Areas 40 Contest

São Paulo was one of the ten cities selected for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Initiative, that aims to reduce injuries and fatalities from collisions and crashes worldwide. São Paulo and Fortaleza were selected to take part in the initiative because of their ambitious proposals and comprehensive road safety plans.

The program includes physical changes for the so called Areas 40 in the city of São Paulo: traffic calm zones with speed limit defined as 40 km/h, aiming to ensure greater safety for the most vulnerable users of the road system, such as pedestrians and cyclists. In addition to controlling speed limits through signals and devices, the proposals considered redesigning the road geometry and using other resources to encourage vehicles to respect the imposed limit. In this context, Cidade Ativa developed a diagnosis of three of these Areas 40 from São Paulo, which were objects of the Contest Areas 40 coordinated by WRI Brasil Cidades Sustentáveis: Brás, Lapa and Santana. The goal of the ideas contest was to recognize good strategies for redesigning these areas through their urban design.

The work carried out by the team initially contemplated a territorial analysis of the three areas considering mobility infrastructure, land use and their main attractions (equipments, stations, parks, etc.).

Field visits were then made to observe local dynamics (routes with major vehicle and pedestrian counts; problematic intersections; spots of attraction that serve as the origin and destination of journeys) and to measure counts, map stationary activity and road geometry,  perform interviews, and evaluate sensory criteria related to the pedestrian experience.The synthesis of this diagnosis was used as the basis for the contest’s call for tenders.

Brás. Credit: Cidade Ativa

Lapa. Credit: Cidade Ativa

Santana. Credit: Cidade Ativa