The flooding issues in São Paulo, which have shown signs of worsening due to changing rainfall patterns, can only be effectively addressed by combining different approaches and drainage solutions—specifically those of urban planning and engineering. This means both improving the system of stormwater retention basins and promoting drainage solutions with urban design quality, such as linear parks, renaturalization, and network structuring linked to mobility axes. More importantly, these solutions must be implemented in areas where those most affected by disasters live: lands prone to landslides and flooding, occupied by vulnerable housing and severely lacking in infrastructure, such as favelas, informal settlements, and peripheral neighborhoods.
These were the main conclusions of the debate organized by IABsp on the subject, which at the end of last month brought together architects and urban planners Luciana Travassos, Luciana Ferrara, and Renato Anelli; André Delfino da Silva, representing movements in defense of favela residents; engineer Luiz Orsini; and the Undersecretary of the Environment, architect and urban planner Eduardo Trani.
