Archello Awards 2025: Open for Entries! Submit your best projects now.
Archello Awards 2025: Open for Entries!
Submit your best projects now.

The City and the Forest

Alliances to animate the flanks of Serra da Cantareira

São Paulo is a city of extremes. In order to transform the image of this metropolis and to accommodate further economic growth, São Paulo must invest in infrastructure. One of these investments concerns the construction of the Northern part of Rodoanel. This ring-road is planned in the area between the informal city of Cabuçu de Cima and the Unesco biosphere reserve, Serra da Cantareira.


São Paulo already has a tradition of leisure based on well-developed health facilities, business, events, fashion, gastronomy and the metropolitan experience. If we start recognizing the natural qualities of the Atlantic forest, then São Paulo can develop into the complete Brazilian experience. Departing from an alliance based on leisure, this approach leads to a map of opportunities, which is worked out in five sub-themes: the Expo / Theme-park strategy examines how São Paulo’s World Fair area of 2020 can be redeveloped as a theme park. The theme of business and leisure responds to the increasing demand to experiment with sustainable business and green energy supply. The adventure park considers the lively experience in the Brazilian jungle. Going hand in hand with the investments by São Paulo for the upcoming World Football Championship and Olympic Games, the sports cluster makes financial sense and brings benefits to both. The health park is based on the already solid and sustainable partnership between health and leisure and the growing medical tourism industry in São Paulo.


The aim is to develop an area whose ongoing narrative relates to opportunities. This involves identifying new value chains that naturally generate spatial qualities. The starting point for this innovative approach to spatial design aims to create alliances by identifying actors with shared interests, and cross-linking common goals through various levels of scale. All possible actors in the metropolitan region, city district and city neighbourhood are simultaneously considered. Any individual, association or enterprise can participate, provided there is a willingness to co-invest with knowledge, time, energy, charisma, or money.

Project credits

Architects

Project data

Project Year
2012
Category
Masterplans
Share or Add The City and the Forest to your Collections