- This event has passed.
Research Seminar – Analyzing Urban Informal Settlements: An Eclectic Atlas of São Paulo’s Jardim Filhos da Terra
4 September, 2013 @ 12:45 pm - 2:00 pm
Speaker:
Ms. Corinna Del Bianco
Architect
Florence, Italy
Schedule:
Date: 4 September, 2013 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:45 – 2:00 pm
Venue: Room 820, Knowles Building, HKU
Abstract:
Slums, a ‘permanent-temporary’ solution to housing needs, is becoming the fastest growing mode of housing in some cities. The phenomenon of informality spans different ages and has been long studied by architects and urbanists. Slums need to be studied, case by case, in their development, as if they are cells of a unique body – the contemporary city. This research treats the slum as an integral part of the contemporary city, studying it with the same tools of the formal ones – e.g., the traditional ground floor survey. The survey representation includes all the possible tools able to create an eclectic atlas aimed to represent the multiplicity of realities surrounding the site.
The research methodology used in “Jardim Filhos da Terra” combines the Saverio Muratori traditional survey method and modern tools of urban analysis. This was tested during a period of research in a favela of São Paulo in Brazil. One important result was the understanding of houses’ evolution within the plots over time, providing a tool for planners to analyze the development of the informal fabric.
Investigating the informal city with the same survey tools used for World Heritage sites (as Saverio Muratori did for Medieval Italian city centers) accords an appropriate authencitiy to informal areas and creates new knowledge to understand the reality of contemporary cities in their peculiar tangible and intangible contexts. This mode of research presents new opportunities for planners and urban designers to integrate the informal into planning theory and practice.
Keywords: Contemporary City, Informal Urban Fabric, Urban Survey, Intangible Heritage, Favelas, São Paulo.
About the Speaker:
Corinna Del Bianco is a Florentine architect. She graduated with honors from the Politecnico di Milano with a master thesis on the development of the informal urban fabric (Tutors: Stefano Boeri and Pier Paolo Tamburelli). In the academic year of 2011 and 2012, she was assistant at the town planning master studio of Pier Paolo Tamburelli and Isabella Inti at the Politecnico di Milano. She also lectures at the Associação Mutirão do Povres in São Paulo, Brazil.
~~ ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME ~~
Please visit our website https://fac.arch.hku.hk/upad/cusup, click on ‘Events’ for Seminar Series.
Enquiries: 2859 2721
CENTRE OF URBAN STUDIES AND URBAN PLANNING
THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG