Developing urban design discourse beyond the critical point: the case of Sao Paulo

This paper discusses some environmental challenges confronting humanity over the next fifty years by considering conditions that have emerged over the previous fifty years in one of the world's 'megacities'. Problems of homelessness & poor social housing conditions, ‘visual pollution’ and urban water, are linked through a case study about the City of São Paulo. From the combined perspective of philosophy, the arts, design and engineering, the paper seeks to explain how such diverse disciplinary concerns can be unified through urban design and address a situation that is well beyond what has been called 'the critical point'. Some approaches to urban design are recommended that provide typologies of products and processes to address such challenges.