The Old Gang in the “New” Neighborhood

In 1995 and 1996 I lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil while doing fieldwork and research for my Masters of Architecture thesis. One of my research sites was a small favela Continue reading →

Pacification and 24 Hour Surveillance in Rocinha

The favela pacification process is well under way in Rio’s favelas–the process of reclaiming territory once run by drug gangs such as The Comando Vermelho, Terceiro Comando, and Amigos dos Continue reading →

Economic Efficiency or Urban Quality of Life?

“Paving Streets for the Poor: Experimental Analysis of Infrastructure Effects” is an economics paper published last month by Marco Gonzalez-Navarro and Climent Quintana-Domeque. According to the abstract, “This study is Continue reading →

In/Outside the Ferinha da Madrugada

What follows is a series of captioned images that attempts to succinctly describe the complicated relationship between the street vendors in the Bras neighborhood of Sao Paulo and the Ferinha Continue reading →

Another Periphery II

In my last entry Another Periphery I introduced Igaraí, a rural farming town in the state of São Paulo and the Guilherme Zaneti public housing complex located just outside the Continue reading →

Another Periphery

São Paulo, Narobi, Lagos, Mexico City, Cairo, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, Caracas – Megacities. Through the various stories, explorations, photos, and inquiries of favelissues we peer into the Continue reading →

“Informal” Designers, Part 2

My last post looked at stair design in favelas in São Paulo, Brazil, and how spatial constraint, material availability, and communal negotiation impact design. This post will look at another Continue reading →

“Informal” Designers

As I noted in my last post, professional architectural design has recently come to be seen as a valid and potentially effective approach to improving informal settlements. I have long Continue reading →

The Perfect House

I have been teaching art classes to kids in a favela in the north zone of São Paulo for two years now. One of our staple activities is free drawing Continue reading →

The Right to the City

“The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city. It is, moreover, Continue reading →

Favela and Futebol I – 1894

When Charles Miller arrived from England in 1894 with two used footballs in the luggage Antonio Conselheiro had already gathered thousands of followers at the village of Canudos in Bahia.  Continue reading →

The Formal City Needs More Stairs

One of the things that most fascinates me about favelas are the wandering, uneven, narrow staircases that hold the buildings together, like twisted spines winding up the hillsides. Reminiscent, in Continue reading →

The Architect’s Gaze

Intro Post by Bethany Opalach In representational works of art, the image itself is the object of our perception and attention, while the subject is transformed into only part of Continue reading →

Favela and Futebol

Intro Post by Fernando Luiz Lara Two of Brazil’s most famous characteristics, futebol and the favela have its roots intertwined from way back. After the British brought what is now Continue reading →

A Glimpse of São Paulo, My Beginning

Intro Post by Kirsten Larson “Cada casa bonita. É romantica.” (Each house is beautiful. It’s romantic.) Video narration from a five-year-old as we wander the narrow streets of Bamburral. Captured Continue reading →

Latin American Street Vending and Public Markets

Intro Post by Jennifer Renteria This last summer, I traveled throughout Latin America in search of public markets and street vendors with the help of the USC School of Architecture Continue reading →

AU Publication-November 2010

Arquitetura e Urbanismo, November 2010 Interventions in Favelas

Paraisopolis> The Informal City of Century XXI; A vision for the future of favelas in São Paulo

August 12 – September 23, 2010 Opening: August 12, 2010 at 6.30 pm Aedes Am Pfefferberg, Christinenstraße 18-19, 10119 Berlin Opening hours: Di-Fr 11 bis 18.30 Uhr, Sa-So 13 bis Continue reading →

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IN REFERENCE TO FAVELA CHIC :: PARAISOPOLIS POST FROM ELISABETE FRANÇA (Director of SEHAB, Sao Paulo) “Masters is a part of the formation of a professional who assumes a search Continue reading →

A SMALL BRICOLLAGE :: CEUS, MUTIROES, + PUBLIC HOUSING STRATEGY- HELIOPOLIS

CEUs (Centros Educativos Unificados) Marta Suplici, the previous prefeita of Sao Paulo, belonging to the PT political party (from 2000 to 2004) began with the proposal for the CEUs. The Continue reading →