ABSTRACT: Housing problems in Brazil are complex and widely recognized, requiring a direct focus on cities and especially the metropolitan area, where disarticulated processes of occupation reflect socioeconomic inequality and relate to with environmental and human challenges on urban space. Housing design cannot be limited to the housing unit itself: it ought to consider the resident’s needs, culture and relationship with place and, at the urban scale, integrating with other actions on land use, mobility and environmental sanitation. In the urban area of Manaus, the unplanned occupation of the margins of igarapes — small navigable rivers in the Amazon region — has been occurring without the provision of sanitation infrastructure, the preservation of vegetation cover and of soil permeability. All of those measures would be necessary for preventing the flooding of rivers, whose pollution exacerbates the problems at the extremes of flooding and drought. Despite the traditional cultural importance of the neighborhood in the southeastern region of the city, local people in the district of Educandos have been losing their relationship with the igarape as well as their culture and values. In addition, housing units have decreasing levels of thermal comfort, healthiness and habitability, being mostly located in the flood risk zone, devoid of sanitation. The study presents and analyzes a reformulation project and housing design developed for a portion of the margins of the Educandos igarape, in view of its potential to promote a better quality of life for local residents and make a positive impact in the city.
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