Informal Toolbox/Oficina de Ideias Cover:
Informal Toolbox: SLUM LAB Paraisópolis
Oficina de idéias: urbanização de favela
Published by the Secretaria Municipal de Habitaçã, São Paulo. To be available shortly. In 2008, the SLUM LAB visited Paraisópolis, a Brazilian favela in the heart of São Paulo and site of progressive upgrading efforts by the municipality. The collaboration between these entities is presented alongside a series of architectural ‘tactics’ conceived to integrate and transform “critical urban areas”, sprawling tracts of informal housing that support a dynamic social and spatial life. Part architect’s journal, part field guide, the Informal Toolbox delves into the promises, perils and possibilities of slum upgrading while offering a glimpse of the fantastic creativity and manifold instabilities of life in the favela.
