Brazil has a robust system of public higher education institutions whose funding always depends on the importance that governments give to universities. The organizational methods and premises implemented in Latin America and particularly in Brazilian universities in the 1960s still have critical consequences on the campus. The spatiality and location in the city result from a comprehensive university reform that took place during the military rule. While the multidisciplinary departments defined the division of the campus, mainly through their disciplinary fragmentations, there was an intentional distancing from the neighborhood.
However, the importance of interdisciplinarity in university spatial organization is present throughout the campus social infrastructures. These institutions' networks have a large and crucial role for Brazilian society, providing public health assistance, language courses, sports activities, and other services. We argue that social infrastructure connections can enhance the importance of disciplinary exchanges to strengthen the relationship between the university, society, and ecology. In this work, we use a Brazilian campus to explore how its social infrastructures can support in overcoming disciplinary segregation. By reassessing territorial organization, public universities can strengthen fundamental services for social cohesion, care, and city functioning, as the so-called hard and social infrastructures are parallel in terms of their importance. This study contributes to expanding the concept of social infrastructure and its role in transdisciplinary fields, framing the campus dynamics in a context marked by climate change, social segregation and the lack of public services.

Authors:
Luis Pavan, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Camila Mangrich, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Jose Kos, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

About the Presenter(s)
Luis Henrique Pavan is an architect and Ph.D. student at UFSC where he also leads LEUr research assistants. His research focuses on university campuses as social infrastructure. Visiting researcher at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

See this presentation on the full schedule – On Demand Schedule

Bookmark