de São Paulo in estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,make-no-little-plans,931896, accessed in December 2018. São Paulo 3
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.1 A Brief History of São Paulo’s Urbanization Prestes Maia rendered the urban trolley systems inviable, and they were gradually phased out to give space to an autocentric city-making approach. This strategy begins in the city of São Paulo in the early decades of the 20th century, and over the course of the century perpetuates itself as a statewide approach, with a federal shift in investments guided from the 38,000 km of existing railway to develop the “modern” highways. Perhaps the most striking moment in which policy deliberately and explicitly shifts towards an autocentric culture can be conveyed in the quote from President Washington Luís in 1928 at the inauguration of the Rio-São Paulo road: “To govern is to create new roads” 5(Jornal O Globo, 1928). The decades that followed witnessed a dramatic shift towards developing more and more roads, and São Paulo sought to benefit tremendously from this.
Brasília: the promise of a modern Brazil. In 1956, the first car manufacturer (ROMI) set up shop in Santa Barbara do Oeste, and three years later, in 1959, Volkswagen would install itself in São Bernardo do Campo, right outside of the City of São Paulo. The city and the state’s major metropolitan regions witnessed immense sprawl and population growth from the 1930s onward, a period during which the state population grew 1000% and the city’s population grew almost 2000% (IBGE), while transportation infrastructure (now mainly based on auto-centered avenues and roads) expanded by 400%. All of these shifts bring us to the situation faced today - one in which São Paulo grows as a region
In the 1950s and 1960s, not only was the auto-industry expanding in São Paulo, but the infrastructure and civil engineering industries were also booming. They began to ride the same wave seen in the construction of
Jornal O Globo. “Washington Luís inaugura a primeira rodovia asfaltada do país, a Rio-Petrópolis” https://acervo.oglobo.globo.com/rio-de-historias/washington-luis-inaugura-primeira-rodovia-asfaltada-do-pais-rio-petropolis-8849272 . Updated 10/17/2017.
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State of SĂŁo Paulo: urban form and transportation
Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.2 Growth and its Challenges As noted previously, growth in São Paulo comes at a cost, and this cost is divided across the areas in which the growth takes place - an issue of scale. The regional growth that happens in and around the City of São Paulo has two main scales: the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region(SPMR) and the Sao Paulo Macrometropolis (SPMM). The first is defined as the contiguous region of 39 municipalities a region that comprises eight Metropolitan Areas. Each of these scales has its own unique administrative structure and jurisdiction, ooccasionally relying on hybrid solutions and shared initiatives. Overall, the region is defined by its intense urban concentrations. The state of São Paulo accounts for roughly 20% of Brazil’s population while contributing directly to over 30% of its GDP. What is remarkable about this region is that across scales, as we zoom in from the macro- to the microlevel, the concentration of population and resources increases consistently and exponentially:the city of São Paulo accounts for 25% of the state’s population and 35% of its GDP, the Metropolitan Region (SPMR) accounts
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for roughly 50% of the State’s population and 55% of the GDP, while the Macrometropolis (SPMM) accounts for roughly 75% of the population and 85% of its GDP. Such concentrations impact the ways in which these administrative units operate, and how public policy is crafted to attend to such an atypical region. One of the main issues that affects the region today is density, and navigating effective public policy responses to its negative externalities. One of the most notable issues related to density is transportation, and with it comes an opportunity to encourage local leaders and state leaders to pivot toward a regionally-minded approach to local governance In recent decades, transportation in Brazil has largely meant road infrastructure. The country witnessed a stark shift towards the adoption of highways and roads to promote regional connectivity at the expense of maintaining its pre-existing rail system. At its peak, Brazil had over
Secretaria de Transportes Metropolitanos: Trens Regionais Considerações Preliminares and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
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SĂŁo Paulo Macrometropolis: urban form and transportation
Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.2 Growth and its Challenges 38,000km of operational rail networks, which were phased out over the course of the 20th century — ceasing to operate for passenger transportation in the early 2000s and giving way to the hegemony of road systems. São Paulo was no different.
driving due to congestion. While this may seem like a problem local to the city of São Paulo, it is truly a regional issue demanding an approach that transcends municipal boundaries.
