Project

Pathways for sustainability as learning: a look at the case of the Taquara Stream Watershed, Porto Alegre, Brazil

This research investigates transformative social learning processes within urban community-based initiatives in contexts of social vulnerability. This participatory research takes place at the community of Lomba do Pinheiro, in the city of Porto Alegre, south Brazil. In this community, a group of citizens (composed of local residents, teachers and students from local schools, and technicians from public sectors) is working cooperatively and co-creatively within a learning framework for the improvement of livelihoods and the eco-restoration of a local watershed, the Taquara Stream Watershed. The goal of this research is to comprehend local practices of transformative social learning and identify lessons that can inform learning processes for sustainability transition in similar contexts.

About Daniele Tubino de Souza

Daniele Tubino de Souza is an architect and urban planner, and a PhD candidate at the Graduate Program of Environmental Science at the Institute of Energy and Environment at University of São Paulo. Her research interests focus on social, transformative and transgressive learning, collaborative design, sustainable urban planning, landscape ecology and biomimicry. She observes the development of sustainable-oriented solutions for urban environments both as dependent and as a drive for learning processes based on dialogue interaction and bio-inspired regenerative design.

Project team

This doctoral research is supervised by Prof. Dr. Pedro Roberto Jacobi (PROCAM/USP, Brazil) and Prof. Dr. Arjen Wals.