This Participatory Action Research has focused on facilitating knowledge exchange among more experienced informal settlements, with a long tradition of community organizing, and those that are in the initial stages of their leadership development. It prioritizes young land occupations since social movements have noticed an increase in the number of new precarious informal settlements. Community organizing in the southern periphery faces the challenge of compliance with strict environmental planning regulations that tend to criminalize informality, while approving more formal urban development projects with high real estate value. Our goal is not only to facilitate community organizing and coalition building, but also to develop policy recommendations and advocacy tools that will change the long-lasting pattern of unequal urban development.

The Cartographies of Water developed a questionnaire on access to water to ascertain complaints about worsening water shortages and intermittent access in precarious settlements during the pandemic. The narratives of problems with access to water resulted in a website and a popular education publication. The II Meeting of Favelas and Occupations of the South Zone of São Paulo in March 28, 2021 engaged 160 registered participants who attended working groups that discussed and voted on the approval of the 2nd Letter of Commitment and Manifesto of the Favelas and Occupations of São Paulo. The broadcast on the Facebook channel of the União dos Movimentos de Moradia de São Paulo reached 3,854 views.

Collaborators: LabJUTA UFABC, Centro Gaspar Garcia de Direitos Humanos, União Dos Movimentos de Moradia de São Paulo
Taubman College Research Assistants: Yunsong Liu, Anmol Poptani, Huiting Qian, Alexandra Rees, Jessica Yelk
Sponsors: LASA-FORD Special Projects; União Dos Movimentos de Moradia de São Paulo, UFABC-Pró-Reitoria Extensão e Cultura