Curitiba: Week 2, Take 2...

Wow, almost two weeks have flown by that we have been in Brasil, and much has happened.

What did everyone do on their first free weekend in Curitiba? Sunday Market? Day trip to a local village? Any places you found you would recommend for future visitors?

Anywho, to the update of our activities of the past two days...

On Monday, we met as a class in the early afternoon, due to squalid weather that has dominated the city all weekend. We were to visit the recycling plant for Curitiba, but that is postponed for the interim. We ended up going to the Environment Secretariat, where we discussed the function and design of Curitiba's parks. From there, most of us received a courtesy ride back to the nearest express bus stop to head back to the hotel.

Note that there is a Monday night special at the local churrascheria, where a full course buffet with many choices of meat is available for R$12.90. Can't beat that at all. From the hotel, walk towards the Brigadero Franco tube stop, and make a 90 degree right turn on the street. Follow the street to the Esso gas station. The churascheria is next door to the gas station.

Tuesday was another one of those bright and early days, where some of us just had a hard time getting up, but we still managed to be on time to class. We went to the Universidad Federal do Parana, where we interacted with 3rd year architecture and urbanism students on their revitalization project near Plaza Tiradentes (cathedral square). We followed up our studio visit, with a vist with the Dean of the college, which was very kind to our visit to UFPR.

Lunch was at Chale da Gloria, which has an excellent lunch buffet for R$9.90, so if you have a hunger, this is a good place for lunch to be filled.

The afternoon had us visit the Secretariat of Urbanism, who spoke of planning issues as it pertained from City Hall. Issues discussed included eminent domain, Transfer Development Rights, Zoning, and the organizational structure.

Our lecture at the Urbanism Secretariat was quickly followed by the Secretariat of Metropolitan Affairs, who deals with urban issues on the regional level. The Metropolitan area comprises of 3.4 million residents in 13 municipalities surrounding and including Curitiba and its 1.7 million residents. There is a lot of integrated works going on between municipalities, including sharing technical staff, holding regional sporting events, regional transit system, and a regional trash system.

This concluded our day that we embarked on officially interacting with UFPR, and we made it back to the hotel, before another evening deluge came upon us.

Tomorrow, we go on to have a lecture by distinguished professors at UFPR in the afternoon, before starting our inidividual research on our research projects.

Weather advisory:

Weather will be dropping to the freezing mark on Wednesday and Thursday night. Be prepared and dress warmly. Have fun.