Accessibility and Segregation

In how far does the complex convoluted building structure of for example Paraisopolis that is vertically only accessible through steep stairs discriminate disabled or elderly people? May this say medivial urban setting create certain age group concentration within more/less accessible parts of the 100 by 200m blocks? Might be interesting to take into consideration for the group of Dan and Jasper.

My first week in Sao Paulo

Continho de Cue and Parque Cidade Jardim
Looking for art, in Continho de Cue there wasn’t as much art as I expected. There was some graffiti, but mostly tags or pixacao (text), off course used as a way to express yourself.
I was pleasantly surprised about the quality of the infrastructure. They really have all they need, water, electricity, a sewage and good roads. Everyone seemed happy. We met a man in a suit, (wondering why he was wearing the suit), who lived in a newly painted house with a little front yard and some flowers. He was wearing the suit because he went to the bank and wanted to look good. He was very happy with his house, and very proud. Far more happy than the people we saw at the super luxurious shopping mall Parque Cidade Jardim.


Paraisopolis
Paraisopolis was amazing to see. At first I felt a little unpleasant walking there like tourist, but everyone was actually very nice. I liked the coziness of the streets and houses, and I was surprised by the many children on the streets.
There were many drawings of children on the walls, and graffiti in the public places. Also the shops all paint their own windows. The public space in Paraisopolis, like the street with all the shops, was nicer than I would thin, it works great as Paraisopolis’ centre.
The social housing project looks very different, but these people also build their own houses. The people build in the weekend and pay for workers during the week. It takes many years, but now they have their own very good looking house, in a good neighborhood.


IAB, Alphaville and Conjunto National
Though the lectures were nice, I was really amazed by the poor maintenance of the IAB building.

Alphaville was… well alphaville. Many large houses, very little people, so when you’re making a stroll trough the park you’ll meet… well, no one. What bothered me most was the fact that no one could visit unannounced, so no surprise visits. No surprises at all, everything is strictly organized, how boring. It’s almost not possible to compare it with Paraisopolis.
The view from the top of Conjunto National was breathtaking, When you see this big city, with all the expensive high rise, it’s hard to imagine there are also so many favelas.


Estudentes
While walking under the highways we saw all kinds of graffiti art. I am really impressed by the art of the artists named ‘os gemeos’ (the twins), they make more subtle graffiti art mixed with text. They are well known, not only in Sao Paulo, and have been asked for many expositions. Often using the graffiti to reflect the things they see and hear in the city and on TV.
The sort of homeless shelter under the highway, where we went to with Erik, was a really nice use of the once useless space, and it looked good too.


I was sort of convinced that if you live in these creative dwellings (made of all kind of materials) like in Paraisopolis, they would also decorate it more. I think creativity in any way should be stimulated so that children rather want to be creative than turn to criminality.

Stair park

The initial planner of the site now occupied by Paraisopolis must have been Dutch, not having thought about the hilly landscape on the site. The square kilometer, now home to approximately 100,000 people, was divided into blocks by a simple 100x200m grid of streets. Some of these grid lines however go up and down the hillside so steeply that they can never function as a street. Such was the case with one grid line that connected the area with the circumfering road network.
Recently the municipality transformed this to-steep-for-a-street space into a stair park. Parallel to a staircase there is a terraced park which enjoys great popularity amongst de Paraisopolian children.
Grid and public space are also the key elements in a proposal of the architect Hector Vigliecca for restructuring the entire favela Paraisopolis. His focus is on the inner space of the grid blocks, which is so densely built that any contact with the public domain is impossible. He proposes to open up this inner world and introduce new residential buildings that improve housing conditions and shape urban space in one. Since the buildings stretch from one block center to another they effectively open up the grid blocks towards the grid streets. The municipality first approved and then rejected the proposol. It would require too much demolishing. An understandable concern if Viglietti's plan were rigid. But it's a simple scheme that gets repeated in each block. Why not simply try it out in one block and see how the neighbourhood responds, see where it needs adaptation or leave it as one unique intervention.

One attempt to restructure Paraisopolis, seemingly simple, yet bold for the staircase ends right besides a series of luxurous residential towers. Another seemingly compex yet smart and potentially much more flexible than it appears.