colophon Metropolitan Ecolution
PARTNERS
Initiative Volpi Urbane bv ir Paola Huijding hello@volpiurbane.com www.volpiurbane.com In colaboration with: Brazil: Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP): Universidade Católica de Santos (UniSantos) Municipality of Santos AGEM - Agência Metropolitana Baixada Santista
Symposium November 2013 Supported by: Creative Industries Fund NL Ministry of Education - Netherlands Dutch Consulate São Paulo
© november 2013 Volpi Urbane Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
background Baixada Santista is a fast-growing metropolitan area between the Atlantic Forest and the littoral of the State of São Paulo. Due to the extension of the Port of Santos and the activities of the oil company Petrobrás the population in this metropolis will increase by 25% till 2020. The growth rate for the State of São Paulo is estimated in 9%. The lack of effort for conservation of natural areas in the production of urban space is visible in the region and can be found through the processes of environmental degradation and the several types of impacts related to urban activities. human societies are dependent on complex, interrelated physical and biological processes. Research in a wide variety of disciplines is increasingly making it clear that life on earth and all human societies depend on the maintenance of a number of delicate balances within and between a whole series of complex processes. The separation of these processes has lead to the disintegrated and thus fragile state in which we currently live. How to “rebuild” our cities bringing man and natural processes into harmony? How to transform cities issues into trendy products and desirable from the economic point of view? The undervaluation of natural products and ecological services generated by ecosystems is a driving force behind the conversion of this system into urban alternative uses. This trend of undervaluation is partly due to the difficulty involved in placing a monetary value on all relevant factors, but lack of ecological knowledge and holistic approach among those performing the evolution may be even more important determinants. This project is founded on the promises that we need a more ecological approach towards tackling challenges related to our metropolitan habitat. Will we finally be able to change from a ego-centric view of mankind on top of a pyramid, or will we, like Pedro Passo (Natura, Brazil), move to having a more systemic view of mankind’s embeddedness within nature, where we understand how to live as he says in harmony with nature, for the benefit of all living beings?
Learning from Julius Caesar Considerable parts of what are now considered desert areas were formerly vegetated. The army of Julius Caesar conquered much of the African territory north of the Sahara, turning forests into farmland. For some 200 years North Africa supplied around two-thirds of Rome’s total grain supply. This resulted in deforestation, increased salinity in the soil and loss of minerals. image: Rory Spowers
Purpose
This project sets up international urban planning and design research activities involving multidisciplinary teams from Brazil and the Netherlands. This interchange programme aims to promote and encourage an increase in the exchange of knowledge and good practice among professionals, universities and government bodies of both countries. The proposal is founded on the premises that we need a more holistic approach towards tackling challenges related to urbanization, wetland dynamics and biodiversity. It focuses as well as on reinforcing the network built by the research project ‘Selfservice Urbanism’during its activities in 2011-2013 about the City Statute of Brazil and its participatory law instruments. Brazilian universities, members of the government of the metropolis Baixada Santista, NGO’s and professional entities from Santos, and the government at federal level in Brasilia (senate and ministries) have been collaborating with this previous research, which has been supported by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. The collaborative character of this proposal aims to enhance these interrelationships by means of guaranteeing a favourable outcome for everyone involved.
Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
wetland dynamics
The Netherlands is situated in the European Delta and it’s dominated by the sea and the mouths of four major European rivers: the Rhine, Meuse, Scheldt and Ems. Twenty-six per cent of the country lies below sea level and, without the protective dunes and dikes, 66% would be flooded regularly. The country is internationally recognised for its reliance on water management and it is renowned for its ‘battle against water’. The Dutch have made water management part of their national identity and cultural heritage, a tradition that can be also placed in an international historical perspective like in Brazil during the period 1630-1654. Based on the urban plans of Pieter Post, Maurits van Nassau (Maurits the Brazilian) transformed Recife into the new capital of Pernambuco. In this period of history, Recife has the greatest transformation in physical space, wetlands are grounded, bridges are built, camboas are drained. Sustainable development and the vital importance of mangroves’ biodiversity were in the 17th century during the colonisation’s process absolutely no issues but currently an approach from this point of view is the essential tool to make cities along coastlines in the southern hemisphere environmentally friendly, economically vibrant, safe for all and cultural meaningful. The Netherlands are continually forced to adjust their water management to changing physical and societal circumstances. In Dutch water management a discourse of ‘accommodating water’, which was competing with the traditional ‘battle against water’ discourse, could be seen at the end of the 20th century. For better or for worse, it seems that these times are over. The doubts about the traditional idea of the ‘battle against water’ instigated the introduction of a new discourse ‘accommodating the water’ which was formally adopted in the Government Position Paper A Different Approach to Water: Water Management Policy in the 21st Century (Ministry of TPW, 2000).
