Green retrofit as a way to mitigate the effects of climate change in precarious settlements in water resevoir areas in São Paulo

Abstract

The city of São Paulo has the largest urban population in South America, one of the largest cities in the world, with its 12,038,175 inhabitants [1] . Within this universe of people, approximately 3 million [2] live in precarious settlements, many of them in areas of environmental protection. The combination of precarious housing, areas of environmental protection and climate change has led to an increase in the vulnerability of its residents, as well as jeopardizing the hydrological cycle and contaminating the water sources of residents of the entire city of São Paulo. Self-built houses combine with an urban space with lack of planning; further exacerbate the effects of climate on a low-income population with limited resources to deal with problems arising from local or regional environmental disasters. This research aims to investigate architectural solutions that improves energy performance and water consumption in dwellings located in unreliable settlements. We have as study of case, houses located in the Billings Dam basin, in the southeast of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The purpose is to contribute to increasing the possibilities of resilience of the vulnerable population residing in the area, coping with the effects of climate change and reducing the environmental impact of housing.[1] Information available at: http://cidades.ibge.gov.br/xtras/perfil.php?codmun=355030 Accessed on: 09/27/2016[2] Information available at: http://www.habitasampa.inf.br/documentos/cmh/SEHAB_2014_CMH.pdf accessed on 09/20/2016 (AU)