There is perhaps no concept so generic and comprehensive, yet at once so impersonal and difficult to reach consensus on, as that of the environment (focusing on the United Nations Conference's own definition of environment—the environment as the set of physical, chemical, biological, and social components capable of causing direct or indirect effects, in the short or long term, on living beings and human activities—we immediately find that establishing a stable, common, and assertive conceptual foundation is highly difficult to achieve, let alone universally recognize...)

In July 2019, the habita-cidade Platform [1] organized the "Ways of Dwelling: Traditional Architectures" Travel-Workshop, which brought students and professors to the Ypawu Village in Kamayurá territory, in the Upper Xingu. The general objective of the "Ways of Dwelling" Travel-Workshops is to foster constructive reflection on the diverse forms of human habitat across the planet. This year, responding to a request from Kamayurá master builders to produce a manual on local architecture, the Travel-Workshop was designed so that the visiting group could support this important endeavor. The idea for the Kamayurá Architecture Manual was first proposed by Kanawayuri L. Marcello Kamaiurá (a local leader) to architect Clarissa Morgenroth (a graduate of Escola da Cidade) and theater director Cibele Forjaz. Escola da Cidade was then invited to join the project, which was taken on by the habita-cidade Platform, an initiative linked to the *lato sensu* postgraduate program "Housing and City."

The veranda is one of the architectural elements that most powerfully fosters the connection between interior and exterior spaces. Its precise origins are difficult to pinpoint, as it can be found in vernacular architecture across the East, the Arab world, Europe, and, with particular prominence, Brazil.

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The Master Plan is the basic instrument for defining a municipality's development model. It establishes guidelines and strategies for executing plans, programs, and projects, seeking to emphasize public participation as well as economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Yet, its influence on the city goes far beyond what is commonly imagined: it ultimately dictates the volume and form of every new building.

Since the beginning of the month, thousands of fire outbreaks have been recorded in Brazil's northern states, spreading through Acre, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul, and reaching the triple border of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the country is experiencing its worst wave of wildfires in five years.

The year is 2010. As the first Arab country selected to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar is already ramping up its preparations to host this highly anticipated and costly event 12 years down the line. Extensive construction and reconstruction efforts are being launched, targeting not only the facilities directly demanded by FIFA, but also, more broadly, the urban infrastructure systems of the country's major cities.

The search for the ideal city has always permeated human history, constituting a utopia pursued by rulers, artists, philosophers, and, in more recent history, by us, urban planners. Since the 19th century, various models of ideal cities have been proposed—and, at times, built—ranging from Howard's garden cities to mechanized, radial, and walking cities (like those of the Archigram group), to nomadic ones like Constant Nieuwenhuis's New Babylon, and modernist cities, among others.

When driving alongside a bike lane, it is hard to escape comments like “it’s always empty,” “it takes away space from cars,” or “businesses lose customers.” But is there any truth to these claims? Here are some of the most common myths about bike lanes – and the reality behind them.

“Writing is like a city, for which words are a thousand gates.”
- Walter Benjamin

No roads or maps lead to them. Yet, many of the cities imagined in literature feel more tangible than real ones, capturing the human imagination with their fantastical sparks. The rich geographical, cultural, and social detail of cities like the famous Macondo, from One Hundred Years of Solitude, frequently places a magnifying glass over the relationship between territory and its inhabitants.

As a result of three months of training in local engagement within the pioneering COURB Ambassadors Program, mobilizers from various Brazilian cities promoted actions in their territories. Aiming for the collaborative construction of inclusive cities, the Articulation Journey—a highly collaborative effort—took place between August and September and featured three types of actions: roundtables, territorial interventions, and collective proposals. The ambassadors mapped and engaged more than 150 institutions in the program, including city halls, universities, collectives, businesses, and organizations.

Economic and urban processes are known to drive major modifications in the urban structure. In light of the events of January 25, 2019, with the collapse of the Brumadinho dam, it is clear that environmental negligence by major mining corporations also has the power to produce profound consequences and alter the ways in which people inhabit and utilize the territory.

