Praças de equipamentos sociais: centros de estruturação urbana e gestão democrática da cidade

This article aims to characterize the Social Facilities Squares (SFS), developed by the Department of Buildings of the São Paulo City Hall between 1992 and 2001. The relevance of the study lies in the limited literature on the subject and its influence on subsequent public policies, such as the Unified Educational Centers. This cross-sectional case study drew on bibliographic sources, interviews with the author of the project, Alexandre Delijaicov, and the redesign of original sketches. The text begins by presenting the programmatic concept of the projects in relation to social demands and the political-administrative innovations of the period. It then examines the design rationale via the study of three SFS considered representative of the maturation of constructive logic appropriate to the challenges of public architecture. The analysis enabled the historical documentation of the proposals and highlighted their influence on the city’s architectural culture.