Stormwater management in urban circumstances

Abstract

Among the challenges facing Brazilian cities today, marked by social inequality and neglect of environmental quality, is tackling the problems caused by rainfall, whose regime and intensity have long been altered globally by human action. Climate change and the consequent intensification of extreme events require urgent measures to combat their harmful effects, especially floods and landslides. One way to mitigate such problems (and in the future achieve a reconciled coexistence with water in urban areas) is to implement collective rainwater management projects through partnerships between socio-spatial groups and public authorities, replacing or complementing conventional urban drainage, which is often ineffective. This article discusses proposals for an extension action that combines community environmental education and training of technical consultants in architecture and urban planning in the context of social housing (ATHIS). This joint action starts with small geographic units – the circumstances – to reach the entire river basin, articulating experiences at the micro-local level, acquired through direct observation of daily life, with the technical-scientific knowledge of urban design and hydrology. This enables residents to understand the relationship between the current urbanization model and the problems at their doorstep. The concept of circumstances is the main foundation of a pedagogy of urban waters, developed by the MOM research group since 2016, whose aim is to democratize knowledge about the dynamics of water within urbanized basins and give voice and decision-making power to all their inhabitants.