In São Paulo, roads and cars played a huge role in the economy — from infrastructure development companies to auto and auto-parts industries. Roads were developed extensively throughout the state, and with them came cars and the increasing adhesion to an autocentric lifestyle.
There are over 500,000 trips per day that end in São Paulo originating from cities outside of the SPMR. Five cities in particular account for an estimated 416,097 trips9 to and from São Paulo: Campinas, Santos, Sorocaba, São José dos Campos, and Jundiaí. All of these trips necessarily take place by roads, further increasing regional congestion. Road infrastructure is synominmous with urban sprawl: and São Paulo has plenty of sprawl.
In the city of São Paulo, there were roughly 7.4 cars for every 10 inhabitants as of 20157. In the state of São Paulo, the number of registered vehicles jumped from 10.6 million in 2000 to 27.3 million in 2016. Road networks, however, did not accompany this growth —reinforcing drastic congestion and rendering São Paulo the world’s 5th worst congested urban area according to INRIX. INRIX estimates8 that in 2019 drivers spent an extra 152 hours
This poses one of the largest challenges of the regional urbanization phenomenon: how to direct and control development in a city that grows in every direction? The answer (or at least part of it) can be found within the urbanistic instruments designed to shape this urbanization.
Denatran. “Estatísticas de Trânsito.” www.detran.sp.gov.br/wps/portal/portaldetran/detran/estatisticastransito/3a410653-0dd2-45df-a324-bdfc4711d988/. Accessed in May 2020. 8 INRIX, “Traffic Scorecard Report.”, https://inrix.com/scorecard-city/?city=Sao%20Paulo&index=5 2019 9 Secretaria de Transportes Metropolitanos, “Trens Regionais Considerações Preliminares” and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics 2010 7
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.2 Growth and its Challenges
Image 2: “A writer’s perfect day in São Paulo.” National Geographic Travel, 2019
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.3 Shaping Urbanization Given the challenges posed by the urbanization processes in São Paulo, a series of instruments have been devised over time to address and shape it. Many of these look at the São Paulo region as a precedent for this instruments, a legacy of urbanistic legislation lays the ground rules for how it is land use and transportation can develop in an orderly fashion. This is mainly due to the fact that São Paulo is one of Brazil’s most intense and abrupt urban experiences, making regulation here both urgent and unique. Even though many of the instruments mentioned within this legislation have existed in various formats, this thesis is mostly interested in three main parts of the current Federal legislation that speak specifically to issues of urban development, metropolitan development and integrated planning. The first is entitled “The Statute of the City” otherwise known as Federal Law 10.257/2001. This is perhaps one of the most relevant pieces of legislation in regards to urbanism in Brazil. It lays out the main forms through which urban planning takes place in the country. It covers a wide
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variety of issues, such as the threshold through which cities are required to issue a masterplan, special zoning flexibilities and more. For this study, one of the most important aspects it details is known as “Urban Operation”. The Urban Operation is a delimited perimeter within a given city in which zoning regulations are shifted in order to enable or direct further development. It is understood as a model of Public Private Partnership, in which the government issues certificates for additional constructive potential (CEPAC) and private developers can purchase these in order to increase development capacity of a given parcel. This is done in an attempt to devleop specific areas and to increase state revenue to reinvest in urban infrastructure and services using the accumulated capital from the issued CEPACs. Each urban operation establishes its own unique set of parameters and goals, and this varies often according to the specific context each urban operation perimeter is defined within.
Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.3 Shaping Urbanization The second instrument mentioned here is called “the Statute of the Metropolis” also referred to as Federal Law 13.089/2015. In itself, this instrument does not innovate tremendously in the tools it defines, instead it innovates in the scale it defines. Effectively, Law 13089/2015 allows for sets of municipalities to deploy the instruments defined in the Statute of the City collectively across institutionally established Metropolitan Areas. This could enable municipalities to coordinate in new ways for mutual benefitial urbanistic planning endeavors. In this sense, it becomes an instrumental piece of legislation for thinking about how to coordinate a response to regional urbanization.
gains for all municipalities within a given metropolitan region. It is the only federal legislation in Brazil that requires urbanistic considerations for a scale larger than a muncipality, and in that sense it has tremendous potential. Looking at the city of São Paulo we can learn a bit more about how these instruments can be deployed, and what are the challenges and opportunities of doing so.
Finally, the third of the instruments to be mentioned is referred to as the PDUI or Integrated Urban Development Plan - consolidated through Federal Law 13.683/2018, which requires Metropolitan Areas to develop an integrated urbanistic plan for themselves. It states that municipalities create projects, directives and actions with the goal of advancing the collective
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Legislation: scale and form
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Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.3 Shaping Urbanization In São Paulo’s context, we can see all three of the instruments mentioned applied to a certain extent, according to their respective scale. From largest to smallest, we first see the Metropolitan Structuring Zones at the Metropolitan scale, which are areas designed to respond to regional logistic axis. The strategy behind them, according to São Paulo’s Strategic Directive Plan of 2014 (PDE 2014), is to leverage these zones for adjacent municipalities as well as for the city of São Paulo, through increasing densities for residential and commercial uses while providing public amenities. Following along at the Urban scale, we then see the Reinforcing of internal corridors, which similar to the Metropolitan Structuring Zones identifies main transportation axis to build density upon. The difference here is that this strategy does so for intraurban axis for the city of São Paulo instead of regional axis. Again, the idea is to leverage the locations with the highest potential for increasing transportation services and capacity and to develop
them in order to increase access. The last strategy we see in the illustation is the Local scale, for the urban operations. These are perimeter that have been designated as locations for additional development, capitalizing on existing amenitiy and infrastructure access these areas already dispose of. As mentioned earlier, the urban operations are based on the premise of land value capture, in which additional development potential is issued by the government for third parties to purchase. The funds collected by the government from the commercialization of the development potential are to be used to reinvest in urban infrastructure and services, which can happen in a variety of ways such as capital infrastructure projects like bridges or subway stations, or public amenities such as plazas or parks, or even social infrastructures such as public housing. The maps in the pages ahead showcase each of the Urban Operations in the City of São Paulo, their range of interventions and the infrastructures they concentrate.
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Legislation in the context of the SĂŁo PauloMetropolitan Region
Chapter 1: Urbanization in the Context of São Paulo
1.3 Shaping Urbanization Still, when analyzing the larger scale which these strategies are embedded within, the proportion of the challenges become clearer, as does the ambition behind it: that through a handful of sites, an entire metropolitan region could be restructured. It is a challenge, yet, through the meticulous selection of these sites, and the careful design of the strategies within them, these types of solutions aim to achieve a regional impact, and how well integated they are with the other scales of interventions and sites.
Given this pattern, we bring our attention back to the larger transportation infrastructure currently in discussion: the Trem Intercidades (TIC) or “Intercity Train”, and its potential to be a driver to structure new forms of urbanization across the scale it extends across: the São Paulo Macrometropolis.
Most importantly, it is fundamental to notice how the planning of urban development happens and is guided by the development of transportation infrastructure, whether regional or local. The balance that the different instruments attempt to reach is always between the resulting urban form (densities), existing and proposed transportation infrastructures, and public amenities. In this sense, we see a guided, deliberate effort of planning new development of urban form alongisde the development of transportation infrastructures as an integrate approach emerging.
