São Paulo, favela of Paraisópolis, Brazil
First prize «Mobilidade Minuto», category “quality of mobility public spaces”, organized by IVM Brazil in 2014.
Client: Municipality of São Paulo ; project leader: Elisabete França and Irene Quintáns
Paraisópolis favela in São Paulo, next to the peaceful Morumbi district, is one of the poorest slums of the city and is home to about one million inhabitants. The project “on the way to the Paraisópolis school” is the first Brazilian initiative to improve safety and quality of life of school and educational spaces in disadvantaged neighborhoods. It encouraged members of the school community (children, parents, teachers, etc.) to re-appropriate public space, to improve road safety on the way to school, and more generally, to ensure children’s rights in the city and their autonomy. Through educational experiences, the project promotes the public space as a learning space and space of awareness for more security and solidarity on the way to school. It also aims to improve the urban infrastructure on the busiest routes used by the schoolchildren, benefiting to 8 500 children of nine public schools in the community.