The governance of urban redevelopment projects: Consortial Urban Operations in the city of São Paulo

• Grant number: 19/13671-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2019
• End date: January 14, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Public Policies
• Principal Investigator: Marta Teresa da Silva Arretche
• Grantee: Marilia Mayumi Kotaki Rolemberg Lessa
• Supervisor: Alison Post
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/03608-3 - The governance of urban development projects: Consortial urban operations in the City of São Paulo, BP.MS

Abstract

Processes of economic restructuring during the 70s and 80s have deeply impacted urban redevelopment policies in the main global capitals throughout the world. Following this trend, one of the most populated cities in the world and the largest Brazilian metropolis, the city of São Paulo, has developed its own legal and political institutional arrangements to promote large scale urban redevelopment projects. Its main instrument is the so-called Consortial Urban Operation (CUO), which can be defined as a legal device for public-private partnership that allow cities to implement, within a certain perimeter established by the city plan, a local redevelopment project. Despite urban planning scholars' claim that these policies fall under state capture dynamics, preliminary research results have suggested the existence of intense capacity building efforts by the local government through different periods and offices. The research aims at analyzing Consortial Urban Operations' evolution and change patterns and targets the following question: "In which ways have local political institutions shaped and limited changes in consortial urban operations in the city of São Paulo?". The main challenge, however, is that city politics and policies and its change dynamics remain little researched in Brazil, and the development of conceptual and analytical frameworks remain a topic to be tackled. During the visit period at UC Berkeley's Global Metropolitan Studies (GMS), I expect to research groundbreaking international literature and connect with researchers and faculty in order to further develop the theoretical basis of my research and understand the specificities of the selected case in comparison to other international experiences. (AU)