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Chapter 2
The Paulista Macrometropolis and the TIC
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The TIC and the SĂŁo Paulo Macrometropolis
Chapter2: The Paulista Macrometropolis and the TIC
Given the way urbanization has taken place around transportation infrastructure, the effects it has generated and the instruments used to attempt control it, one can’t help but wonder how these could change given the TIC. The TIC is set to structure 477km of railways connecting over 30 million people across Macrometropolitan São Paulo. It is the first project that attempts to structure the region with the direct development of rail infrastructure, yet it does little to address or attempt to address whay urbanistic instruments can be deployed around it and for it. The current proposal includes the Metropolitan regions of Vale do Paraíba (RMVale), Campinas (RMC), Sorocaba (RMS), Santos (RMBS), São Paulo (SPMR) and Jundiaí (AUJ), and stations are expected for at least 18 cities along those Metro regions, which are amongst the largest urban areas of Brazil. Overall, the Macrometropolis concentrates over 17% of Brazil’s entire
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population and generates roughly 27% of Brazil’s GDP - which represents 74% of the State of São Paulo’s population and 82% of its GDP. The TIC would be instrumental in increasing the connectivity across this area, providing an alternative to road-based transportation region-wide. Effectively, these would be 18 locations that would be exposed to dramatic and unprecedented effects due to the presence of this infrastructure. At the same time, there are 18 locations that, if prepared and coordinated, could pivot their own development around this infrastructure in novel ways, making the most out of the opportunity to shift away from a autocentric transportation system and sprawling urban form, towards a pedestrianized, multimodal reality.
Cities along the TIC network
Campinas as a large site to test many ideas
Campinas as an interscalar pilot for block and urban scale
Chapter 3
A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
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Design
Ramifications
Block Scale
Urban Scale
Scale 1: Urban Operation
Scale 2: Urban Intervention Projects
City Repercussions
Scale 3: Small footprint, large impact
Macrometropolitan
Scale 4: Extrametropolis
Scale 1 : An Urban Operation around the proposed station site for the TIC in each city, encompassing a 500m radius around it. Scale 2: A System of urban corridors stemming from the TIC station Urban Operation, reaching 2500m outwards connecting other areas of the city.
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Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.1 A general framework The TIC offers a unique opportunity to restructure the urban form of the cities along its network around it, shifting existing hierarchies reminiscent of other forms of predominant transportation infrastructures. It could allow for each of the station sites in the cities that have stops to become a starting point for a gradual urban transformation.
Campinas is the largest city outside of SĂŁo Paulo Metropolitan Area, and its Metropolitan Area is the second largest in the state. It showcases a large site around the proposed station site and as such, it would have the potential for testing a thorough example of a multiscalar approach integrating different sets of urban design solutions. There are two scales of proposal involved:
Building on top of the voids left by the gradual abandonment of the rail infrastructure across the SPMM, a series of interventions could be proposed, leveraging the TIC as a platform to pivot urban development towards. These could hold public amenities, housing, commercial spaces, retail and shops, cultural programs and institutions - becoming an extension of the urban fabric around regional connectivity.
Block Scale: this would be considered as a potential micro-urban operation, in which urban form considerations (public spaces, massing and programming, connections, etc) would be designed with the intent of creating a cohesive urban fabric, mending the tissue between old and new. It would take place in the adjacencies of the proposed TIC station site.
To test this possibility, a site was selected as a pilot for these ideas: Campinas, SP.
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Urban Scale: this would be considered as the determination of axis beginning from the TIC station, reaching other regions of the city structuring mobility and density along the way.
Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.1 A general framework Both of these scales would be itnegated, as part of a replicable approach that could be applied to the other cities along the TIC’s network. Ideally, this would happen in such a way to allow each municipality and metropolitan region to adapt the strategy to their specificites while holding the basic principles of the strategy consistently. This framework would entail: Block Scale 1. Determining the TIC station site within each city; 2. Establishing a 500m baseline radius around the site to analyze as part of a micro-urban operation;
Urban Scale 4. Expanding the baseline radius to 2500m to identify main mobility corridors; 5. Studying potential mobility routes and stops along selected corridors; 6. Proposing a long-term corridor densification strategy to reinforce access to TIC micro-urban operation site and amenties. Metropolitan Scale 7. Studying the intersection/extension of corridors across municipalities;
3. Analyzing existing facilities as to identify existing facilities/services, underused land, other opportunities and creating a strategy around it;
8. Integrating densities, urban operation perimeters and programmatic distribution (services) across city limits;
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Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.1 A general framework
Deactivated rail infrastructure site as a starting point for the block scale intervention. One of the TIC’s strategies is to build on top of previous railway facilities as to make most of existing right-of-ways and previously owned sites. These sites could be used across the Macrometropolis as they are a consistent feature in the cities. Photos 1,2 and 3: “Fepasa e Estação Cultura” courtesy of Gabriela ”Lela” Leme, 2020
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Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.1 A general framework Macrometropolitan Scale 9. Distributing strategy along TIC network to each Metropolitan Area and City en route.
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Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.2 Block Scale: Micro-Urban Operation The site selected in Campinas to pursue an Urban Design investigation is located between the dense downtown area and the historical Vila Industrial. It is currently used for a variety of functions but has not been operational as a passenger terminal for about two decades. It’s location is privileged, in the sense that it is close to a variety of amenities and services, as well as other infrastructural nodes such as the two bus stations located along the East and West edges of the void. To begin designing for this site, a tentative coordinate location was selected as a center node - the former center of the deactivated historical passenger station. This was done due to the position it occupies on the site as well as due to its proportions, design and architectural character, which have provenly functioned well as a station and could easily be adapted to serve
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that function once again. Given the scale of the site in Campinas, the 500m baseline radius expanded to the limits of the site, as to include the areas immediately around the entire Fepasa Complex as part of the Analysis and subsequent Micro-Urban Operation Perimeter determination.
The Site in Campinas: FEPASA
1. Setting the Station Location
2. Establishing the 500m Baseline Radius
3. Analyzing Existing Context
4. Expanding (adapting) Perimeter to Existing Context
5. Analyzing Main Existing Facilities/Services
6. Identifying Existing Underused Structures
7. Identifying Underused Locations
8. Taking Inventory of Opportunities and Challenges
Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.2 Block Scale: Micro-Urban Operation After adapting the site’s perimter and incomporating other adjacent blocks to the analysis the main elements noticed within the area were: - Transportation facilites (Intra-municipal and Inter-municipal Bus Stations); - Cultural and Learning Centers (SESC and SESI); - Religious Institutions (Igreja Universal); - Public Facilities (Police Station, Healthcare Complex; City Government Buildings); - Large Underused lots (Parking lots, empty parcels); - Historical Industrial Era Buildings (Within Fepasa Complex); From identifying and locating these elements a strategy could be drawn as to further connect this site to the city around it, making the most of the assets and challenges found through the analysis.
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The strategy devised for this scale has three main principles: Connect: Existing and New Amenities; The main idea of connecting these facilities would be to further promote ways in which users of this space could easily access the opportunities and services that exist around it. Knowing that as a regional transportation hub this area would attract over 100,000 people per day promoting multimodal and intermodal connections is fundamental; and within the 500m radius, active modes are to be preferred, given the limited capacity downtown Campinas and Vila Industrial would have for any additional autocentric infrastructure.
Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.2 Block Scale: Micro-Urban Operation Infill: Create Density near Points of Interest
the character the site already holds
By creating infill two things are to be achieved - the diminishing of the void sensation created by such a large patch of land, and the increased capacity the area has to generate and contain active uses (residential, retail, commercial). This way, more people could have permanent access to the site, contributing to a healthier mix of sporadic and frequent users of the spaces
Transforming: The Block Scale Intersection between Urban Form and Infrastructure
Reuse: Fepasa Complex Buildings
The goal of applying these sets of strategies is to redefine how the city life can be further enabled by infrastructure, and how urban design can contribute to this to create cohesive and integrated scales of urban fabric. This, should it be successful, would result in a transformation through program, form and uses of the sites included and adjacent.
