Sao Paulo: Historic Reuse and Public Benefit

The above images are of a former factory reused as a cultural center - SESQ Pompilias - that includes a library, exhibit space, indoor playfields and swimming pools. SESQ is a nationwide network of cultural spaces, funded by a small tax on service industries and intended for the use of service employees and their families, that in Sao Paulo has invested in rehabilitation of historic buildings for a number of their sites. The SESQ Pompilias is a beautiful space outside and in - featuring a historic alley connecting the various facilities and a stunning open space with water features in the floor and beautiful pane glass windows and some ceilings that provide warm natural light and open for ventilation on a nice day. Old buildings are often easier and cheaper to knock down and replace, but buildings like this remind me of the value of saving historic spaces, as this space has character, warmth, comfort and elegant simplicity that are hard to create in a modern building.

Sao Paulo: Consumer Culture and the Privatization of Public Space

Throughout past travels in Latin America I've found shopping malls are increasingly the most vibrant spaces in cities. Crowds of people young and old throng the aisles of malls while surrounding streets and old commercial districts are quiet. The price of goods in shopping malls is often shocking compared to stores selling comparable goods outside. Safety, air conditioning, and status are apparently worth it. But what does this mean for public space that people choose to promenade the escalators and aisles of malls as opposed to the stairs and plazas of the public city?

Sao Paulo: Video Surveillance and Security

(Translation: Sorry! You are being filmed)

Video surveillance is seemingly everywhere in Sao Paulo - in every building lobby, elevator, transit station, restaurant, etc - and abundant (apologetic) signs remind you of it. In 1996, Wired magazine ran an article entitled The Transparent Society (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/fftransparent.html) that explored two cities of the future (2016 - no longer so far away) that relied on such video technology for security: one in which small cameras nested everywhere were controlled by the police, the other in which the same network of small cameras was accessible to the public. Sao Paulo, is yet a third scenario - where video feeds are only available to the private security or management of each particular organization or institution. In the US we fear "Big Brother" and the idea of other people watching us, but we don't mind at all the video surveillance in stores, restaurants, highways, etc so long as it is not centralized. But the Wired article brings up a good point - as long as so much is being filmed, wouldn't we be better off if something in the public interest was being done with it? Many Americans shudder at the idea of being watched, tracked, etc by a central authority or by the stranger around the corner, but why aren't we bothered by the private digital eyes? As long as so much is being filmed, as it is in Sao Paulo, where surveillance seems inescapable, shouldn't we embrace it (with appropriate regulation on transparency, etc) as a means to improve public safety? smooth traffic flow? collect better data?

Sao Paulo: Changing Attitudes Toward Transit

To begin to solve the traffic problem, the City decided it was time for a MAJOR investment in transit. In addition to more buses, dedicated bus lanes, a unified fare system with simple transfers between bus and metro, it was time to upgrade the aging metro system built in the 1970s.

In 1995, the Plan Integrado de Transporte Urbano (PITU) changed spending priorities and public perception. They City now splits transportation money 50/50 between transit and roads (compare to roughly 80/20 in the US for cars/other modes). The goal of PITU is to increase the subway network by 1000% over 25 years. This is achievable thanks to the relatively low cost conversion of freight rail lines, but the bigger challenge is that of changing public opinion. To that end, the City has launched major add campaigns aimed at changing habits and has seen enormous changes in public opinion each year according to surveys. Keeping trains clean, safe, running on time, and very easy to pay for and transfer between has been key to changing the public perception of transit so that the large middle class will choose to leave their cars at home.

Sao Paulo: TRAFFIC

By all accounts, traffic in Sao Paulo has gotten worse and worse as the population has grown both in number and in prosperity. From personal experience on a couple of trips, it is pretty painful. It is estimated that an average of 850 new cars are added to the roads of Sao Paulo every day. The number one complaint of many Paulistas is the traffic. While dedicated bus lanes, a growing metro system and constantly improving transit mean taking transit is typically faster, even commuting by transit still takes over an hour each way, every day, for most.

Sao Paulo: Lack of Urban Environmental Awareness

Sao Paulo is a bit of an unexpected city - it's not a port or at the confluence of major rivers, and grew only because businesses elsewhere had to move goods through it and immigrants had to pass through. As a result, its a city of 20 million people with a really diverse backgrounds and interests, who all ended up there for work and a home, and so urbanization at full speed and intensity was the norm - few parks, few trees, little open space. The rivers that existed were seen as nothing but good places to put sewage, trash, roads and freeways. As a result, the rivers are disgustingly polluted, can be smelled from far away, and are an absolute afterthought.

Detroit, Mi: Rightsizing

(image courtesy of Dan Pitera, Detroit Collaborative Design Center)

Detroit covers an immense area, but now at about 40% of its population of 60 years ago, some areas are still fairly full of people, while others are fairly empty. The concept of "right-sizing" the City - ending service delivery and investment in some areas to focus on those that are salvageable - permeates almost every conversation and is a key element of many people's solutions to various problems. But how can a city cut out huge areas of land, and what happens to those areas? Like ghost towns left behind a mining bust, will Detroit be left with ghost neighborhoods? Will these areas revert to open space or be turned over to big agriculture for corn and soy farming? What about the people and businesses in the areas left out of the right size? And most importantly, what new opportunities could this mean for both the areas in and outside the boundaries of the right size?

Detroit, Mi: Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink

(aka, the problem of capital versus operational funding)

The two buildings on the block are both Cass Technical High School - in the foreground the newly built school building, in the background the abandoned one with windows shattered and blinds and blackboards slowly falling from the walls where they were left. At the same time Detroit is shutting down schools and struggling to pay for critical programs because of major funding shortages, they are building many (roughly 20?) new schools. Similarly, they are laying out billions of dollars for a new light rail line while they are cutting bus service all over the City and only a year ago almost cut weekend bus service entirely, a lifeline service for many who work on the weekends. We too easily will outlay huge amounts for new things (capital funding) when we can barely afford (or can't) to keep up those we already have (operational funding). Interesting institutional/governmental parallel to our consumer spending habits?

Detroit, Mi: Entrepreneurship - Low Barriers to Entry

(the above image is of salvaged sinks turned into a fountain on the patio of a small restaurant in the quickly growing mid-town area, where many young people are starting businesses)

· We had a really inspiring panel on entrepreneurship in Detroit and came away with a sense of why young people were attracted to this City – there is so much opportunity to easily start a business or test an idea within the limits of a huge City but with few barriers to entry. A store or restaurant can be started with little start-up capital, a new business idea can have an office for almost nothing and immense institutional support, and social ideas can find armies of volunteers yet all the while the cost of rent, living and services are low, employees are plentiful, and opportunities for impact are immense.