Opening Principle

Prado — Daily Structure

I live in Prado, Bahia. It is small enough that most things are within walking distance: supermarket, feira, basic services, town centre.

But life does not concentrate into one centre. It spreads out into smaller zones.

From around 9am to 2pm, the house becomes hot and humid. It still functions, but it is not where life comfortably happens.

So life moves outward: – trees – river edges – shaded walking routes

Shade becomes more important than indoor space during the day.

Housing — Prado

The house does not regulate heat well. Ventilation is limited. Air movement is weak.

It functions as: – shelter – storage – night space

Not as a full daytime living environment.

Outside becomes the practical living space.

Childhood — Prado

Children are everywhere but not concentrated into shared environments.

They play in: – front yards – roads – near their own homes

Fences separate spaces, so even nearby children are visually close but structurally separated.

There is a park near the river, but it is limited by heat and lack of shade.

Ground-Level Reality — Prado

Daily attention is shaped by small environmental conditions: – garbage exposure before collection – mosquitoes (constant presence) – objects on the ground – informal outdoor setups (bikes, tools, loose items)

With a small child, this becomes continuous supervision rather than occasional caution.

Food System — Prado

There are two systems:

A nearby supermarket for convenience (meat, basics, hygiene products).

And the feira for better food quality and pricing.

The feira is about 1 hour 30 minutes round trip, so better food requires time and planning.

São Paulo — Structure

In São Paulo, the city is not uniform. It shifts depending on where you are.

There are highly structured zones: – malls – business districts – upscale neighbourhoods – parks like Ibirapuera – corridors like Avenida Paulista

These areas are controlled, maintained, and visually organised.

Outside these zones, conditions change quickly: – homelessness in certain central areas – litter and uneven sidewalks in some districts – block-to-block variation in maintenance and feel

The city operates as layers rather than a single consistent surface.

Culture and Visibility — São Paulo

São Paulo concentrates cultural visibility due to scale.Its cultural identity though seems largely invested in this modern push for LGBTQ. You would never guess that São Paulo had over three hundred years of history and culture…everything is LGBTQ this , LGBTQ that ……blah blah blah

You see: – LGBTQ+ spaces and public expression – large events like Pride – nightlife scenes – more visibly individual urban lifestyles

This is present, but unevenly distributed across the city.

Core Contrast

Prado is consistent across space.

São Paulo is variable across space.

Prado is evenly simple.

São Paulo is unevenly structured.

Closing

Both places function, but neither feels fully resolved around everyday human needs.

Prado struggles more with basic infrastructure fit: heat, housing comfort, waste containment, and environmental friction at ground level.

São Paulo operates with stronger systems, but uneven spatial experience creates sharp differences from zone to zone.

Different scale. Same underlying question: whether daily human life was actually the starting point of design.