Given the Architectural quality and the aspects pertaining to the heritage of the site, some of the buildings within the Fepasa Complex could be adapted for new uses, fostering a balance between old and new on the site. This would potentially be a sustainable approach, minimizing the occupation of the site with new constructions while simultaneously maintaining some of
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1. Connecting
2. Infilling
3. Reusing
4. Transforming
Micro Urban Operation: Transforming the Intersection Between Urban Form and Infrastructure
An Intersection defined by Adaptive Density Infill, Accessible Reuse and New Connections
Reimagining Life Around and In a New Urbanistic Paradigm
Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.3 Urban Scale: Reinforced Structural Axis Looking beyond the 500m Radius, the second scale would extend to 2500m, reaching a footprint 25 times that of the first scale. With these dimensions, the intervention would require a selective and directed approach. To do so, the concept of the Reinforced Structuring Axis is developed, in which the main streets and avenues are to be identified, and along them routes for high frequency, high capacity transit are to be studied (potentially BRT), and along those studied routes, existing parcel and block morphologies are to be studied as well. This would allow for future use of parcels to shift, making it possible for them to be combined and recombined enabling different forms and densities. This, associated with the proposed transit lines would allow for these corridors to concentrate not only people and infrastructure but also othe types of activities, amenities and opportunities along the extending lengths of these corridors. For this, there would be two main principles deployed:
Mobility: Allowing more access to the city through collective transportation; The goal of focusing on a mobility based strategy is to prioritize more efficient, collective and cleaner transportation options, stepping further and further away from autocentric car dependancy, and closer towards a more sustainable, shared urban infrastructure. By doing this on existing axis, it would play into the current transportation networks existing capacity and minimize any adjustments needed to incorportate the proposed new modes (BRT, bike lanes, sidewalks). This could strengthen existing public amenities along the routes and further support the creation of new ones. Density: Alllowing more access to the city through permanence; Creating the possibility for more density along these routes aims to do two things. First, it capitalizes on the efforts and resources invested in the development and operation of transportation infrastructure and services.
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Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.3 Urban Scale: Reinforced Structural Axis Second, it helps mitigate the dispersal of density in locations that do not dispose of mobility infrastructure, reducing impacts in other areas. Third, it potentializes the consolidation of ridership which further enables the quality of the mobility services offered along the entire corridor. To begin doing so, it is necessary to identify the main existing conditions of the mobility axis around the proposed site.
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expanding from the first scale
1. Establishing Transit Route and Identifying Block Morphology
2. Allowing for Parcel Combination and Recombination
3. Shifting Urban Morphology and Creating New Public Spaces
4. Transforming: Adapting Densities near Transit Stops
5. Identifying Actual Main Axis in Campinas
6. Designing Routes and Stops
7. Determining Affected Blocks and Morphology
8. Transforming Morphology and Density along Reinforced Mobility Axis
Integrating Scales: Block and Urban
Imagining a Long Term Scenario Transformation
Chapter 3: A Pilot for New Urban Form in the Macrometropolis
3.3 Urban Scale: Reinforced Structural Axis In their development, the reinforced structural axis would contribute to a directed growth and coordinated and powerful mobility system. This would furhter enable life along the corridors to be filled with public spaces and urban amenities. It would also consolidate a collective mobility alternative for an increased amount of people given the redistribution of density. Beyond the Corridors confined within their 2500m initial radius, there is an possibility for these to be seed projects, allowing for further expansion granted that some of these axis may create nuances and hierarchies. These could become a larger gesture across the urban fabric, and extend to other neighborhoods reproducing this logic sequentially. Still, even though the 2500m may seem small when compared to the scale of the municipalities, their potential impact is not. If we remember how urbanizaiton within the Sao Paulo Macrometropolis has a tendency to cluster, we will see that Campinas is no exception. Within the 2500m
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studied in the Pilot for Campinas it was noticed that actually 24% of the city’s population would be within 10min walk of a stop along the proposed BRT corridor system. For this region, this would also represent 10% of the Campinas Metropolitan Area’s population. In this sense, the framework could be seen not as a definite solution, but as a deployable kit of parts. A series of solution guidelines to be applied, reiterated and adjusted towards each context necessary within the Paulista Macrometropolis - an adaptive solution to be tweeked with continuosly. Then, we could imagine the Macrometropolis to become a series of sites along the TIC, to each hold its own solution derived from an initial framework with a simple set of rules and steps and analysis. To become individual proposals that bridge the specific needs each site will require, yet consistently addressing issues of connection, infill, reuse, density and mobility.
