THE UNIVERSITY MOVEMENT FOR DESFAVELAMENTO (1961-1967): the action of Architecture and Urbanism students

• Grant number: 24/23383-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Ana Claudia Scaglione Veiga de Castro
• Grantee: Victória Vellardi Janoti
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During a period of intense urban development and strong migration to São Paulo, between the 1950s and 1960s, precarious housing centers - favelas (slums) - emerged throughout the city, in response to the lack of adequate housing. The predominant thought about these favelas during this period was that they represented an "urban anomaly" to be extinguished by the advance of modernization. In this context, in 1961, the Movimento Universitário de Desfavelamento (MUD) was founded by students from the University of São Paulo, bringing together young people from various courses, such as Medicine, Law and Architecture and Urbanism. This research project aims to understand the formation and performance of the movement, as well as the reasons for its closure in the 1960s. Based on the collection of documentary material and interviews, the role of students, especially those in Architecture and Urban Planning involved in the movement, and their contributions, will be analyzed, as well as the impact of the issue of the desfavelamento in the university environment. In general, the research has the potential to contribute to the discussion about the formation of favelas in São Paulo and how they have been understood over time, from a space to be dismantled and destroyed to a space to be improved and incorporated into the city.