pictures: Wagening University
The question is whether this Dutch tradition and its flexibility in adapting strategies can identify approaches to integrating water management and spatial planning in the metropolitan area of Baixada Santista collaborating in the currently discussion on the development of this delta region. Incorporating water issues into policy for broader cultural, social, ecological and economic aspects. The research programme also investigates how the Dutch management strategies can integrate with the policy of The City Statute of Brazil, a law with strong participatory character regarding urban development and societal themes. How can The Netherlands and Brazil exchange their knowledge and practice standards in this complex metropolitan context of 21th century? Due to the rapid development of the Metropolis Baixada Santista, the Dutch and Brazilian team members will collaborate to address water management and ecological urban planning with focus on one aspect of Baixada Santista’s environment, the mangrove ecology, which has been threatened by urbanization ever since the region began to evolve.
pictures: Instituto Eco Faxina
location metropolitan area baixada santista
State of São Paulo
Brazil
Metropolitan area São Paulo
Metropolitan area Baixada Santista
Metropolitan area Baixada Santista
Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
The metropolitan area Baixada Santista, on the coast of the São Paulo state, has become a virtual suburb of São Paulo city (40 minutes away). It’s one of the most populated areas in the state and it’s a result of its port complex (biggest of South America), has an important petrochemical and steel-making pole, in addition to its strong tourist attraction, in several modalities.
area within 5 cities biodiversity, solid waste and wetland dynamics
solid waste
The increasing amounts of solid waste is affecting the biodiversity of the cities in this metropolis, in particularly of the city of Santos with 419.400 inhabitants producing 0,620 ton solid waste per capita/year and the port producing an amount of 31.000 ton/year. In the coming years the population of Santos will increase with 200.000 new inhabitants.
7 - Santos
five cities and communities sharing urban issues
Port of Santos. Biggest of South America.
Bridge: São Vincente / Praia Grande
Highrise along boulevards
Industrial complex
Former mangrove area between São Vincente and Santos. Since 1950 it’s being occupied by the slums of Vila Gilda. Nowadays with 30.000 inhabitants.
Informal settlements, April 2009 Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
Delta area
biodiversity and mangroves Mangrove forests once covered more than 200,000 km² of sheltered tropical and subtropical coastlines. They are disappearing worldwide by 1 to 2% per year, a rate greater than or equal to declines in adjacent coral reefs or tropical rainforests. Losses are occurring in almost every country that has mangroves, and rates continue to rise more rapidly in developing countries, where >90% of the world’s mangroves are located. In the present day mangrove vegetation covers about 162.000 km² and it’s found along 25% of Earth’s coastlines and 75% of tropical coastlines. Mangroves are present in 123 countries and territories, more than two thirds of mangroves are found in just 12 countries. South America is home to 15,7% of the world’s mangroves, only surpassed Southeast Asia, with 33,5%. Brazil is the country with the second largest area of mangrove, covering 9 % of the global total, or 13.400 km², second only to Indonesia, with 20,9%. (Ministério do Meio Ambiente, 2005) The Brazilian mangroves are spread along approximately 80% of the country’s 7.367 km coastline, covering 16 States, from the Oiapoque River mouth in Amapá in the North, to the Laguna Jaguaruna border in the state of Santa Catarina in the South. Brazil has a population of 188,256,934 inhabitants, spread across a territory of 8,514,215.3 km2. According to the most conservative estimates, nearly 20% of the Brazilian population lives on the coastal fringe , representing more than 37 million people and a demographic density five times greater than the national average . Moreover, if an area 200 kilometres inland is considered, nearly half of the country’s population lives in the coastal zone. Eighty–seven percent of the coastal populations live in cities and the ten largest concentrate more than 25 million inhabitants . The metropolitan area Baixada Santista has 120km² of mangroves, more than 50% of the total mangrove area of the State of São Paulo (230km²). This metropolis of 2.422,78 km² with 1.664.126 inhabitants is an example of mangrove destruction due to urbanization as the process of reclaiming land, infrastructure, industrialization and informal settlements. This is affecting the biodiversity in the majority of the municipalities in this metropolis. How to address ecological crisis through collaborative approaches to water management, urban planning processes and urban design?
