In November, 2015, I was invited to be a member of the Carmo do Cajuru Master Plan
Committee, which was commissioned by the City Council to propose the first master plan
of the town. Being part of this committee was indeed one of the biggest challenges so
far in my professional life. Not just because of the natural challenges of working at a city
scale but also because of the responsibility of interfering in so many people lives, the
peculiarities and adventure of working with a multidisciplinary team and the difficulties
concerning bureaucracy, politics, and the lack of time and budget.
The main goal of the master plan was to make the first step towards planning the
urban growth, setting the urban development strategies and priorities and defining the
regulations for construction and land subdivision of the county. Due to the lack of time,
specialized personnel and budget, the committee decided to base the structure of the
plan on the well constructed master plan study made for São José, Santa Catarina by
the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Following the principles set by the federal
Brazilian law that establishes the general urban policy guidelines, the Committee used all
the tools in hand to provide the most fitting legislative proposal to ensure a democratic
and participative city management that guides the urban and territorial development
towards sustainability, social justice and social equality for the next 10 years.