Cabuçu de Cima

São Paulo, Brazil

Drawing © Urban Design and Planning Team: Fabienne Hoelzel, Gregory Valen

Drawing © Urban Design and Planning Team: Fabienne Hoelzel, Gregory Valent

Visualization © Urban Design and Planning Team: Fabienne Hoelzel, Gregory Valent

Drawing © Urban Design and Planning Team: Fabienne Hoelzel, Gregory Valent

Urban Developments

Architects: FABULOUS URBAN

Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Credits: Sehab: Ricardo Pereira Leite, Secretary | Elisabete França, Vice Secretary
Urban design and planning team: Fabienne Hoelzel, program coordinator | Gregory Valente | Jann Erhard | Pedro Vada | Thiago Mendes | Daniela Retz, graphic design
with: Jonas Ryser, Julia Farr, Maria Claudia C. Cezar, Olivier Lewis
Habi Norte – slum upgrading program: Maria Cecília Sampaio | Freire Nammur | Elaine Cristina Costa | Luciana | Maria Sakate | Maria da Penha | Silva Gomes | Mônica Oliveira Vieira | Cyrillo Ulisses Sardão William Martinha | Local population
Urban design consultancy: Arup, New York, USA | Christoph Durban, Amt für Städtebau, Zürich
Collaboration: 5th IABR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

The area considered by the plan is about 1100 hectares big and home to around 270,000 people. Roughly 450 hectares of it are occupied by informal and irregular settlements, mostly on private owned land. Those 450 hectares, inhabited by 100,000 people, are characterized by partly extremely steep hills, difficult accessibility and challenging mobility conditions. However, brick houses, constructed by the inhabitants themselves, cover even the steepest areas. The informal occupation started like in many other places in the city of São Paulo in the 1980ies. The 450 hectares that include the informal settlements of the plan perimeter belong further to the extended nature protection area, according to the current zoning plan of the city of São Paulo.

The FAR in this zone is restricted to 1. The concept of the plan is based on three elements: The “Gate to the Serra da Cantareira” in the North, the new district center in the South, and a series of urban design and architectural measurements within the entire neighborhood, focusing on public and green spaces and mobility.