picture: National Geographic Magazine, 2007
cities and communities sharing the same ecosystem The metropolitan area Baixada Santista has 120km² of mangroves, more than 50% of the total mangrove area of the State of São Paulo (230km²). This metropolis of 2.422,78 km² with 1.664.126 inhabitants is an example of mangrove destruction due to urbanization as the process of reclaiming land, infrastructure, industrialization and informal settlements. This is affecting the biodiversity in the majority of the municipalities in this metropolis.
Mangrovers in Sào Vincente, Santos, Cubatão, Guarujá , Praia Grande Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
mangroves:their environmental importance and economic value Mangroves provide a wide range of ecological services like protection against floods and hurricanes, reduction of shoreline and riverbank erosion, maintenance of biodiversity, water filtering,etc.
Mangrovers are natural water filters.
Mangrovers prevent rising sea.
Approximately 70% of worldwide fish catches are estimated to depend directly or indirectly on mangroves.
Mangrovers protect the coast against tsunamis and hurricanes.
informal settlements biodiversity, solid waste and citizen inclusion In the metropolitan region of Baixada Santista urbanization has become synonymous with slum formation. Regarding this issue we propose to work at neighbourhood level, with participatory urban appraisals and community action planning in slum upgrading and for slum prevention. It has to offer solutions where risk and vulnerability is effectively addressed for all citizens, particularly the urban poor, building environmental sustainability and neighbourhood safety and security; preserving the biodiversity of mangroves and applying waste management in order to improve the well-being of these population.
a. Favela da Vila Gilda
b. Favela do Mexico 70 - Fire May 2013
Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
proposal
points of sale ‘ecolution’ boutiques baixada santista This project addresses urbanization through ecosystemmanagement, taking advantage of green-blue structure, garbage recycling and participatory system. Conjoining urbanism, biodiversity, solid waste management and citizen participation this project aims to reverse negative trends while improving human well-being. Achieving integrated planning, integrating plans with budgets, planning with partners and stakeholders, promoting market responsiveness, recognising cultural diversity and being pro-poor and inclusive (based on the principals of the brazilian City Statute law). Exploring the planning and design potentials, this programme considers the development of creative and implementable strategies that help increase the capacity for resilience of the Baixada Santistas’ cities and communities. Trendy City Issues questions: how much money you can make from garbage? How much money you can make preserving mangroves? How much money you can save using water n the urban fabric instead of fighting against it i? how many partners you can engage through citizen inclusion?
How much money you can make preserving mangroves?
Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
How much money you can save using water in the urban fabric instead of fighting against it?
How much money you can make from garbage?
Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
how many partners you can engage through citizen inclusion?
