Por uma cidade aberta: aproximando conhecimento e ação no espaço urbano

Abstract

This work analyzes the processes by which Euclidian planning came to become the standard in cities in Brazil and in the rest of the world over the last decades, exploring the motivations to its consolidation and its consequences on urban planning and real estate development. The processes by which urban legislation is currently conceived and updated are studied, analyzing the incentives and obstacles for the participation of each stakeholder (citizens, corporations, politicians) in urban planning and management; as well as the lining up of real estate development so as to maximize the conversion of common, intangible assets (environment, quality of life) into capital. It is pondered that modern technology allows the conversion of information from an abstract plane into data that define and can be defined by urban life; and that controlling the means of conversion of this information into data is a crucial element for revisiting the ways in which cities are planned and managed in the next few years, potentially serving common interests, on one side; private profit, on the other; or anywhere along that spectrum. Beyond political and ideological implications, these processes are assessed according to the social product that they currently and potentially might yield. Some of these processes are studied in greater detail, as a way of understanding the implications, current and potential, of the opening up of urban data so that urban production can be assessed, understood and transferred back to the population in processes of planning and managing that are participatory and, eventually, completely autonomous.