USP Academy – 2026 – Modern Architecture in Brazil, China, and Latin America: A Decolonial Glance

About the course:

The course aims to promote a comparative reading of the ways in which the Euro-American model of modernity, based on industrial production and the assumption of European racial superiority, was imposed, assimilated, and transformed in Brazil, China, and Latin America, from the eighteenth century to the present day. In the sphere of urban production, the universalization of this model has had enormous civilizational, spatial, technological, and technopolitical impacts on the societies studied, shaping everything from government actions, the productive arrangements of the construction market, and urban organization to the very structure of university teaching and research.

We consider it essential to continuously renew the history of architecture and urbanism in Brazil through dialogue with emerging themes, ideas, and references resulting from the transformations affecting society and the world. We deem it timely to broaden the understanding of the historiography of so-called modern architecture in light of new historical and theoretical paradigms, such as those offered by decolonial thought and by consolidated frameworks in China and Latin America. In a world moving toward multipolarity, and in a country like Brazil that is gradually recognizing and seeking to redress historical injustices and erasures of its original populations, it is undoubtedly urgent to reassess our perception of prevailing standards in architecture and urbanism. Examining the Chinese context, as a political, economic, and cultural power of the Global South, will enable a cross-cutting reading of the phenomena under study.

Course Summary

The course aims to:

1. Characterize and historically contextualize the modern architectural model produced and disseminated worldwide by North Atlantic countries in the first half of the 20th century, and its hegemonic nature;
2. Critically compare the processes of imposition, assimilation, and transformation of the modern Europe-US-led model of architecture in Brazil, China, and Latin America;
3. To reexamine and expand studies on the origins of modern architecture in Brazil, China, and Latin America, in relation to buildings, cities, and territory, according to the historical and geopolitical perspective of decolonial thought;
4. Consider the international geopolitical situation and the role of European and US governments, financial and industrial agents, and global distribution chains in shaping patterns of lifestyles, teaching, and production of architecture and construction technologies in Brazil, China, and Latin America;
5. Identify the historical erasure of other architectures, ways of building, and worldviews in countries of the global South, in the process of imposing a hegemonic architectural and urban model;
6. Address the role of universities in teaching and research in the field of Architecture and Urbanism, which contributes to the consolidation of the modern Euro-US model of architecture and urbanism;
7. Explore the potential and limits of the decolonial perspective for the investigation of processes specific to the field of Architecture and Urbanism;
8. Expand Brazilian and Latin American theoretical frameworks with contributions from Chinese and Eastern references.

Course Content

1. Introduction to the course, faculty, and institutions involved. Introduction to USP’s graduate program structure. Introduction to the Decolonial Perspective: the Global North, the Global South, and Power Relations.;
2. Chinese theoretical frameworks for examining modern architecture and urbanism;
3. Historical contextualization and formal, spatial, and technopolitical characterization of the modern Euro-US model of architecture and urbanism;
4. Processes of imposition, assimilation, and transformation of the modern Euro-US model of architecture and urbanism in Brazil, China, and Latin America;
5. Other notions of modernity: architectural expressions from the South that suffered historical erasure due to the universal imposition of a hegemonic model;
6. City-country relations in the constitution of counter-hegemonic initiatives;
7. Universities and the consolidation of the modern Euro-US model of teaching and research in architecture;
8. The current cultural, economic, and technological domination of the global North over the South, through the teaching and production of architecture.

The course is structured into three thematic blocks: 1. ARCHITECTURES; 2. CITIES; and 3. TERRITORIES, the latter examining urban-rural relations from a multi-scalar perspective. Each block consists of three classes (each 3 hours long): Class 1: Brazil, Class 2: China, and Class 3: Latin America, totaling nine classes, three in each thematic block.

The tenth class consists of a debate with active student participation. Throughout the previous nine classes, students will prepare sets of questions they found relevant in class and present them in this final class as points for a collectively developed agenda. Students will work in groups comprising members from different universities.

Scholars	Guest Scholars	Teaching Mode
Associate Professor Dr. Marcelo Tramontano –Institute of Architecture and Urbanism – USP Professor Dr. Nilce Aravecchia-Botas – Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism – USP	Associate Professor Dr. QING Feng – School of Architecture, Tsinghua University/China; Associate Professor Dr. LIU Yishi – School of Architecture, Tsinghua University/China; Professor Rosa Aboy – Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo, Universidad de Buenos Aires/Argentina	Participation is preferably in person, mandatory for students of IAU-USP and FAU-USP, but may be in remote mode for students from institutions outside the city of São Paulo and from other countries.

Number of Places Available	Venue	Dates	Class Schedule	Language of Instruction
65	Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism – USP, campus São Paulo	Starting date: 20/07/2026 Ending date: 31/07/2026	Monday to Friday: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.	English and Spanish.

Application period:

International Students 1st Call:	International Students 2nd Call:	National Students Single Call
November 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026	March 1, 2026 to May 31, 2026	March 1, 2026 to May 31, 2026

Learn more about the USP Academy 2026 program by visiting the website: USP Academy

For further information, about this course, please contact ccintiau@sc.usp.br