Multidisciplinarity and transversality in the approach to urban problems are beginning to become a commonly used and working method, says general coordinator Tomas Alvim
The meeting to review the activities of the Laboratório Arq.Futuro de Cidades do Insper was attended by donors, partners, students, teachers, counselors, and Insper’s board of directors. In the morning of December 14, they met at building 1 of the university, where the presentation of research, teaching and extension actions took place. All participants received a booklet that records the activities carried out in 2023 and identifies the names of the council and coordination of the 10 centers.
This year, there were 12 research projects, seven classes of executive education courses (five of which were new), a customized course on early childhood and cities, a postgraduate class in Social Urbanism, 16 seminars, four partnerships and international exchanges, and 10 editions of the newsletter InsperCidades — sent to a base of 47,000 students, former students, professores, collaborators, and members of the Laboratory. Another relevant number are the 92 references in the media, in the form of articles, interviews given, participation in reports and reproductions of texts.
The meeting started off with breakfast prepared by the representatives of the Homeless Workers’ Movement (from the original, MTST), whose community leaders are also part of the Laboratory. New and long-time employees were able to discuss before the first part of the meeting, which listed the actions for 2023. In addition to the university directors, Claudio Haddad, president of the Insper Deliberative Council, and Tania Haddad Nobre, member of the council and the Assembly of Associates, attended. In the second part of the meeting, each coordinator briefly presented the activities of their center. Many attendees remained in the room at the end of the two-hour program, willing to talk and answer questions, giving the meeting an even more conversational touch.
In the four years of the Laboratory’s existence, multidisciplinary and transversal approach to urban problems are beginning to become a commonly used and working method, notes Tomas Alvim, general coordinator and founder of the Laboratório Arq.Futuro de Cidades do Insper. In search of solutions to the difficulties of Brazilian cities, the Laboratory brings together professionals from different areas of activity — architecture, urbanism, medicine, law, engineering, social sciences, and journalism, among others —, with extensive experience in governments, the third sector, private companies, and community leaders.
To Alvim, the internal results are reflected in undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education courses. Externally, the results can be seen in the impact caused in discussions on urban topics and public policies in the sector. Alvim highlights that multidisciplinary approach to urban problems through multidisciplinarity brings together three consistent factors: data, people, and territories. “This combination is very powerful and is clear in the laboratory’s research and teaching work,” he says.
Professor Paulina Achurra, the academic coordinator of Laboratório Arq.Futuro de Cidades do Insper, adds: “We always remember that 86% of the Brazilian population lives in cities and that there are enormous challenges that the country has not yet been able to solve with traditional urban planning approaches. The Laboratory’s mission is to bring together knowledge from people with different expertise to make a real impact on cities and improve citizens’ quality of life.”
The power of change
The Laboratory strives, for example, to include the topic of “cities” in Insper’s undergraduate courses, whether through elective courses or through complementary activities open to students of all courses. The most recent activity is the Social Innovation sprint, mandatory for third-semester Computer Science graduates. “The subject reinforces several of Insper’s objectives, such as creating diverse learning experiences grounded in reality, and giving students the opportunity to interact with other contexts and, therefore, become better prepared personally and professionally”, says Paulina.
As it has become customary at events at Laboratório Arq.Futuro de Cidades do Insper, three former postgraduate students in Social Urbanism explained how the program expanded their knowledge, skills, and possibilities of generating change in communities. This time, the testimonies were from alumni from the third class: geographer Everton Pereira, from Complexo da Maré (Rio de Janeiro), architect Natascha Vital, from the northern and western outskirts of Ribeirão Preto (SP), and councilor Sandra Santana, who was the deputy mayor of Freguesia/Brasilândia in the capital of São Paulo.
Paulina Achurra considers 2023 as the year that allowed the Laboratory, as well as Insper, to strengthen the agenda of public policies based on data and evidence. “It was interesting to show concrete examples of how the Laboratory is generating data to inform or analyze possibilities for public policies, something which has little history in Brazil, where many issues are still discussed through political views or mere guesswork,” she says. “This was a year in which we managed to consolidate work that was in progress and that has already turned into concrete products to showcase, such as in the debates on the revision of São Paulo’s Master Plan.”
The Laboratory translated into Numbers
• 12 research projects
Placemaking Masp; Making Green Work for Health; Sanitation and informality; Housing First; Electric mobility; Impacts of the revision of São Paulo’s Master Plan; Thermal Comfort; Climate justice; FAPESP: Public Policy Research Program (three projects submitted); Democratization of Internet Access in Xingu Indigenous Territory.
• 7 classes of executive education courses:
Housing policies: results and challenges; Urban rehabilitation: investments and opportunities; Urban planning and regulation of cities; Urban mobility management: a path towards smart and sustainable cities; Sanitation in favelas: intervention strategies and solutions; Smart cities: technology, digital transformation and urban innovation; Social urbanism and public security.
• 1 customized course:
Early childhood and cities (Urban 95).
• 16 seminars:
Urban studies; Early childhood and social urbanism; Launch of the National Sustainable Mobility Observatory; Minda Casa, Minha Vida (from the original); Review of São Paulo’s Master Plan; Meeting with the rapporteur for the Master Plan review; Launch of the “Social Urbanism Guide”; Launch of the book “Order without Design”, by Alain Bertaud; Symposium Imaginaries for the City of São Paulo: Urban agriculture, public policies and social urbanism; SP+B Meeting: housing and mobility; International Seminar Climate Resilency and Low-carbon Accessibility; Launch of the Access to Opportunities data platform in São Paulo’s Master Plan; Workshop Paths and Barriers for Electrification of Public Transport in Brazil.