Interview: Fernando Haddad

Jonathan Andrews spoke to Fernando Haddad, Mayor of São Paulo, about his ambitious master plan and his ideas for São Paulo to lead a new urban agenda for Latin American cities 

You released São Paulo’s master plan for the city nearly a year ago. It includes building 300 kilometres of bus lanes and 400 kilometres of cycle paths, which played a part in São Paulo sharing the 2015 Sustainable Transport Award but putting you at odds with Paulistas’ fondness of cars. How do you balance the future needs of the city with citizens’ demands of today?

Changing the paradigm of a city centred on cars to one dedicated to people requires a long-term plan. It is not just to set goals for four years of government. I think the new Master Plan is so relevant because it provides guidelines for São Paulo’s development for the next 16 years.

On how to respond to the current demands of the city, there is the Target Plan, launched after a broad participatory process. It contains 123 goals organised into 20 strategic objectives that must be implemented by the end of 2016.

Another important initiative is the Mobility Plan, which assists the integration of transport modes, prioritising public or non-motorised transport. This plan will take time to be consolidated, but we can already see positive results. The new dedicated bus lanes reduced, by 46 percent, commuters’ travel time, which has a great impact on life quality. People that used to spend two hours in traffic, on the bus, now are spending a little more than one hour. It’s a huge win for everyone. The same with bike lanes, we must create the framework to give the opportunity for citizens’ choice on mobility. There was a repressed demand for people who would like to get around the city on foot or by bike, but did not feel safe. Now, many people get to experience this possibility.

A key transport goal is to replace São Paulo’s entire municipal bus fleet with electric buses before 2018. With three years to go, is this on target?

There is a worldwide effort to reduce the number of vehicles running on diesel and gasoline. The city of São Paulo is aware of this trend and tries to implement actions in this regard as much as possible, but there still remain technical and economic problems. The electric battery propulsion technology is promising, but it is still being tested.

Currently, all alternatives to petroleum diesel have significantly higher costs. The ethanol technologies, hybrid electric vehicles and trolleybuses require the purchase of new vehicles, which can only be done through concessions. In addition, vehicles are expensive and there are not enough models to meet all the demand. This is a big challenge because we are talking about a city of 12 million people and 9.8 million movements in buses per day.

The goal to replace São Paulo’s municipal bus fleet with electric buses before 2018 is based on a 2009 law called Municipal Policy on Climate Change, which makes an exception in case of technical impediments, as the ones I mentioned. Therefore, the city supports the law and seeks to create mechanisms to fulfil it within our capabilities. This year we are going to launch the bid that will decide the direction of public transport for the coming years in São Paulo and we are studying the best way to introduce clean vehicles throughout the city.

Part of the master plan includes São Paulo becoming the first developing megacity to eliminate parking minimums in new building developments. How is this progressing and how are you trying to win over those that oppose this measure?

The Master Plan is a long-term plan. It is focused on the population density along mobility axes and on the restriction of vertical integration in the centre of neighbourhoods. The goal is to balance supply of housing and employment and reduce people’s travel time. It is being built in a very democratic way, including several public hearings and instruments of social participation.

The adoption of the maximum number of parking spaces is part of the Master Plan to qualify urban life in the neighbourhoods. Previously there were a minimum number of parking spots and now the new venture will have a maximum number of spots; if a person wants to build more, they must pay the grant for it. The measure encourages people to use public transport. You make an adaptation of the resident profile and what you want in the city. In time people will understand that these measures are necessary for living in a community.

Do you think other developing megacities will now follow your lead? Have they approached you about this?

Rulers of big cities know the need to share problems and search for solutions together to face the challenges of urban development. In this sense, cities’ organisations around the world contribute to very important knowledge on issues such as social inequality, housing, mobility, education, and health. São Paulo actively participates in some of these networks, such as UCLG [United Cities and Local Governments] and Mercociudades.

In Latin America, I think we have a peculiar reality and many common problems. It is necessary to agree on a New Urban Agenda for cities in the region. I believe São Paulo has much to contribute to the construction of this new agenda and we are ready to lead this process. We are putting some innovative policies in place. São Paulo’s dimensions are not trivial, but we have managed to tackle historical problems with concrete proposals–like giving new alternatives for mobility.

Last year, the city signed a Protocol of Intention with CEPAL [The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean] and this year we will promote four conferences with cities of metropolitan areas in South America and Mexico, where we will discuss scenarios and guidelines on urban policies in the region. We are also participating in the debate on Habitat III and have integrated the Brazilian delegation in the two preparatory meetings of the conference. In November, São Paulo will host the Mercociudades Mayors Summit to discuss the future of the organisation and the priorities of Mercosur cities.

How can citizen engagement be used to ‘win over’ those that oppose aspects of the master plan or other policies you wish to implement?

Change always faces resistance and changing people’s behaviour is a slow and gradual process. Think about your life, how hard it is to break routine. In a city like São Paulo, which for decades had its growth driven by an elitist vision, to propose breaking this model can be shocking at first.

We have a very recent and emblematic case that helps to illustrate this kind of situation, where a prosecutor’s attempt to bar the implementation of bike lanes was followed by a strong reaction of activists. In the end, the court decision was favourable to the city. In fact, cycling activists reinforce the need to think about urban mobility policies. This is an example of how social engagement helps to qualify the debate about the city we want.

You signed the Mayors Global Compact, which was presented in March during C40’s first Latin American Mayors forum. As Brazilian cities take more of a lead on climate change, are your combined actions influencing the way the Brazilian national government is approaching the COP21 Paris talks in December? 

The environmental agenda is a priority for cities because we know that without the help of local governments it will be very difficult to tackle climate change. I know how important the COP21 is and we are studying ways to participate in the conference.

In any case, I must point out that there is an effort of the municipality to put the city at the forefront of what is happening worldwide in environmental issues. One example is the São Paulo’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, which sets long-term goals for the next 20 years and aims to reduce as much as possible the waste sent to landfills by extracting the potentially recyclable and reusable materials. The plan includes the installation of four automated sorting plants–two of them are already in operation, the first ones in Latin America.

Also, we have launched this month a public-private partnership (PPP) bid for the upgrade of 620,000 sodium vapour lamps or mercury lamps to LED technology. It is the largest initiative of this nature in the world. This modernisation will ensure savings of up to 50 percent of electricity and double the life of the bulbs. The decrease in electricity consumption will also reduce CO₂ emissions. There is a preservation effort of native Atlantic Forest areas. Examples like these reinforce the commitment of São Paulo on this issue.

Although urban security falls under the remit of state governments in Brazil, how can you as mayor help ensure citizens feel safe and secure? 

Our priority is to improve life quality and this goes through many issues. Mobility and health certainly are part of this effort, but are not the only facets. I think that social inequality and privatisation of urban spaces over the years have contributed to insecurity in the city. We are helping the city to rebalance itself and to become a safer place by improving access to health, education and housing, and by rethinking urban development with priority of social well-being.

However, we must clarify that the city has little involvement in public security policies, which are the state government’s responsibility. In this sense, I have advocated for new governance in public safety, because I believe that mayors should have more power in this issue. After all, the one who best knows the city’s territory is its mayor, who can contribute to the planning of actions and in the distribution of police personnel. I think shared responsibility should be on the agenda of local governments.