News

Five days of packed auditoriums, full rooms, and intense debates! From 19 to 23 October, the Espaço e Poder Research Group (IPPUR/UFRJ) took part in panels, thematic sessions, and open sessions at the 31st IPPUR Week, whose theme was Activisms, Planning and Public Management: Disputes and Possible Paths in the Global South. Swipe through to revisit some of these moments with us.

🔹 Monday (19) · Open Session 2 · International Research Exchanges and the CAPES-COFECUB Urban Public Services Project

The week began with a review of the project’s scientific cooperation experiences, which brings together IPPUR/UFRJ, UFPA, CESUPA, and UEPG with Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Presentations were delivered by Deborah Werner and Fábio Pimentel, alongside Rosangela Luft, Lalita Kraus, and Suyá Quintslr (IPPUR/UFRJ), Eliane Moreira Folhes (ICJ/UFPA), and Igor Sporch da Costa (PPGCSA/UEPG).

🔹 Tuesday (20) · Panel 1 · Environmental Crisis and Territorial Subordination to Financial Interests

At the IPPUR auditorium, Deborah Werner, coordinator of the research group, joined Edwin Muñoz Gaviria (IPPUR/UFRJ), Charles Trocate (Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining), and João Batista dos Santos (Movement of People Affected by Renewable Energy Projects). The panel was moderated by Rosangela Marina Luft. It was a rare encounter between academic research and the voices of those experiencing the effects of mining and large-scale renewable energy projects in their territories.

🔹 Tuesday (20) · Thematic Session 5 · Energy Transition, Neo-Extractivism, and Territorial Inequalities

Coordinated by Deborah Werner, the session brought together four papers by members of the group:

▪️ The Assetization of Sanitation and the Role of BNDES (Deborah Werner, Monique Assunção, and Carla Hirt);

▪️ Energy Poverty in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region (Luíza Campiti Braga);

▪️ Territorial Justice in the Decarbonization Chain (Bruna Maciel and Nicolly Soares, with Deborah Werner);

▪️ Low-Carbon Hydrogen at the Port of Açu (Lucas Reis Santos).

🔹 Tuesday (20) · Open Session 6 · Assetization, Energy Transition, and Territories

A discussion that connected Room 524 with Ceará and Campinas. We thank Lira Luz Benites Lázaro (Unicamp · CLACSO Working Group), José Auricélio Gois Lima (SEMACE/CE), and João Batista dos Santos (MAR) for bringing into the debate the questions of who controls the value generated by the energy transition and who bears its costs in territories targeted for wind energy projects. The session was organized by Deborah Werner, Júlio César Holanda Araújo, Lucas Reis Santos, and Wander Guerra.

🔹 Wednesday (21) · Panel 2 · Urban and Regional Planning and the Making of Brazil in the 21st Century

With the auditorium packed, Carlos Brandão (IPPUR/UFRJ · Espaço e Poder) discussed the future of planning in Brazil alongside Giselle Megumi Tanaka (IPPUR/UFRJ), José Ricardo Vargas de Faria (PPU/UFPR, president of ANPUR), and Luciana Leite Lima (UFRGS, president of ANEPECP). The panel was moderated by Filipe Souza Correa.

🔹 Wednesday (21) · Thematic Session 10 · Historical Perspectives on Planning and the Production of Space

José Raphael Sette Pinheiro presented his research on urbanization and the world economy in the geo-historical formation of Rio de Janeiro during the “long nineteenth century” (1763–1937).

🔹 Wednesday (21) · Open Session 9 · Rio de Janeiro, a City Under Siege: The Perspective of the “Infrastructural Turn”

Our sincere thanks to Mariana Cavalcanti (IESP/UERJ) and Clara Polycarpo (PPGS/UFF), who discussed how infrastructure and militarization sustain a permanent state of siege in the city. Fábio Pimentel moderated the session, which was organized and presented by Camila Gavazzi Felix, Isabela Martins, and Geísa Castro dos Santos.

And that’s not all! The group also coordinated and organized other activities during IPPUR Week:

▫️ Thematic Session 2 · Culture, Diversity, and Public Policies, coordinated by Mariana Bonadio.

▫️ Thematic Session 9 · Regional Development and Territorial Planning, coordinated by Hipólita Siqueira.

▫️ Thematic Session 11 · Political Economy, Financialization, and Development, coordinated by Carlos Brandão.

▫️ Open Session 10 · The State and the Coordination of Public Policies in the Territory, organized by Hipólita Siqueira and Carlos Brandão. We thank Aristides Monteiro Neto (IPEA) and Ricardo Karam (IBRAM) for the discussion on the National Regional Development Policy and the Culture, Environment, and Climate Change Program.

▫️ Thematic Session 13 · Technopolitics and Territories, coordinated by Fernanda Pernasetti, who also served on the poster evaluation committee alongside Luana Adriano and Tainá Farias da Silva Maciel.

To everyone who joined our panels and sessions and shared their research, struggles, and experiences, both in person and remotely, we extend our heartfelt thanks. Our gratitude also goes to the IPPUR Week organizing committee, IPPUR, PPGPUR, and everyone who filled the seats, asked questions, and kept the debates going beyond the scheduled time.

Together, we continue to reflect on space, power, and possible paths toward democratic planning!