Study of open spaces along Gregorio stream microbasin in São Carlos City - State of São Paulo, Brazil - with aid of geoprocessing

• Grant number: 16/08748-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2016
• End date: July 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Landscaping
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Bongiovanni Martins Schenk
• Grantee: Elisabet Jhanaú Dávila Fernández
• Host Institution: Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo de São Carlos (IAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Similarly to most mid-sized cities of the state of São Paulo and of Brazil, urbanization in São Carlos took place in an uneven and irregular way. This territory configuration along with little concern related to natural processes and a consequent neglect of the importance of landscape planning, transformed not only the ways of life, but brought major conflicts and environmental impacts. Several researchers who have studied this city have observed that practices such as occupation of floodplains of rivers, excessive sealing of urban soils and the solid waste deposited in inappropriate places have led to an environmental conflict that becomes visible in the frequent flooding during the rainy season, landslides, pollution and a consequent decrease in the quality of life. On the basis that a critical way of thinking is vitally important to design the city and its landscape, understanding this critical thought as the essence that allows us to propose alternatives that include research, analysis and synthesis, and that it is increasingly necessary for the Landscape Architecture field to direct its focus towards meeting the everyday problems of urban life, the aim is through this research to investigate possible ways to shape the landscape of the city of São Carlos in the Gregorio's stream area. Therefore, we plan to hold discussions and assessments making use of computerization and geoprocessing tools that technological advances have improved, in order to produce a documentation that would enable the visualization of this complexity assisting in future projects for the Gregorio's stream basin and promoting this way a more organic interaction between the urban and natural processes.