Fernando Túlio

Presentation by Dr Fernando Túlio, Lecturer at ETH Zurich

Comments by Daniel Aldana Cohen | Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley

Dr Fernando Tulio explores the intersections of urban development, socio-environmental inequality, and climate action in Brazilian cities. This talk delves into the concept of carbocentric urbanism—a critique of green capitalism’s allure in urban landscapes—and its implications for deeply segregated cities like São Paulo.

Dr. Franco will outline three key paradigms shaping urbanism today: i) Urbanism of Coloniality: Rooted in socio-territorial segregation, highway-centered development, and extractivism; ii) Carbocentric Urbanism: the rise of green capitalism, characterized by electric cars, green buildings, and financialized urban landscapes that perpetuate new forms of inequality; and iii)  Decolonial Ecological Urbanism: a vision for integrated social and ecological transformation, challenging entrenched hierarchies and exploitation.

Using São Paulo as a case study, Dr. Franco will also: i) examine the city’s historical links between inequality and ecological crises, ii) analyze São Paulo’s Climate Action Plan (PlanClima SP) for 2020–2050, evaluating its capacity to achieve carbon neutrality while addressing systemic inequities; iii) present scenario modeling for 2050, exploring the expansion of public transit and cycling infrastructure and their impact on mobility access, decarbonization, and socio-demographic disparities.

Fernando Tulio Franco is an urban planner who was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He holds a Ph.D. from FAU-USP, a master's degree in public policy from FGV, and is an early childhood specialist at Harvard (USA). He is a lecturer and scientific researcher at the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design, director of the ZeroCem Institute, senior advisor of the São Paulo's Department of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB), and professor of the postgraduate course in Social Urbanism at Insper (Brazil). He was president of IAB São Paulo (2017-19 and 2020-22), awarded in 2019 by APCA in the Architecture category, and responsible for the São Paulo International Architecture Biennials (2017, 2019, and 2021). He was a recipient of the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (2022-23) and a researcher at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (USA), the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC - Argentina), the Laboratory for the Right to the City and Public Space (LabCidade / FAU-USP) and the Laboratory for Fluvial Urban Infrastructures (Metrópole Fluvial / FAU-USP). Tulio was a special advisor and deputy chief of staff of São Paulo's Secretariat for Urban Development (2013-16) while developing the 2014 city Master Plan awarded by UN-Habitat.