Brazil

A City Reimagined: Housing, Nature, and Urban Futures

How can São Paulo become a more inclusive, resilient, and habitable city while rethinking its relationship with nature? A City Reimagined brings together voices from architecture, urbanism, and community-led housing to reflect on how the city’s landscapes, infrastructures, and communities can shape its future.

What does it mean to inhabit São Paulo in a time of climate, housing, and social crises? A City Reimagined starts with Entre Rios, the acclaimed documentary by filmmaker and researcher Caio Ferraz, to look at how the transformation of the city’s rivers has shaped its territory, landscapes, relationship with nature, and urban life. From this starting point, the conversation will explore questions of housing, collective action, and the role of architecture and urbanism in imagining a more inclusive, resilient, and habitable city.

The evening begins with a screening of the first 10 minutes of Entre Rios, followed by a panel moderated by Danielle Dias, President of the São Paulo Chapter of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IABsp), with Caio Ferraz and other voices from São Paulo’s urbanism ecosystem. A cocktail reception will follow, offering an informal space to continue the conversation and a preview of the upcoming Urban Futures Residency, a Swiss–Brazilian initiative bringing together researchers and practitioners to imagine new ways of shaping urban futures and our relationship with the environments we inhabit.

Program

  • 6:30pm – Welcome & Networking
  • 7:00pm – Opening Remarks · Karoline Reis, Swissnex in Brazil · Danielle Dias, IABsp · Caio Silva Ferraz, Interdependência
  • 7:20pm – Film Screening: Entre Rios
  • 7:30pm – Conversation on Urban Futures · Danielle Dias, IAB-SP · Caio Silva Ferraz, Interdependência · Moderated by Danielle Dias
  • 8:30pm – Cocktail & Urban Futures Residency Presentation · Gabriela Devaud, Swissnex in Brazil
  • 9:00pm – Closing
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Event start time

  • Brazil

    6:30PM

Speakers

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    Bio

    Danielle Dias

    President of the São Paulo Chapter of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IABsp)

    Danielle Dias is President of the São Paulo Chapter of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IABsp) for the 2026–2028 term, Danielle Santana is an architect and urban planner. She holds a Master’s degree in Urbanism and is a PhD candidate at PROURB/UFRJ. With over ten years of experience in cultural heritage and urbanism, she teaches at Escola da Cidade and serves on CONPRESP, São Paulo’s Municipal Council for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, and on Brazil’s National Commission for Cultural Incentives (CNIC). In 2024, she received a Commendation from the Rio de Janeiro City Council for her work in building new urban imaginaries for the Black population

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    Bio

    Caio Ferraz

    Director of the documentary 'Entre Rios'

    Caio Ferraz is a researcher and filmmaker. He directed Entre Rios, a landmark documentary in the Brazilian debate on urban rivers, which has garnered more than 3 million views and is widely used by universities and environmental education programs. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Science at the Institute of Energy and Environment of the University of São Paulo (USP). He also leads Interdependência, a creative lab that translates science into educational and immersive experiences focused on the water and climate crises.

Event Partners

A City Reimagined: An Urban Futures Dialogue on Housing and Nature is an event organized by Swissnex in Brazil in partnership with the São Paulo Chapter of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IABsp). The event is part of the Planetary Embassy in São Paulo program, presented by Swissnex in Brazil with the support of Presence Switzerland.

  • Swissnex
  • IAB São Paulo