objective AND result OBJECTIVE The opportunities are many if we consider that urban planning should not have the ambition to command and control the city but has to recognise the challenges facing the Baixada Santista in the current and future context of urbanization. How to guide urban development in this context of rapid urbanization with new ecological challenges? How to produce a metropolitan area influencing territorial management and shaping the collaboration of the different parties? This study will investigate the possibilities of wetland dynamics and urbanity considering this area as the site of complex relations: economic, political, social, cultural and infrastructural; with focus on biodiversity and waste management. Wetlands play a number of roles in the environment, principally water purification, flood control, and shoreline stability. The ultimate objective is to develop new understanding of the way we are approaching the planning of the city by means of the right balance between ecology and urbanization. The programme proposes to use restorative practices to establish fauna and flora in mangroves areas and reverse the trend of disappearance of their biodiversity. Brazil claims between 10% and 20% of the world’s biodiversity (M.I.Landim, Professor of History of Science). According to Paulo Mól Junior, director of the Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI), Brazil will be leading in bio economics and it’s already leading the world bio fuels market. Bio economics invites us to have a more profound dialogue regarding the future of our relationship between nature and urbanization. What relationship is that to be, and how to combine it with wetland dynamics in the Baixada Santista. The complexity of this area requires an equally complex range of perspectives and response that can address both current conditions and future possibilities establishing groups of interconnected activities. RESULT The result has to be a pilot project for the whole Brazilian coast, and coasts in the Southern hemisphere’s countries, as a framework that through the conjoining of ecology and urbanism can provide the knowledge and methods for what urbanization along the fragile border-line between cities and mangroves can be in the years to come. Presently, the ecological and physiological systems of mangroves along the Brazilian coast are heavily impacted by human encroachment that has surpassed its tolerance limit. The impact derives from the increasing size of coastal cities and expansion of port services, and the large amount of human and industrial waste dumped into the rivers. Projects of this type need to be planned at large scale and to develop over several years in order to produce meaningful and reliable results.
Volpi Urbane – The Netherlands
the research programme is also related to ‘The City Statute (Federal Law Number 10.257), approved in 2001, is justifiably highly regarded in many countries throughout the world. The unique qualities of the Statute are not confined to the high quality of its legal and technical drafting. It is widely regarded as a crowning social achievement which took shape gradually in Brazil over a number of decades. The history of the City Statute is basically an example of how a large number of stakeholders from different sectors of society—citizens’ movements, professional bodies, academic institutions, trade unions, researchers, NGOs, parliamentary representatives and progressive town mayors—pursued a concept of this type for many years and saw it come to fruition in the face of adverse circumstances. The Statute seeks to bring together, in a single text, a series of key themes related to democratic government, urban justice and environmental equilibrium in cities. It also highlights the gravity of the urban question, ensuring that urban issues occupy a prominent position on the national political agenda of Brazil—now a predominantly urbanised country that was essentially rural until relatively recent times. The City Statute deals with much more than urban land. With its holistic approach, the law covers the following areas: guidelines and precepts concerned with urban planning and plans; urban management; state, fiscal and legal regulation (particularly referring to landed property and real estate); tenure regularisation of informal properties; and social participation in the elaboration of plans, budgets, complementary laws and urban management, PPPs, etc. Bringing previously existing piecemeal laws together under the aegis of the City Statute, with the addition of new instruments and concepts, helps to facilitate a better understanding of the urban question. Most importantly, the Statute has led to the introduction of a genuinely national approach to dealing with the problems of cities.’
Naar Selfservice Urbanism
een model voor stedelijke ontwikkeling
Paola Huijding Thijs van Oostveen
More information about the City Statute and best practices projects in Brazil can be found in the rapport ‘Naar Selfservice Urbanism, een model voor stedelijke ontwikkeling’ – May 2013.
research and design
Diagnóstico reGionaL
Fonte Landsat e Google Earth Crédito Marcel Fanti/Litoral Sustentável
Structural Vision Metropolis Baixada Santista, 2013
Limites dos municípios da Baixada Santista e do Litoral Norte
DIAGNÓSTICo URBANo SoCIoAMBIENTAL E PRoGRAMA DE DESENVoLVIMENTo SUSTENTÁVEL EM MUNICÍPIoS DA BAIxADA SANTISTA E LIToRAL NoRTE Do ESTADo DE SÃo PAULo
Boletim Regional nº 2 Leitura Comunitária População e ocupação do Território Mobilidade Urbana Economia Infraestrutura e Serviços Legislação e Gestão
REALIZAÇÃO
3 5 9 10 13 16
Este Boletim integra o projeto Litoral Sustentável – dezembro de 2012
Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Metropolitano
Flávio Bacellar/Olhar Imagem
PLANO METROPOLITANO DE DESENVOLVIMENTO ESTRATÉGICO DA BAIXADA SANTISTA
CONVÊNIO
1
Law 12.305/2010 Solid Waste
Project Santos New Times
Sustainable Coast Region, Institute Polis