An expanding framework
An expanding framework
24% City of Campinas 10% Campinas Metropolitan
A scalable framework
Reflections
Extrametropolis, and the definition of the term early on in the process of developing this research, was looking into “extra” as defined being “external” or “outside”, and metropolis as being the original city: “metro” as in “mother” and “polis” as in city. In that sense, Extrametropolis could be understood as “looking beyond our city”, or as “the city beyond our city”. It set out to understand the issues pertaining to regional urbanization, and what agency urban design could have in navigating the multiscalar challenges that entails. And through the process, these challenges became quite revealing. Through this work and the investigations it required, some things have become clearer around the issues of regional urbanization, transportation infrastructure and urban form, multiscalar urban design, and transit oriented development. It becomes clearer that there is an undeniable fundamental relationship between the forms cities have, the way people live and the way people move. It also becomes clear that there is a political decision that
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motivates and perpetuates these conditioning forms, and how they evolve. These decisions reverberate across scales and can have varying impacts across our urban landscapes from an empty parcel near an old train station to a regional densifying corridor. In São Paulo, these decisions are evident as are their consequences, and this is true again across scales - whether in the sparseness of the inner-state or in the density of the Macrometropolis. This, however, also shows us an opportunity, one in which we can claim that São Paulo has access to the instruments it needs to change the way its urbanization processes unfold. That alone, however, would not necessarily suffice. We can think of São Paulo and what shapes it, as a product of the collective production of a series of visions. Whether these visions in the past were for a city, a metropolis or a state is up for discussion, but the visions ahead need, necessarily, to consider the city beyond the city. The regional urbanization of São Paulo requires a regional vision to address
it. This is, in part, what this thesis set out to explore - what that might be and how that may play out. São Paulo requires a vision of a more humane city, a more connected city, a more sustainable city, a more equitable city, and these are the true challenges and aspirations of Urban Design. By bringing more people together, and allowing them to connect and move freely, I believe we get a bit closer to these aspirations. I also believe that there is immense potential for a paradigm shift to take place through which we could also get closer to these aspirations. There is something terribly symbolic about the way we choose to engage with the world, and the way it conditions us to do so, and how limited of a choice we sometimes have in this. When an environment is built for and around cars over several decades at the expense of everything else, it perpetuates a logic of secluded and segregated uses of urban space, reinforcing social divides. When an environment is built around public spaces, active transportation and collective facilities, it promotes integration
and equity. The way cities are designed, and chosen to continued to be designed speaks directly to the aspirations a society has. Whether a society prioritizes the individual over the collective is a matter to be evidenced in that society’s’ urban fabric. And São Paulo has, for long, been prioritizing the individual over the collective. Still, I believe there is room for change. I believe that there is exists a power to transform embedded within the visions we create, and when those visions are shared, they become even stronger. This is in part why regional urbanization is also an issue of shared visions: it can enable a variety of stakeholders to assume and share agency over what is common to them. For São Paulo, this speaks to an entire region, that could share amenities, transportation and life. And even though today, we still rather share congestion, I believe tomorrow this could maybe not be the case. Tomorrow we may want to share parks, and rail, and plazas and buses. We may want to share schools and hospitals and museums. We may want to share growth and sustainable development and clean air. Tomorrow
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we may want to share our entire cities. Until, they are no longer our cities, and they have become something beyond that.
