WHAT IS URBEM

URBEM, the Institute of Urbanism and Studies for the Metropolis, is a “do-tank”, a center of action, that aims to conceive and implement urban development projects in São Paulo and other cities.​

Established in 2011, URBEM focuses on structuring projects that create a better urban fabric, in undertakings that allow for the generation of both economic and social value. URBEM was created as a third-sector organization with the objective of finding common ground between government, private sector, and civil society.

​URBEM catalyzes actions and projects to make cities flourish – cities that are prosperous, sustainable, safe and inclusive. Cities with life and ample opportunities for work, housing, learning, culture and entertainment.

​VISION AND VALUES

URBEM is driven to action. We aim not only to produce knowledge but, above all, to engage agents of society, markets, and governments around the implementation of sound urban projects. ​

Inequality acquires concrete expression in cities. Sometimes elusive in statistics, inequality is blatantly revealed in the spatial imbalances that mark the landscapes of contemporary cities: larger housing deficits, the absence of sanitation services, lack of green and public spaces, longer commute times between work and home, growing urban crime, and higher exposure to climate and environmental risks.​

URBEM upholds that the distribution of collective goods in cities – high quality infrastructure inserted in an urban fabric made of a well-balanced mix of uses and people of different backgrounds, income brackets and ethnicities – must be at the forefront of the battle against inequality. ​At the core of our mission is the belief that a better urban environment – with adequate housing, more sanitation, greener and more engaging public spaces, more mixed-use and mixed-income neighborhoods, improved mobility and less car-dependence – is a major component of a peaceful confrontation against the forces of inequality.

At the core of our vision is our confidence that territorial injustice is one of the most brutal, vicious, and concrete manifestations of inequality, one that impacts huge and growing portions of the populations on a daily basis. At the core of our values is our conviction that urban change can only be achieved with a convergence between the forces of government, market, and civil society.