Collective housing, urban form and evaluation: Spain

• Grant number: 22/05796-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Leandro Silva Medrano
• Grantee: Marcos Leite Rosa
• Supervisor: Sergio Martin Blas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/11918-2 - Collective housing, urban form and evaluation, BP.PD

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, one observes progress in the housing and urban field in Brazil, with advances in public policies, urban instruments and with the construction of an inedit number of social housing units in the country's history, from 2009 to 2019. Despite that, most of the results have not guaranteed projects with urban and architectural quality, indicating that there are still barriers from architecture and urbanism (A&U) perspectives to be overcome in Brazil. Seeking alternative configurations, this research mapped and analyzed collective housing projects from Brazil that result from an approximation of architecture and the social movements and present innovative solutions to the tendency of dwelling segregation, which has historically characterized urban development in the country. The 2008-2009 global financial crisis had harsh consequences to the Spanish housing sector, leading to the emergence of a debate on collective housing around counter-hegemonic practices that relate to the social struggle for affordable housing in a cooperative economy, an original framework for pilot initiatives. From that dialogue, Brazilian and Spanish projects will be compared, in order to identify the existence of theoretical and methodological convergences among them. The analysis of this research outcomes derives from the tools for the investigation of the contemporary project, formulated by the Spanish group where the research will be carried out. As a result of that comparative analysis, this study should indicate new perspectives and disciplinary paradigms for the comprehension and intervention in the contemporary Brazilian cities, thus contributing to the improvement of housing architecture, its urban spaces, the overcoming of structural problems and the democratization of qualified urban space. (AU)