Urban acupuncture as a strategy for São Paulo

Abstract

This work is the study of one city, São Paulo, and one idea, how small and precise architectural interventions can be catalytic to major urban transformations. The largest urban agglomeration in the southern hemisphere is now approaching twenty-million inhabitants with a major incongruence: while São Paulo sprawls informally onto non-structured lands, the infrastructured downtown has been emptied out. In an attempt to re-attract activity to the historical core, this thesis suggests the insertion of twelve urban projects, small and therefore suitable to the operations of a weak public sector. Designed according to a set of developed criteria, the expectation is that the new urban projects would stimulate the overall rehabilitation of downtown São Paulo.