>> View original text in Portuguese

Harvard proposes changes in slum on the Billings banks Students of the American university presented projects yesterday to the Department of Housing   

Sarah Dabbs, who last summer worked on the reconstruction of New Orleans, the American city destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was surprised to see children playing in the water "visibly polluted" at the Billings reservoir. Joseph Claghorn, who worked in housing projects in Mexico, Vietnam and countries in Africa, was shocked by the lack of leisure areas in the surrounding communities. Andrew Brink, who researches empty spaces in informal settlements, was astounded by the verticalization of the slum houses, "with up to three floors."

Sarah, Andrew, Joseph and ten other graduate students from the School of Design of Harvard University, in the United States, presented yesterday to the Municipal Secretariat of Housing (SEHAB) projects that promise to change the scenarios described in the shantytown Corner of Heaven, which has 70 thousand inhabitants and occupies 150 hectares on the edge of Billings. They are the first class of the research exchange program signed between Harvard and SEHAB.

The project most praised yesterday was Claghorn's. He proposed the creation of channels in the wider streets of the slum so that, at the same time, you can control floods and "filter" rainwater that can add pollution to the reservoir, and having planted flowers on small floating rafts. Claghorn brought the idea from Mexico City, where he visited Xochimilco, the community that maintains the Aztec tradition of planting on chinampas
(rafts) in the few preserved channels of the Mexican capital. "It is a source of income, besides attracting other classes. Instead of drugs, buy flowers," he dreams.

The proposal is complementary to those of his colleagues. Sarah's was focused on transport. She proposes burying electrical wiring, today on power towers, and in its place have a bus corridor linking the slum to Rodoanel, on one hand, and the neighborhood of Santo Amaro on another. It proposes, also, public ferries at Billings. "Those who argue that it could attract more people forget that urbanization already exists. What is missing is consolidating it in a sustainable way. Today, the residents take more than two hours to reach downtown," she says.

For three months, the students studied the Corner of the Sky from afar. On satellite images, Andrew identified 80 empty lots. If 20 of them became leisure areas, all residents would have a facility less than ten minutes by foot from their homes. "With up to 100 square meters, they are good for playgrounds, daycare centers, multiuse sport courts," he says. If it were up to the Indian Rina Salvi, the residents will also have a park on the banks of the Billings.

The costs of the trip to São Paulo are paid by the university and two Brazilian sponsoring companies. On Monday, the students visited the Billings reservoir by boat and today will carry-out field research in the Corner of Heaven. The final projects will be submitted in May. The 20 architecture firms employed by SEHAB for the urbanization of the favelas accompanied the projects. In 2008, students of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University in New York created projects for the Grotão, an at-risk area Paraisópolis. Three ideas were adopted.