LunchUP: Ana Paula Pimentel and María Arquero de Alarcón "Legal Institutions and the Planning Process: Conflicts Between the Right to Adequate Housing and to a Sustainable Environment"

LunchUP: Ana Paula Pimentel and María Arquero de Alarcón

Legal Institutions and the Planning Process: Conflicts between the Right to Adequate Housing and to a Sustainable Environment in São Paulo’s Informal Settlements.

We investigate how São Paulo Courts take the role of planners and provide solutions to a problem of the Global South: environmental degradation in urban areas informally occupied by poor families. We identified one set of lawsuits in which informal settlements developed in areas of geological risk and the other in which they “urbanize” environmental protection zones. We aim to develop a typology of legal cases adjudicating these conflicts, which will identity patterns of access to justice and rulings. The findings will allow legal actors, planners, communities and environmentalists to learn from court rulings and discover ways to conciliate social and environmental sustainability. The online mapping tool will democratize access to information. Future directions for this research will include comparison with lawsuits pertaining to planned neighborhoods developed that violate environmental regulations.

These sessions are a response to requests from faculty and students to learn more about what’s going on in the field in an informal environment. We hope this can inspire emergent thoughts and connections that will inform our scholarship. 

Lunch is included, please bring a drink.