Out of the 57 projects which have been announced as nominees for the What Design Can Do Clean Energy Challenge, 10 are solutions aimed at transforming the fourth most populated city in the world: São Paulo. Today we dedicate our coverage to these creative concepts, which have now qualified for the final round of judgement, to take place in March.

THE BRIEFING

The Clean Energy Challenge offered not one design brief, but five: inspired by five world cities and the pressing energy issues they face. In São Paulo, our key question was: How can we encourage clean and green mobility in the city?

Cars, buses and trucks are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in many cities around the world. The São Paulo metropolitan region (which has one of the world’s largest population of vehicles), they belch out 97% of the city’s carbon-monoxide emissions and 90% of its air pollutants. Congestion is so bad, Paulistanos spend an average of 2.4 hrs in traffic per day. Can designers help find radical solutions for more sustainable flows of people and goods through the city?

→ See the full briefing pack here    → Dive deeper into stories about São Paulo here

THE NOMINEES

It’s encouraging to see so many creatives are tackling these issues head-on. By the end of the open call, more than 60 ideas were submitted for the São Paulo city briefing. After a rigorous selection process, 2 projects were nominated for the Student Track, 2 projects for the Professional Track and 6 projects for the Startup Track. Below are all 10 projects, in no particular order.


01. PROJECT CHAKRA: THE FLYWHEEL CYCLE

SUBMITTED BY VEDANT THAKAR | NOMINEE STUDENT TRACK

The Chakra is a clean energy storage device that stores rotational kinetic energy in a flywheel and provides ride assistance to a cyclist.

→ go to project page


02. FAZENDA URBANA

SUBMITTED BY BRUNO PANNO RIBEIRO | NOMINEE STUDENT TRACK

Fazenda Urbana is a sustainable urban agriculture system, using aquaponics to build and operate urban farms on the roofs of buildings in the city of São Paulo.

→ go to project page


03. #PARADACERTA

SUBMITTED BY HENRIQUE DRUMOND | NOMINEE PROFESSIONAL TRACK

#ParadaCerta is a network of interactive panels placed in bus-stops to ensure public transport fluidity in heavily congested city zones.

→ go to project page


04. SCHOOL DESIGN PACKAGE FOR URBAN MOBILITY

SUBMITTED BY ARTUR KIM SHUM | NOMINEE PROFESSIONAL TRACK

This proposal seeks to consolidate a design package that enables schools to boost permanent behavioral changes towards sustainable mobility. It consists of accessible guidebooks, community practices and supplementary tools that seek to enhance the capability of families to walk, cycle and use public transportation in São Paulo.

→ go to project page


05. PEDIVELA CYCLELOGISTICS NETWORK

SUBMITTED BY RAFAEL DARROUY | NOMINEE STARTUP TRACK

We connect and optimize the relation between passionate cargo bike riders and parcel delivery companies using a network of urban automated crossdocks.

→ go to project page


06. OEG: OUTSKIRTS EMPLOYMENT GUIDE

SUBMITTED BY MATHEUS SOUZA OLIVEIRA | NOMINEE STARTUP TRACK

The Outskirts Employment Guide (OEG) is a free platform that maps and shares job offers on the outskirts of the capital city and of Sao Paulo.

→ go to project page


07. HIBIKE 2.0

SUBMITTED BY FRANCISCO CARVALHO COSTA | NOMINEE STARTUP TRACK

hiBike is a mobile app which offers an exclusive network of advantages, opportunities and innovations for cyclists in the city.

→ go to project page


08. MILÊNIO BUS: REAL-TIME PASSENGER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

SUBMITTED BY FABIEN OLIVEIRA | NOMINEE STARTUP TRACK

The project proposal is to develop both software and hardware for real-time passenger flow counting on buses in São Paulo. Using innovative technologies, the system aims to generate passenger functionality, fleet optimization and intelligence for public transportation.

→ go to project page


09. SMART AIR: FOR A BREATHING CITY

SUBMITTED BY TOM KLAVER | NOMINEE STARTUP TRACK

Smart Air is a natural air cleaning system using high and low pressure, to divert polluted air into the city’s sewage system.

→ go to project page


10. NOAH: LOCAL OPERATIONAL TOWER

SUBMITTED BY CAMILA NONAKA | NOMINEE STARTUP TRACK

NOAH is a self sustainable tower aimed at serving a local community with the key necessities of life. Our concept seeks to minimize their needs for basic services, like energy, food, waste treatment, and can be a building block for other services such as education and healthcare.

→ go to project page


WHAT’S NEXT?

From now until February 10th, the Challenge enters a so-called Refinement Phase. During this time, all nominated teams get the opportunity to read the review team’s feedback and improve their submission before a final round of judgement by the international jury in March.

Visit our platform for more information about the timeline, and to view all the submissions in our project gallery. In the coming few days, we’ll highlight more nominated projects on our social media channels and blog. Say hi to our team at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see what’s happening.