[MY HOUSE WITHOUT DENGUE FEVER] Co-producing healthy communities: backyard retrofit to prevent arboviruses epidemics in Brazilian social housing developments

[MY HOUSE WITHOUT DENGUE FEVER] Co-producing healthy communities: backyard retrofit to prevent arboviruses epidemics in Brazilian social housing developments

[Institutes] Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo e Design (FAUeD) – Universidade Federal de Uberlândia; Instituto de Geografia (IG) – Universidade Federal de Uberlândia; ONG Estação Vida, Uberlândia-MG, Brasil; University of Sheffield – School of Architecture (TuOs – SSOa), UK
[Period] 2020 a 2021
[Financing] QR GCRF – Global Challenges Research Fund – Sustainable partnership awards (Round 3) via The University of Sheffield, UK
[Resume] Dengue, Zyka and Chikungunya are dangerous arboviruses transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. In 2019, according to the Ministry of Health, 1.4 million people were infected, causing 414 deaths. Studies show that the proliferation of mosquitoes is correlated with the accumulation of residues and other elements of water retention in private yards. Most cases occur in social housing projects, especially the Minha Casa, Minha Vida Program (PMCMV) with 4.4 million homes – the largest Federal Social Housing Program in Brazil. In Uberlândia, these cases represent 78% of the 38 thousand people infected in 2019. An international partnership between two research groups intends to tackle this problem by developing methods of post-occupation evaluation (POE) and co-production. It intends to develop methodology and tools to co-produce the reform or rearrangement of backyards in a social housing development in Uberlândia as a way to systematically and permanently decrease the arbovirus epidemic in these places. At the same time, the “Retrofit for Health” toolkit could provide residents with renovated backyards that can also help improve storage facilities and create local jobs through toolkit manufacturing processes. The project also aims to contribute to the formulation of more effective public policies and in terms of project guidelines for the design of healthy social housing. Based on the experience of this project, the team hopes to expand the scope of the research, involving larger and different situations to avoid arbovirus epidemics that generally affect mainly social housing developments in all 8 different climatic zones in Brazil. In future projects, the team also intends to address other issues related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as well as those of the GCRF, namely: a) Health and well-being and b) sustainable cities and communities, both in line with the Goals UN Sustainable Development Strategy.

[Keywords] Post-Occupancy Evaluation, Co-production, Social Interest Housing; Healthy communities; Arboviroses

[Staff]
Coordinators: Profº Drº Fernando Garrefa – PPGAU-FAUeD-UFU
Profª Drª Simone Barbosa Villa– PPGAU-FAUeD-UFU
Profº. Drº Fionn Stevenson– Sheffield School of Architecture – The University of Sheffield
Prof. Drº Samuel do Carmo Lima– IG/UFU
Prof. Drº Paulo Cezar Mendes– IG/UFU

[Students]
Karen Carrer Ruman de Bortoli – Doutoranda PPGEO-IG
Paula Barcelos Vasconcellos – Mestre PPGAU/FAUeD/UFU
Nathália Fleury Guedes de Oliveira – Graduada FAUeD/UFU
Lucas Borges e Silva – Graduando FAUeD/UFU
Nathália Lya de Melo Carvalho – Graduanda FAUeD/UFU
Rafaella Araújo Mineiro Miranda – Graduanda FAUeD/UFU
Raul Wylhelm de Faria Nascimento – Graduando FAUeD/UFU
Nayara Leonel Miranda – Graduanda FAUeD/UFU
Gabriela Savoldi Barbosa – Graduanda FAUeD/UFU