Urbanism and mobility in the São Paulo metropolis. Case study: Parque Dom Pedro II

Author(s)

Tomas André Rebollo Figueiredo da Silva

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2012-06-01

Examining board members

Regina Maria Prosperi Meyer; Vladimir Bartalini; Fernando de Mello Franco

• Advisor: Regina Maria Prosperi Meyer

Abstract

This study seeks the guidelines for the urban reintegration of the Parque Dom Pedro II area in Sao Paulo, based on the finding of its current role as a metropolitan mobility hub and relying on international examples of urban renewal projects in areas associated with the renovation or construction of major intermodal stations. This path is organized into three investigative axes corresponding to the three chapters of the study. Initially the area of Parque Dom Pedro II is addressed by employing a method of urban analysis which seeks, through its historical trajectory and its current physical and functional characteristics, the guidelines for planning and design for its reintegration in the city. Then, in the second chapter, the most recent urban theories that address the contemporary metropolis are discussed, with emphasis on the role that mobility networks and its interface points with the city, the metropolitan mobility hubs, perform in the organization and structuring of these vast urbanized territories. This chapter is intended to facilitate the understanding of the role that the study area is likely to meet within the logics of operation in place in the Sao Paulo metropolis, updating the meaning of the urban elements analyzed in the first chapter. Finally, in the third chapter, the typological and morphological characteristics of the metropolitan mobility hubs, considered as specific areas of the city - as urban parts - and its main constituents, the major intermodal stations, are analyzed through a brief history of the relationship between mobility, urbanism and architecture, from the proposals of megastructures imagined by architects in the 1950s and 1960s to the contemporary examples of urban projects associated with five renovated or newly designed European stations: Euralille in Lille, King\'s Cross and Sait Pancras in London, HauptBahnhof in Berlin, La Sagrera in Barcelona and Porta Susa in Turin. Closing the third chapter a brief history of the experiences of urban design associated with the construction of the Sao Paulo subway system and stations aims to bring the issues raised closer to the reality of Sao Paulo. Instead of a definitive conclusion about a finished design solution to the area of Parque Dom Pedro II, an epilogue relates the issues addressed in the three previous chapters in order to provide parameters for planning and design in the area. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/03048-9 - Urbanism and Mobility in the Metropolis of São Paulo. The impact of the road and trasport infrastructure in the public spaces of the city center os São Paulo: the case of Parque Dom Pedro II
• Grantee: Tomás André Rebollo Figueiredo da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master