Introduction

Ceuci is the Tupi-Guarani entity who protects the crops and homes. It is also the name of one of the Centers of Science for Development (CCD-SP) approved in the FAPESP call for Science Centers for Development, in 2022. This call for proposals sought "internationally competitive research projects, lasting up to 5 years, to be carried out by teams of researchers from Research Institutes and/or researchers from Universities or Higher Education Institutions, in partnership with Government Bodies and, whenever possible, involving Companies and/or Non-Governmental Organizations".

The proposal fits into the current context of a knowledge society in which several university campuses in the cities of São Paulo are expected to undergo a process of transformation in the coming decades, with the installation, in their surroundings, of research and development institutes, innovation hubs and technology-based companies. These new areas of knowledge will demand a series of equipment and urban infrastructure, such as housing, services, sanitation, free spaces for public use, among others. Given their location, typically in urban fringe areas, at the interface with agricultural areas, fragments of natural forests and other preexistences generally disconnected from consolidated urban areas, and due to the current scenario of climate change, destruction of ecosystems, economic crisis and social transformation, these areas will face several challenges, requiring new urban planning methods and tools.

CEUCI will investigate these issues through the following transversal thematic axes: technologies, governance, public policies, urban legislation, circular/donut economy, gentrification mitigation and ecological paradigm. The project continues the work started in 2020 with the creation of a lato sensu postgraduate program at FECFAU aimed at studying the implementation of the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS), in which Unicamp's Barão Geraldo campus is located.

Link to the CEUCI page in the Fapesp Virtual Library

Mission

CEUCI's mission is to contribute to the implementation of urban areas of knowledge and innovation, in particular those located in fringe areas or urban sprawl, taking the UN Sustainable Development Goals as guidelines.

Based on propositional studies for the HIDS and the analysis of international cases, the team, formed by professors, researchers, researcher institutions, sustainable urban infrastructure companies and an NGO dedicated to the implementation of the SDGs, intends to collectively formulate the concept of knowledge spaces in the state of São Paulo, to develop guidelines for the structuring of new urban areas of knowledge and innovation in São Paulo cities in particular and Brazilian cities in general, in addition to technologies to support these objectives. CPQD, the main partner institution, has a strategic participation, as it is a developer of technologies for smart cities based in HIDS and with a seat on its management council.

Objectives

CEUCI proposes to face a challenge directly linked to the New Urban Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals: to develop Sustainable Knowledge Hubs as living laboratories on urban fringes by understanding the daily changes of this ecosystem and its catalytic role in the development of a sustainable way of life. In this context, the current initiative to create the HIDS ─ International Hub for Sustainable Development ─ presents itself as an opportunity to develop studies on the subject in an applied and integrated manner to the governmental, business and academic sectors.

The proposal has two main objectives:

1. Gather a body of knowledge and a national and international dialogue on knowledge-based areas in urban fringe regions, based on literature and case studies, which can contribute to their implementation in São Paulo state cities;

2. Establish a center of excellence on this topic, training researchers prepared to support their implementation, through public policies and urban projects.

Research project

Knowledge-based areas in urban fringes: Guidelines for sustainable implementation with the support of information modeling

In the current context of the knowledge society, many university campuses in São Paulo cities are expected to undergo a transformation process in the coming decades, with the installation, around them, of research and development institutes, innovation hubs and high technology companies. These new knowledge-based urban areas will demand a series of equipment and infrastructure, such as housing, services, sanitation, open spaces for public use, among others. Considering their location, typically in urban fringes, at the interface with agricultural areas, natural forests fragments and other preexistences that are generally disconnected from consolidated urban areas, and due to the current scenario of climate change, ecosystem destruction and economic and social crisis, this transformation will face several challenges, requiring new methods and tools for urban planning. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, this research project aims to study these issues through the following cross-cutting thematic axes: technologies, governance, public policies, urban regulation, circular/donut economy, mitigation of gentrification and ecological paradigm. The project builds on the work started in 2020 with the creation of a lato sensu postgraduate program at FECFAU aimed at studying the implementation of the Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS), in which Unicamp's Barão Geraldo campus is located. The methodological procedures will include, in the first three years of the project, systematic literature reviews, case studies, participant observation of the project's development for HIDS, the participatory process with the communities involved and workshops to discuss concepts with focus groups. As a result, a conceptual framework will be produced on the creation of new knowledge-based urban areas, contributing to the economic, social, environmental and urban development. In the second phase of the project, this methodological process will be applied experimentally to other cities in the state of São Paulo and a new interdisciplinary inter-unit postgraduate program will be proposed at Unicamp, institutionalizing a new line of research on the subject.

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