These river journeys are intended for on-site research, documentation, and data collection focusing on rivers. They are conducted by researchers from the Fluvial Metropolis Group of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (FAUUSP), coordinated by Professor Alexandre Delijaicov. Each researcher maps out their itinerary based on personal interests, yet shares a common goal: to gather design references for fluvial infrastructure architecture, expanding the research group's imaginary and repertoire. The driving question for the researchers is: how do people relate to the river waters flowing through their metropolises, cities, or towns within the built environment along the riverbanks? The boundary defined by the elements of land and water is the starting point for this observation.
The journey was made along the São Francisco River in January 2019, from Petrolina and Juazeiro to its mouth, alongside Oliver de Luccia, also a researcher and master's graduate from the Fluvial Metropolis Group. Throughout the route, we observed how the cities built along the water's edge engage with the river and its tributaries. We examined the built elements that connect the land and cities to the water: quays, beaches, waterfronts, steps and ramps, pontoons and floating docks, riverside avenues and streets, boats, and stilt houses. We paid close attention to the quality of these spaces and how they can transform daily life.
The São Francisco River is the backbone of one of Brazil's eight hydrographic basins, alongside the Amazon (the world's most extensive river system), Tocantins, North/Northeast Atlantic, Paraná, East Atlantic, Southeast Atlantic, and Uruguay [1]. It is 2,700 km long, with a drainage area of 639,219 km² (7.5% of the country) and an average flow rate of 2,850 m³/s (2% of the country's total) [2]. It originates in the Serra da Canastra, Minas Gerais, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean between the states of Alagoas and Sergipe. It has 168 tributaries, of which 99 are perennial and 69 are intermittent.
