Since many decades designers have tried to improve informal settlements. Did they make a difference? And if, what worked?
The book Informal Urbanization in Latin America (published by Routledge) investigates prevailing strategies for addressing informal settlements by tactically and collaboratively improving public spaces, infrastructure and facilities. The cases in this book range from one micro intervention (the Villa Tranquila Project in Buenos Aires) to three large-scale government-run projects: the celebrated Favela Bairro Program in Rio de Janeiro, the social housing program in São Paulo and the famous Proyectos Urbanos Integrales Approach in Medellín. The long-term observation of these cases reveals the potency as well as the volatility of these efforts, and offers guidance for a new generation of designers.
Christian Werthmann will introduce his new book in form of a panel discussion with Flavio Janches (Buenos Aires), Fernando de Mello Franco (São Paulo), Adriana Larangeira (Rio de Janeiro) and Alejandro Echeverri (Medellín). The whole session will be moderated by John Beardsley (Washington DC).
Author
Christian Werthmann
is a landscape architect and Professor of Landscape Architecture and Design at the Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany. His research focusses on low-income urbanization and disaster zones with a focus on Latin America.
Moderator
John Beardsley
is an author, educator and curator with a focus on landscape architecture. He taught extensively at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and currently serves as the Curator for the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Prize for the Cultural Landscape Foundation.
Panelists
Alejandro Echeverri
is an architect and leads the think tank urbam at EAFIT University in Medellín. Between 2004 and 2008 he served as Medellín’s director of urban projects, making Medellín a blue print for Social Urbanism Strategy.
Flavio Janches
is an architect and Professor for Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Buenos Aires. Janches directs the Argentine office of the Playspace Foundation with the mission of improving the life of children in low-income areas.
Adriana Larangeira
is an architect in Rio de Janeiro. She worked for many years within the Favela Bairro program of the Housing Secretariat of the Municipality. She is now coordinating the Urban Informality online course within Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Fernando de Mello Franco
is an architect and Professor at Mackenzie University in Sâo Paulo. In 1990 he co-founded the architectural practice MMBB. Between 2013 and 2016 he served as São Paulo’s Secretary for Urban Development.
