JARDIM PANTANAL: INSTRUMENTING A HYDROGRAPHIC BASIN
Abstract
The urbanization process of Latin American metropolises resulted in a fast expansion of precarious settlements on their outskirts, deprived of basic sanitation infrastructure. The floodplains in metropolitan peripheries in Latin America became the stage for a clash of conflicting vectors: the large public works to contain floods, the search for housing, and the required protection of the environment. This article seeks to reconstitute the work carried out by researchers and residents, since 2015, regarding the appropriation of Jardim Pantanal, a stretch of the Tietê River floodplain in the city of Sao Paulo, State of São Paulo, in Southeastern Brazil. The project proposes the transformation of a critical urban area, with wide urban and environmental degradation, into a better place to live. This operation is carried out through surveys, mapping, and monitoring of the hydrographic basin. The ZL Vortice project aggregates several research laboratories, in collaboration with residents, to develop socially inclusive and sustainable technologies of water management and urbanization, specifically designed for critical situations. The hydrographic basin’s instrumentation consists of the following problem: How to take technologies conceived in laboratories to the floodplain? Our answer is to transform the floodplain into a laboratory. The article presents the investigative processes carried out, the activities performed by researchers with the community, and the projects proposed to agencies that formulate public policies. It also includes the work involved in the modeling of the area and the elaboration of maps and scale models, tested in field expeditions with the residents. The ZL Vortice project's proposals dialogue with projects developed in several Latin American cities — the theme of this edition of V!RUS magazine. The project is indicative of the intense research made in the region on inclusive and low-cost technologies, specific to local conditions, seeking to reverse environmental liabilities and urban inequalities.
