Professors in research mission at the University of Paris I: Capes-Cofecub Program
Deborah Werner and Fábio de Oliveira, members of the Research Group Space and Power and Professors at IPPUR, are currently on a research mission at the University of Paris I, in the French capital. Launched in November 2025, the mission will last ten months and is part of the activities carried out within the research project “Urban Public Services in the Face of Socio-Environmental, Technological and Democratic Challenges.” The research is coordinated by IPPUR professor Rosangela Luft and by Marion Chapouton, Secretary General of the Groupement de recherche sur les institutions et le droit de l’aménagement, de l’urbanisme et de l’habitat (Gridauh), based at the Faculty of Law of the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. Funded by the Capes-Cofecub Program, the research project will be carried out over the period 2025–2028.
In addition to the ongoing research missions, the project has already conducted two working missions: the first took place in April 2025, and the second was held in December 2025.
The first mission included field visits carried out by the French researchers Marion Chapouton (GRIDAUH), Alice Fuchs-Cessot (Université 8 / Vincennes–Saint-Denis), Frédéric Rolin (Université Paris-Saclay / GRIDAUH) and Norbert Foulquier (Université Paris 1 / SERDEAUT / GRIDAUH), together with the Brazilian team, to the state of Rio de Janeiro. The researchers visited the communities of Chapéu Mangueira and Babilônia, in the Leme neighborhood of the city of Rio de Janeiro, where they learned about the facilities of the Percília and Lúcio Distributed Generation Cooperative and the headquarters of Revolusolar, in the Cidade Nova neighborhood. They also visited the municipality of Búzios, where they took part in a public hearing on environmental licensing for cruise ship activities and visited the Mangue de Pedras biome, which is threatened by basic sanitation projects planned for implementation in the Lakes Region. In addition to the field visits, the First International Seminar “Urban Public Services and Climate Change: French and Brazilian Perspectives in Debate” was held at the IPPUR auditorium.
In December 2025, the working mission took place in Paris, with the participation of Rosangela Luft, Suyá Quintslr, Fábio de Oliveira and Deborah Werner, IPPUR professors and members of the project. Organized by the French partners, the mission included visits to the Grand Paris Express, a mobility project implemented in the Paris metropolitan area to integrate the cities that make up the Parisian periphery; to the Paris Sewer Museum, dedicated to urban sanitation in the capital and the metropolitan region; and a guided visit along the Seine River, with the aim of understanding the integration of various public services around the river. The team also took part in the Colloque du GRIDAUH sur le droit de l’urbanisme et la protection du patrimoine.
The second working mission also included the organization of the Franco-Brazilian Seminar – “Urban Public Services: Legal Regimes and Experiences in France and Brazil,” in which Brazilian researchers gave presentations on public services related to mobility, electricity and basic sanitation, from the perspective of the federal pact, the regulatory frameworks governing these services, and the challenges posed by technological changes and the processes of privatization affecting these services.
Learn more about the project “Urban Public Services in the Face of Socio-Environmental, Technological and Democratic Challenges” here.
