Landscape as a socio-environmental practice in the novo rio pinheiros program

Abstract

This article analyzes the Novo Rio Pinheiros project, devised by the Secretary of Infrastructure and Environment of the State of São Paulo (SIMA). The project consisted of the revitalization of river banks, the cleaning up of its tributaries and educational initiatives aimed to raise public awareness. This research focuses on the socio-environmental actions of the Córrego Zavuvus microbasin: a product of the Novo Rio Pinheiros project. Before analyzing the project, however, it is important to put basic sanitation in the city of São Paulo into context. The question this article raises is that part of the socio-environmental initiatives developed through basic sanitation projects should be connected to the concepts of territory and public spaces, thus strengthening the awareness of water-related issues in the urban landscape and in communities in particular. In this context, the main objective of this article is to show that the socio-environmental actions implemented in the Novo Rio Pinheiros program are ineffective, ephemeral, and will not alter the historically established logic of erasure and destruction of urban watersheds in the city.