The urban form from director plans and zoning laws of the municipality of São Paulo

Abstract

For some time the planning and urban regulation instruments used in Brazil failed to consider the spatial effects and urban forms produced by the implementation of its parameters. Few studies have looked into the types and forms of urban spaces produced from the urban legislation established by master plans and zoning laws. This article draws attention to the importance and needs of such studies to discuss the relationship between parameters of land regulation and urban forms in the context of São Paulo Municipality. Thus, begins with an overview of this relationship from studies about "zoning" used in the USA which strongly influenced the São Paulo zoning law since the beginning of the twentieth century. Then it presents and analyzes aspects of the relationship between land regulation parameters and the urban form of the vertical buildings produced by the real estate agents based on the Zoning General Law of 1972 and Strategic Directors Plans of 2002 and 2014. The latter Director Plan, recently sanctioned, included mechanisms and land regulatory parameters to induce, intentionally, the generation of certain urban forms which intensify interactions between the public and private spaces, buildings and sidewalks, blocks and streets.