Reconquistar os rios e conviver com as águas: a cura da cidade de São Paulo - 14ᵃ Bienal Internacional de Arquitetura de São Paulo

Project implementation: Brazil
Project development: Brazil

Team of students from the Armando Alvares Penteado University Center (FAAP)

Reclaiming the rivers and living with the waters: healing the city of São Paulo is a project that begins with recognizing the city's origins. São Paulo was born from the rivers—Tamanduateí, Anhangabaú, and Tietê—which structured the initial settlement and were places of meeting, shelter, and exchange. With modernization, urban logic imposed itself against nature. Prestes Maia's Avenue Plan, in the 1930s, corroborated this separation by channeling waterways, waterproofing banks, and transforming rivers into drainage channels, invisible beneath the asphalt. The result is a city that today experiences the effects of its denial: recurring floods, heat islands, and environmental collapse. Our proposal stems from a radical gesture: tearing apart the city to return space to the rivers. This image is not only poetic, but strategic. It is not about returning to the past, but about recovering forgotten wisdom: nature is not an obstacle, but a path. Reclaiming water is the antidote to a "development" model that insists on suffocating the territory. The project is anchored in three symbolic and complementary locations, which serve as replicable examples for the entire metropolis: Morro Grande Park, Água Preta Stream, and the Tietê River. In these locations, we propose restoring the natural course of rivers and streams, allowing them to flow freely again. Their banks become zones of protection and coexistence, with the expansion of Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) proportional to flood risk studies. This strategy transforms linear parks into living urban drainage systems, functioning as wetlands capable of reversing floods while simultaneously providing quality public spaces. Green infrastructure is essential. Native species rebuild riparian forests, filter water, and ensure ecological balance. Green corridors connect different areas of the city, promoting biodiversity and shade in a territory marked by excessive concrete. Thus, drainage, leisure, environmental health, and cultural memory converge in a single space. Our project stems from this collective desire: to reimagine São Paulo through its waters. By giving voice to the rivers, we give the city its breath. It's an invitation to envision a metropolis where infrastructure and ecosystem are not opposites, but allies. Tearing up the asphalt, letting the water flow, and opening greenways is more than a utopian gesture: it's a survival strategy for a hot world.

Participate in the program of debates, workshops and associated activities!

TODAY (10.10)

2:30 pm – table Risk-Free Periphery in the Context of Climate Change

4pm – table Knowing to Transform: Community Climate Risk Reduction and Adaptation Plans

6:30 pm – table Inclusive Adaptation: Nature-Based Solutions in the Peripheries

9am – Drawing Workshop: Oscar Niemeyer's Architecture in Ibirapuera Park and the Climate Challenge

IN THE NEXT DAYS (11 to 14.10)

ATTENTION the table Palmas: For 36 years, the ecological capital of Tocantins which would be held on 10/11 | 7pm was canceled.

11.10 and 12.10 | 9am – workshop Inventa(rio) Fronteiras: Playing for Multispecies Cities

11.10 | 10am – workshop Elémenterre teaching bag

11.10 | 11am – table Learning to inhabit the Anthropocene: the crisis of architecture

11.10 | 2pm – table Architecture for Learning and Civic Use

11.10 | 3pm – table Culture and Public Architecture

11.10 – 15h – workshop Elémenterre teaching bag

11.10 | 4pm – table Reconnecting with Nature & Circular Design

11.10 | 5pm – table Architecture of Belonging: Interpreting Heritage Through Place

12.10 | 10am – table Experience: Climate Refuges and Naturalized Public Spaces, with Eco-Neighborhood

12.10 | 10:30 am – table Childhoods and Climate: Climate Justice in Vulnerable Territories

12.10 | 10:30 am – Windsock Workshop with the Floating Collective

12.10 | 3pm – table Doing a lot with a little: architectures for a planet in transition with Esteban Benavides from Al Borde office

12.10 | 4:30 pm – table Earth – building a sustainable and democratic future

12.10 | 5:45 pm – table French presence at the Biennale and screening of the film AJAP – Albums of Young Architects and Landscape Architects

13.10 – activity Pantanal Action at IABsp

10/14 | 10am – table Urgent Panorama! Space as an act of permanence

14.10 | 6pm – Launch of the “Nature-Based Education” Guide

JOIN! IT'S ALL FREE!

And there's much more until October 19th!

NOTE OF CONDOLENCE

With deep sorrow, the Brazilian Institute of Architects – São Paulo Department (IABsp) mourns the passing of architect and landscape architect Kongjian Yu, a global leader in ecological urbanism, and the members of his team who accompanied him, tragically killed during the filming of a documentary. The institute is honored to have had him as a participant in the 14th São Paulo International Architecture Biennial, where his transformative vision strengthened the dialogue between global challenges and local realities. IABsp emphasizes that Yu's contribution, which transcends borders, will remain an inspiration for generations and expresses its condolences to China, to the families of all the deceased, to his friends, and to all those impacted by his genius and dedication. Read the full note here.