Brazil’s lack of urban planning still to blame for disasters

Back in the 19th century, a momentous rainstorm in São Paulo “burst dams in Reúno and Bixiga, threw the romantic Anhangabaú from its riverbed, destroyed twelve houses, knocked down the Abdication bridge, which was located nearby the Praça dos Correios, and caused three deaths, besides many public and private losses.”

Since this 1850 flood, São Paulo grew from a provincial town to being one of the largest metropolises in the world. The neighborhoods have changed and the city has expanded, but the havoc caused by the rains remains a reality every summer, when the heavy tropical precipitation causes floods and landslides not only in São Paulo, but in almost every large Brazilian city—as seen in the deadly rains that battered Belo Horizonte in January. 

In the past twenty years, urban planning has been in the public eye, with at least three major bills approved in Congress to tackle the issue. Yet, just this week, São Paulo’s Tietê and Pinheiros rivers burst their banks once again, causing widespread destruction—a clear sign that Brazil has yet to find out how to transform regulation into actual solutions.  

Laws developing, but no results

After Brazil’s rapid urbanization in the 20th century, every major urban center began suffering from major issues such as housing deficits, a lack of sanitation, and strains on public transportation, which have caused both human and environmental losses. 

In an attempt to improve its urban planning and diminish inequalities, Brazil approved the Cities Statute in 2001. The piece of legislation introduced the first rules to ensure “the use of urban properties for the common good” and guidelines for laws that aim to improve life quality and environmental conservation. The then-groundbreaking legislation established, for instance, the need for a municipal master plan for cities with more...