OBSERVE, RESEARCH, MEASURE, ANALYZE
Our work is guided by a careful reading of spaces and people, carried out mainly through field observation. We apply and develop methodologies that allow us to extract quantitative and qualitative information about these places and the behavior of their users. Collected data are resources both for the creation of project strategies and for the impact assessment of the interventions.
GUIDE, PLAN, DESIGN, TRANSFORM
We turn our ideas into actions. We develop urban design and architecture plans and projects; we formulate guidelines, strategies and policies that can transform physical spaces and make everyday life in cities healthier and more enjoyable. Committed to our cause, we engage other people in this process, connecting citizens to their communities.
DISSEMINATE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER, TRAIN
We promote courses, lectures and workshops, we organize publications and campaigns in order to awaken active citizens. By sharing our work, we invite people to visualize and to express their dreams and solutions to a more humane city.
Coordinator
Nathalie transformed her perspective on the cities with her feet on the ground, seeking to belong with freedom and autonomy. She is currently enrolled on a Master’s program on Urban and Regional Planning at the School of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo (2019-2021), where she is studying active mobility and gender. She has worked on development, management and coordination of architectural projects in the private sector. Since the beginning of 2017, she has been focusing on the design of urban spaces, especially exploring practices on urban mobility and development. At Cidade Ativa, she coordinates initiatives and represents the organization in events and working groups. Nathalie is an urban designer and architect graduated from UNESP (2012), with an internship in Alicante (2012, Spain). She also took a specialization course on Management and Planning in Megacities at PECE-USP (2014).
Co-founder and coordinator
Holidays and weekends spent on the coast since childhood awoke in him an attentive, curious and sensitive look to the environment. When he lived in Canada and in the Netherlands, he realized that the pleasure of being in the midst of nature comes from the relationship between people and their surroundings, and that too can – and should – happen in cities. These experiences made him seek to transform these environments – to respect pedestrians and cyclists – and to seize the best of public spaces – especially the streets.
The search for this balance between the environment and urban spaces has led him to work in the Parks Department at the Municipality of São Paulo, coordinating projects and constructions in parks between 2009 and 2013. He has been a member of Cidade Ativa since its creation in 2014, where he coordinates projects and researches focused on active mobility and open public spaces, always seeking to broaden the reach of our initiatives and the lifestyle we propose.
He is an architect and urban designer graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism / University of São Paulo (2009), having completed an exchange program in TU Delft – Netherlands (2006-2007). Since 2013, he is also a consultant in public policies and territorial planning in the areas of sanitation, mobility and urban development in the urban architecture consultancy “Risco”.
Co-founder and counselor
Rafaella rediscovered her passion for the cities when she exchanged a car for a bicycle. On two wheels, on foot or on public transport, it is her personal experience that pushes her to work for humane cities. Involved with Cidade Ativa since its foundation, she is dedicated to research and collaborative projects that aim to transform people’s lives. Being part of the organization is an opportunity for her to make changes happen and interact with inspiring people and initiatives.
Urban designer graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo in 2013, also holds a Msc in Urban Governance from SciencesPo (2018-2020). She also worked as a mobility and transport policy analyst at the OECD International Transport Forum (ITF) in 2020.
Coordinator
Inspired by the different dynamics of cities, Mariana began her career in urban design in 2014 at SP Urbanismo, a public company linked to the São Paulo City Hall, where she collaborated in urban requalification projects, focused on public spaces and active mobility. There she was also able to explore methodologies of urban space analysis and to deepen in techniques of interpretation and representation of data, which can reveal much about the use of these places by its users.
She has been working in Cidade Ativa since 2016, coordinating and implementing initiatives and disseminating the organization’s work in lectures, workshops and through texts for blogs. Mariana is an urban designer architect graduated from São Judas Tadeu University (2015).
Co-founder and director
Gabriela discovered the power of her own feet while breaking the city of Barcelona in 2006, when she was an exchange student at the Faculty of Architecture of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). Walking, she fell in love with urban design and street life. She then went on to explore the different design scales that manifest within the city, working on social housing projects; public spaces and services; and the development of urban plans in formal and informal areas of cities in Brazil, the United States, Spain and Ghana.
She is graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo (2009) and holds a master’s degree from GSAPP, Columbia University (2011). Her experience as an urban designer and architect (in that order) was shaped by her experience in the public area (Cohab-SP and São Paulo Urbanismo), private (Vigliecca & Associados and Aecom), third sector (Ashoka) and academy (Columbia University).
It was, however, her time in the New York City Department of City Planning and learning about the active design concept that inspired the founding of Cidade Ativa, where she has been working since 2014 formulating innovative proposals for the transformation of our cities and consolidating partnerships to turn ideas into action.
Grandes transformações partem de inícios. E estabelecer prioridades é fundamental para saber em que direção se caminha, e sonhar para fora. Mas sabemos que a vida acontece em continuidade, nas travessias dos dias, na realização dos projetos pessoais e profissionais, nos desconfortos que vêm para nos realinhar com quem somos e jogar luz àquilo que […]
*Texto publicado originalmente no site Urban95, em 26/06/2023* As áreas ao redor das escolas concentram grande circulação de crianças pequenas e seus cuidadores. Fortaleza (CE) e Niterói (RJ) têm olhado para estes espaços como zonas prioritárias, garantindo segurança viária, ludicidade e espaços de convivência. Ambas as cidades compartilharam aprendizados e desafios no webinar Entornos Escolares: […]
A Cidade Ativa, representada pela Mariana, teve a honra de participar do painel “A mobilidade ativa como impulsionadora de cidades vivas” durante o Congresso da ANTP no dia 25/10/2023. Junto a Davi Garcia, da Prefeitura de Fortaleza, Silvia Stuchi, da Corrida Amiga, e Ruth Costa, da UCB, e com a mediação de Meli Malatesta, compartilhamos […]
Em 2023 a Iniciativa Mobilidade em Transformação está apoiando o projeto: Sistema Cicloviário no Parque Mambucaba, em parceria com a Prefeitura Municipal de Angra dos Reis! Como parte do desenvolvimento do projeto em conjunto com a população local, em julho acontecerá o seminário Planejamento e Implantação de Sistemas Cicloviários: Estudo de caso no Parque Mambucaba. O […]
Um curso para pessoas que movem cidades O que você pode fazer para transformar a realidade da mobilidade urbana da sua cidade? A gente acredita que todas as pessoas podem ser agentes de transformação! O Mobilidade em Transformação é um curso totalmente online e gratuito que já está na 3ª edição. Ele aborda conceitos e […]
A capital do vale do Ribeira está abrindo espaços para pedestres, ciclistas, e para todas aquelas pessoas que queiram usar a energia do próprio corpo para se deslocar pela cidade. Na última semana de junho, equipes da Prefeitura Municipal de Registro, com apoio da iniciativa “Mobilidade em Transformação”, inauguraram um novo trecho de ciclofaixa de […]
