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U.S.-Brazil Consortium on Urban Development

BSC - UDESC - CCSU - UFRGS
Funded by the U.S. / Brazil Program of FIPSE / CAPES

Study Geography in Brazil!

The Consortium on Urban Development is a collaboration of four academic geography departments in Brazil and the United States. Semester-long student exchanges are a key part of the consortium. Funding is already in place to send 48 students on semester-long exchanges over the next several years!

The purposes of the consortium is to develop curricula and scholarship related to the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other geotechnologies to urban development and to foster and improve urban development and planning in both countries. In this context, "urban development" includes the improvement of both the human and natural environment in urban, sub-urban, and peri-urban regions.

Background

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Fernando Henrique Cardoso committed to cooperation in higher education between the United States and Brazil because of growing economic, political, and cultural connections between the two largest countries in the Western Hemisphere. They decided that colleges and universities could play an active role in exploring and improving these connections, and the U.S.-Brazil Program was begun.

As with the other consortia established through the U.S. - Brazil Program, our Consortium focuses on an academic area with critical relevance to both countries. Between 1975 and 2001, the urban population of Brazil increased from 62 to 82 percent of the total population, while the urban population of the United States increased from 74 to 77 percent during the same period. In some regions, the area of land used for housing, commerce, and transportation has grown much more rapidly than the population itself.

By the year 2015, the urban populations of Brazil and the U.S. are expected to reach 88 and 81 percent, respectively. Brazil has caught up with U.S. levels of urbanization, and will soon become even more urbanized than is the United States. As the two countries have been becoming steadily more urbanized, distinct patterns of peri-urban or sub-urban changes in land use have taken place, and a variety of approaches to the problems of rapid urbanization have emerged.

What we offer

Participants in the Consortium in Urban Development combine academic expertise and practical experience related to the problems of urban development \in both the United States and Brazil. The participating institutions are located in some of the most rapidly-urbanizing regions of their respective countries and also have strong records of teaching, practice and scholarship in this area. The consortium involves undergraduate students directly in the emerging scholarship and professional practice related to urban development in both Brazil and the United States. All four institutions have a record of training students in urban geography, the analysis of land use, and both traditional and computer-assisted techniques of urban and regional planning. Each university prepares students to enter professional employment directly after receiving the baccalaureate degree. This makes it imperative that the students receive a good foundation in the discipline, as well as “hands-on” experience. Finally, each region looks to its local higher education institution to provide a trained workforce and to be a resource for additional research and training as needed by local agencies and organizations.

The focus of this consortium is on the integration of geographic scholarship and geographic information systems (GIS) with the practice of urban planning and development in both Brazil and the United States. Through the consortium, students, faculty members and practitioners in each country to benefit from exposure to the most current ideas and geographic technologies in use in the other. In some cases, the contrasts between urban development in the two nations will be most instructive; in other cases, specific tools being used in each country will have direct relevance in the other. Through the faculty collaborations and student exchanges included in this project, each member institution is able to develop curricula that more effectively integrate GIS and urban and regional planning.

Members

Consortium members include four academic geography departments, located in the far south of Brazil and the northeast of the United States. Each department is part of a dynamic and diverse academic community located in a growing urban region. Prior connections between the United States and Brazil are strongly exhibited on each campus and in the surrounding communities.

University		Department	Director
BSC	Bridgewater State College	Geography	Dr. James Hayes-Bohanan
UDESC	Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina	Geografia	Dr. Francisco (Chico) Oliveira
CCSU	Central Connecticut State University	Geography	Dr. D'Arcy Dornan
UFRGS	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (See English-language video about UFRGS)	Geografia	Dr. Paulo Soares

Details of the exchanges are still being developed. General information for interested students is on the BSC International Programs page.

Joining UBCUD

The consortium members are actively seeking additional partners to cooperate in a variety of ways:

• Internship placements for visiting students
• Research projects for students and faculty
• Support for computer labs and other equipment
• Support for cultural activities as host communities
  
• Language immersion and training for outgoing and visiting students
• Home-away-from-home support for visiting students
  

Involvement can take a variety of forms:

• Becoming a formal member organization in the consortium
• Providing grants to the program
• Employing student interns
• Sponsoring on-campus jobs (within constraints of student visas)
• Giving a student a ride to the airport
• Taking students on a weekend bus trip
  
• Cooking a meal for a student far from home

The work of the consortium is generously supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education and its Brazilian counterpart, CAPES.

Last Modified: November 9, 2009