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References Text Cardoso, Fernando Henrique. “O Café e a industrialização de São Paulo”. Revista História n42 University of São Paulo, São Paulo, 1960. Costa, Adriano Borges. “ Transportation and urban development in São Paulo : exploring how transportation has shaped and still shapes the city” PhD. diss. Sao Paulo, 2018 Denatran. “Estatísticas de Trânsito.” www.detran.sp.gov.br/wps/portal/portaldetran/detran/estatisticastransito/3a410653-0dd2-45df-a324-bdfc4711d988/. Accessed in May 2020. Delijaicov, Alexandre. “Os Rios e o Desenho da Cidade” Master’s diss., University of São Paulo, 1998. Brasil. “Estatuto da Cidade”. Brazilian Federal Constitution, Law n 10.257. Brasília, DF, 2001. Brasil. Estatuto da Metrópole Brazilian Federal Constitution, Law n 13.089. Brasília, DF, 2015. Fix, Mariana. “A “Fórmula Mágica” da “Parceria” - Operações Urbanas em São Paulo “. Urbanismo: Dossiê São Paulo - Rio de Janeiro. PUCCAMP/PROURB, Campinas, 2003. Jornal O Globo. “Washington Luís inaugura a primeira rodovia asfaltada do país, a Rio-Petrópolis” https://acervo.oglobo.globo.com/rio-de-historias/washington-luis-inaugura-primeira-rodovia-asfaltada-do-pais-riopetropolis-8849272 . Updated 10/17/2017. Pasternak, Suzana. Bógus, Lucia Maria.”Macrometrópole paulista: estrutura sócio-ocupacional e tipologia dos municípios – Mudanças na primeira década dos anos 2000”. In RBEUR v. 21 n. 2 (2019): Maio-Agosto, Rio de Janeiro, 2019. Prefeitura de São Paulo. “Plano Diretor Estratégico do Município de São Paulo: Lei Municipal n 16.050”. São Paulo, 2014.
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References Text Secretaria de Transportes Metropolitanos, “Trens Regionais Considerações Preliminares” and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics 2010 Soja, Edward. “Regional urbanization and the end of the metropolis era,” in Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson eds., The New Blackwell Companion to the City. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 2010. Stefani, Celia Regina Bader. “O Sistema Ferroviário Paulista : um estudo sobre a evolução do transporte de passageiros sobre trilhos.” Master’s. diss., University of São Paulo, 2007. INRIX, “Traffic Scorecard Report.”, https://inrix.com/scorecard-city/?city=Sao%20Paulo&index=5 2019 Prefeitura de São Paulo.”Plano Diretor Estratégico: Estratégias Ilustradas - Lei 16.050/2014”, São Paulo, 2014 Tavares, Jeferson Cristiano. “Polos Urbanos e Eixos Rodoviários no estado de São Paulo”. Universty of São Paulo, São Carlos, 2015. Tavares, Jeferson Cristiano. “Formação da macrometrópole no Brasil: Construção teórica e conceitual de uma região de planejamento” EURE, vol. 44, núm. 133, 2018, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Toledo, B.L. “Make no Little Plans”. Estado de São Paulo in estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,make-no-little-plans,931896, accessed in December 2018. São PauloR v. 21 n. 2 (2019): Maio-Agosto
Images Calixto, Benedito.”Inundação da Várzea do Carmo.” University of São Paulo Paulista Museum’s Permanent Collection, 1892. National Geographic Travel, “A writer’s perfect day in São Paulo.”, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/south-america/brazil/a-writers-perfect-day-in-sao-paulo/ Accessed on May 2020 Leme, Gabriela. “Estação Cultura & Fepasa”, Personal Collection, Campinas, Acessed on March 2020
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Advised by: Rahul Mehrotra, Renee Tapp & Gabriel Kozlowski
Extrametropolis Harvard Graduate School of Design Spring 2020
Developed by: Rafael Marengoni, Master’s in Architecture of Urban Design Candidate