Speaker
Description
Torresmo is a community, in the eastern periphery of São Paulo, Itaim Paulista, inhabiting an informal settlement divided by a stream whose recent channelization increased the incidence of flooding.
The hydraulic safeness of the Brazilian megalopolis is planned by the Secretary of Infrastructures (SIURB) through numerical modeling -of the presence of water and its drainage- and design, mainly, of gigantic lamination basins, Piscinões. These reservoirs, a third border for the rivers (de Mello Franco et al 2007), are usually built in peripheral areas where soil is less expensive (Millington 2021) and in proximity of informal settlements where the non legal occupation of space may afford an opaque making of the infrastructure. Recently, likely due to the activities of a Living Lab in the area, the SIURB proposed the construction of a Piscinão in Torresmo to repair the issues exacerbated by the previous channelization. The existence of this project became an occasion -for the inhabitants and the lab- to envision the redeveloping of the river space in terms of spatial and cognitive justice (de Sousa Santos 2015), imagining the construction of recreation spaces above the lamination basin and starting the negotiation for its “fair construction”. Grounding on fieldwork experience, collaboration with the lab, and participatory art activities, this presentation discusses the undergoing spatial processes and dynamics linked to the construction of the Piscinão. Furthermore, it addresses how the inhabitants are (re)constructing their relation with water forms by reflecting with design concepts such as surface runoff and the size of the basin.
| Keywords | water infrastructure, informality, brazil, cognitive justice, participation, flooding, imagination, arts-practice |
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| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