Metropolis is a word derived from the Greek metropolis, a combination of meter (mother or womb) and polis (city). Thus, the metropolis is the mother city, the most important within a context where several interconnected cities depend on one another to fully function. In most cases, metropolises feature conurbations of multiple urban clusters.

Have you already crossed the street out of fear today? As a woman, what is your greatest fear when walking down the street? How would you feel safer? With the goal of reflecting on how we can plan more egalitarian cities for everyone, the firm amb ateliê, in partnership with architects Fernanda Linero and Beatriz Teixeira, launched this initiative across various neighborhoods in Curitiba. The project ci.da.de; substantivo feminino (city; feminine noun) is part of the 3rd Biennial Architecture Exhibition for Curitiba.

In May of this year, *The Guardian* recommended in its style guide that journalists and contributors heighten their language when discussing climate change or global warming. Now, the British newspaper announced, it is a climate crisis, emergency, or climate breakdown.

While conventional American urbanism is known to drive excessive sprawl, it is worth remembering that, ultimately, the true extent of a city's horizontal expansion lies far beyond the reach of urban planning controls.

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In architectural discourse, much is discussed regarding the influence of the site where a building is situated, whether through the incorporation of surrounding elements during the design process, or through the negation or overcoming of its undesirable characteristics. Some situations make this negotiation more evident than others, especially when the natural environment is dominant. In these cases, one constantly observes the tension between natural preexistence and human intervention, as well as the possible ways to achieve harmony between the two.

Much like stone, wood, and other natural materials, straw and thatch have been used as building resources since the dawn of human history. However, with the advent of new technologies like concrete, and the concept of *Progress* driven by the Industrial Revolution—and subsequently by the rise of steel—many traditional materials fell out of favor, widely replaced by modern alternatives.

Videos

Today marks one year since the brutal assassination of Rio de Janeiro sociologist and city councilwoman Marielle Franco. The week before her death, Marielle took part in a series of debates organized by CAU/RJ called "Architecture - Feminine Noun," aimed at strengthening mobilizations for International Women's Day.

The “De-whitening the City” Podcast is a space invented from the desire of five Black women residing in Salvador, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte to circumvent geographic distance in order to foster and celebrate connection. Emmily Leandro, Gabriela Gaia, Luciana Mayrink, Malu de Barros, and Natalia Alves make up the Terra Preta collective, giving shape and voice to this exercise in creating a shared virtual territory—both a political and aesthetic commitment—now made public for the first time.

C40 Cities, a global coalition of cities, launched a competition to select the best solutions for transforming underutilized urban spaces into resilient, carbon-neutral developments. Named Reinventing Cities, the competition selected 15 innovative ideas poised to "reinvent" the future of cities. 

Masonry is undoubtedly one of the most widespread construction techniques in Brazil. Brick, which can serve as both structural support and building enclosure, is an expressive and highly versatile material, easy to use due to its widespread production and the general availability of labor across the country.

Improving public transit requires close attention not only to vehicles and routes, but to how people access and exit them. All too often, urban planning fails to account for the diverse needs of all individuals and how they navigate a transit system.

The “Glória-Lavapés Historical Path” is composed of Glória and Lavapés streets, which connect the neighborhoods of Liberdade, Glicério, and Cambuci in the central region of São Paulo. Although designated as a heritage site in March 2018 and ratified in July 2019 by the Municipal Council for the Preservation of Historical, Cultural, and Environmental Heritage of the City of São Paulo (CONPRESP), this area still faces issues that reinforce the historical erasure of critical memories along this stretch—such as Black occupation, the morphological layout of the colonial city, and the visual and topographical memory of the rugged terrain.

Bioconstruction refers to a building process utilizing materials and techniques with low environmental impact, alongside adapting architecture to local conditions and managing waste during the building's lifecycle. Consequently, building according to these principles does not necessarily mean using so-called sustainable materials—which often must be transported over long distances or undergo prefabrication before use—but rather utilizing local materials, techniques, and labor, drawing on vernacular strategies that address these very factors.

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