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CITIES DEMOCRACY HOUSING SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Urban Policy & Public Participation in Brasil

Brasil has had some of the world’s most progressive city governments over the past 3 decades. For all the news on corruption spread by the international media leading up to last years’ coup, one wouldn’t imagine that some things that are standard practice in American cities like Chicago, such as no-bid contracts and lack of […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM CITIES CRIME DEMOCRACY HOUSING LGBT SÃO PAULO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The Golpista Everyman & the “Clean” City

In October São Paulo voters went to the polls and threw out one of the World’s most progressive big city governments in favor of João Doria, from the conservative PSDB party. Doria, the former star of the Brazilian franchise of Donald Trump’s reality show, The Apprentice, campaigned on the vague promises of “cleaning up the […]

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CITIES OLYMPICS RIO DE JANEIRO

Rio Olympics: A City within a City

During 2012-2013 Brian Mier conducted a study of changes in Rio de Janeiro’s municipal laws related to the World Cup and Olympics. The study was commissioned by the Ford Foundation and overseen by land-rights lawyer Cristiano Muller and the Brazilian NGO Centro para Direitos Economicas e Sociais (CDES).  Entitled, Os Megaeventos esportivos na cidade do […]

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CITIES SÃO PAULO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

São Paulo: The World’s Largest Progressive City Government

On June 6, the São Paulo Mayor’s Office announced that it hired a group of homeless people for one year to conduct qualitative research on homeless issues and policies. This is just one example of a series of innovations from the first Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) mayoral administration there in over a decade.  As the […]

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ARCHITECTURE CITIES CULTURE PHOTOGRAPHY SÃO PAULO

SESC Pompeia – Concrete Oasis

SESC Pompeia is a cultural centre in the east zone of São Paulo, designed by the architect Lina Bo Bardi, and opened in 1982. The site is one of the world’s great democratic spaces in a city often lacking in them. The level of thoughtfulness and sense of place is on par with great buildings like […]

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CITIES OPINION RIO DE JANEIRO UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Brasil is not Rio

The Olympics are arriving in a year and it is only a matter of time before thousands of journalists parachute into Rio as they did last year during the months before the World Cup. Rio de Janeiro is unquestionably one of the world’s most beautiful cities. It is a magnet for foreign journalists and tourists […]

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CITIES HOUSING SÃO PAULO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Fighting Speculation and Gentrification, one Building at a Time

The centre of São Paulo is mainly comprised of commercial, office and abandoned buildings. Most of those who work there cannot afford the rent of the flats downtown, so they must travel everyday from the outskirts, a trip that lasts about two hours. Remember that São Paulo is a city of 17 million inhabitants. Gentrification […]

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ARCHITECTURE CITIES ENVIRONMENT INTERVIEW SÃO PAULO UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Arco do Futuro: A conversation with Fernando de Mello Franco, Secretary of Urban Development for São Paulo

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ARCHITECTURE CITIES PHOTOGRAPHY

Niemeyer – Brasília

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho, known simply as Oscar Niemeyer was born December 15 1907. Niemeyer’s work dominated Brasil’s 20th Century architecture and still casts a long shadow over the profession. The government buildings of Brasília were designed at the peak of his creativity, Brasil Wire editor Louis Smith shares photographs taken during a […]

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ARTS CITIES CULTURE SÃO PAULO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Reclaiming the Jungle

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