Workshop 'Recife pensando o futuro', part I

After more than a year of virtual contact in the framework of the rXa project, the Amsterdam team, finally gets to see Recife with it´s own eyes. The representatives of the Spatial Planning Department Amsterdam, the Monuments Department Amsterdam,  the Department of Infrastructure and Mobility, water company Waternet and the Cultural Heritage Agency are teaming up with the planning departments of the city of Recife, the State of Pernambuco, the University of Pernambuco, the heritage institutes Iphan and Fundaj, as well as architects connected to Cau and Iab, in a four-day workshop to discuss the future of Recife in more depth.

A few important questions rise, like: ´What is ´quality´ for the Recifians?´ Is it the ultimate wish for citizens to live in one of the spatious highrise apartments on Boa Viagem with a nice flatscreen TV or do people wish to live in the old city centre where you can easily get around by foot and visit all kinds of cultural activities and shops? ´Where is the energy of the city´, or to put in differently, where do water, heritage and infrastructure clash and therefore create the opportunity to tackle problems in an integral approach? 

After a intensive tour through the old city centre and a boat tour along the Capibaribe river, some observations are made that will shape further discussion.

The first thing which the Amsterdam team cannot deny is the warm climate in Recife. The second thing is the overall traffic conjunction. Beacuse of recent rise of the middle class more and more people can afford to have a car. 3.000 new cars are ´welcomed´ in Recife every month, which huge traffic jams as their consequence. The logical Amsterdam observation that promoting the use of bicycles could be a solution, is put into perspective by the temperture: it´s simply to hot to cycle during daytime (or every office should get a shower).

Another observation is that heritage policies seem to be firmly in place, but there is a huge gap between the available instruments and the will of society and politicians to implement them in a cohesive way. Only when citizens an politicians see the (economical) value of integrating heritage in the overall development of the city it can be meaningful.

The third important thing noted today is that, with all the challenges that Recife faces, it could be helpful to start with the basic layer of the city: the water. Although the city turned it´s back to the water and citizens do not really seem to care about the quality of the water, it only takes one boat trip along the Capibaribe river to immediately experience the beauty of it. If this value would be recognised by a broader range of Recifians, this water could be the tangible asset that makes clear why Recifians are so proud to live here.

Flora van Gaalen