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Media Team

June 30, 2025

Designing Safe and Resilient Streets in Recife

In October 2024, the Streets for Kids project was inaugurated in the Jordão neighborhood in Recife, Brazil, a community where children faced multiple challenges accessing safe and high-quality public spaces. Heavy rains, frequent flooding, and landslide risks often made their journey to school dangerous and unpredictable. Throughout the process, children, caregivers, school staff, and residents were engaged to co-create solutions that improve access to schools, supporte outdoor play and social connection, and set a precedent for future child-focused street transformations in Recife.

Designing Safe and Resilient Streets in Recife
Calçada Viva: Recuperando espaço para pedestres no Centro de Fortaleza

March 10, 2020

Calçada Viva: Recuperando espaço para pedestres no Centro de Fortaleza

A cidade de Fortaleza deu um novo passo para se tornar mais segura e caminhável. A intervenção realizada na Rua Barão do Rio Branco, uma das mais movimentadas da área central da cidade, integra o programa Calçada Viva e faz parte de uma estratégia abrangente de promoção da segurança viária liderada pelo governo municipal.

Caminhos da Escola: Intervenções temporárias como ferramenta de participação comunitária

February 6, 2020

Caminhos da Escola: Intervenções temporárias como ferramenta de participação comunitária

Em dezembro de 2019, a equipe da GDCI deu apoio à capital cearense para a implantação da primeira intervenção urbana do programa Caminhos da Escola, que busca melhorar as condições de segurança viária no entorno de escolas públicas através de melhorias de desenho urbano.

Measure What Matters: Reclaiming Space for Pedestrians in Downtown Fortaleza

December 10, 2019

Measure What Matters: Reclaiming Space for Pedestrians in Downtown Fortaleza

Within an ambitious city-wide vision to promote road safety and sustainable mobility, the City of Fortaleza, Brazil, took another major step towards making its streets safer and more walkable—this time, in the heart of the city’s commercial center.

MCGM to Transform CSMT Intersection in Collaboration with BIGRS

October 22, 2019

MCGM to Transform CSMT Intersection in Collaboration with BIGRS

Under BIGRS, the MCGM and Mumbai Traffic Control Branch (MTCB), with the support of the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), is carrying out this transformation work to increase pedestrian safety while making traffic flow more efficient, around the busy transportation hub.

Participation is Power: Launch of an Interim Intervention in Penha

October 4, 2019

Participation is Power: Launch of an Interim Intervention in Penha

On August 17, 2019, the interim intervention was launched with programmed activities throughout the day. The team led a walk-through of the site, hosted an outdoor Zumba class in the newly created plaza, and invited a local music school to perform.

Fortaleza Connects the Street to the Sea for MOBILIZE

July 17, 2019

Fortaleza Connects the Street to the Sea for MOBILIZE

In June, our team attended the MOBILIZE Summit and facilitated a tactical urbanism workshop. Attendees helped transform an intersection, contributing to a larger low-speed zone project in the neighborhood of Praia de Iracema. Using low-cost materials, the redesign includes curb extensions that are proven solutions to reduce speeds for cars and increase safety for all road users while enhancing the public space.

Interim Plazas in the Land of Piazzas

December 12, 2018

Interim Plazas in the Land of Piazzas

Two squares in Milan invaded by parked cars get a complete makeover into pedestrian-priority spaces thanks to tactical urban design.

Fortaleza Cares: Prioritizing Safer Access to Albert Sabin Children’s Hospital

October 24, 2018

Fortaleza Cares: Prioritizing Safer Access to Albert Sabin Children’s Hospital

In late 2017, the GDCI team partnered with city officials, the Albert Sabin Children’s Hospital, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and Vital Strategies, through the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), to transform the safety of the streets surrounding the hospital. This area, in Fortaleza, Brazil, is now equipped with safe pedestrian infrastructure that has reduced the number of people walking on the roadbed by 86%, and greatly improved accessibility to the hospital.

The Power of Paint: Bringing Life to the Streets of Dragão do Mar

September 20, 2018

The Power of Paint: Bringing Life to the Streets of Dragão do Mar

The City of Fortaleza, Brazil, launched a new Cidade da Gente (City of People) project in Dragão do Mar in August 2018. City contractors and local volunteers applied bright colors and bold patterns to the 5,000 square meter site over three days, and used 1,000 liters of paint to improve the streets’ geometry. The redesign makes streets safer and brings revived life and energy to the neighborhood.