Urbanization & Infrastructure
Building the Future
The Urgency of Urban Transformation
We traveled to Belém, Brazil in January 2025 to work with BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions on a film for the second edition of the Transforming Cities series, presented by C40 Cities. We focused the lens on our Collaborative Action Platform Brazil initiative, aiming to showcase local organizations offering solutions and ideas for tackling some of today's most pressing urban challenges: climate risk, inequality, and governance gaps.
Spotlight on Solutions
We showcase the work of Observatório das Baixadas, a local initiative that empowers communities in flood-prone areas to anticipate and adapt to extreme weather and urban flooding. Together with Programa Solucao Natureza and RegeneraRS, these organizations form the core of our Collaborative Action Platform Brazil. But this story also sits at the intersection of multiple global issues – equitable economies, inclusive governance, and the power of collaborative leadership.The core idea behind our Collaborative Action Platform Brazil is to connect diverse stakeholders from different regions and sectors – civil society, policy, business and philanthropy – to drive structural change. We want to offer the infrastructure and knowledge to help local innovations coordinate and scale their impact and reach. Belém is both setting and symbol. Itis the host city of this year’s COP30 where far-reaching negotiations–not just for Belém but for the whole world–will start in December 2025. It is alsoa place where the effects of environmental breakdown are already everyday realities and a city of striking contrasts: new highways and venues built for the global summit, while nearby neighborhoods are neglected and contending with recurring floods. The tensions between global ambition and local vulnerability could not be clearer. But these tensions also bring opportunities.
Collaborative Action Platform Brazil
Leadership and Strength in Times of Crisis
Belém is a city shaped by water. With its low-lying neighborhoods known as baixadas, it needs to constantly adapt to fluctuating weather conditions and the intensifying rainstorms brought on by climate change. Observatório das Baixadas is helping residents in these frontline communities to map flood zones, monitor risks, and develop community-led early warning systems – blending local knowledge with accessible technology. Over two days of filming, we witnessed leadership in action. From cultural centers washed out by recent floods to community centers floating on stilts, every space we entered told the story of resilience – not as a buzzword, but as a practice of survival. And in every conversation, we saw local actors co-creating solutions through shared responsibility and mutual trust.
Where Innovation Meets Inclusion
As part of the production we also visited Gueto Hub, a creative and tech space led by youth from the community. There, Observatório das Baixadas unveiled a prototype of their new flood-mapping app – designed not for bureaucracies, but for neighbors. Built with local data, community workshops, and user-friendly tools, the app allows residents to anticipate risk and organize early responses. But the most powerful thing in the room wasn’t the technology – it was the atmosphere. Young leaders, artists, and educators shared ideas not as experts, but as equals. It was a space animated by (intergenerational) collaboration, a crucial ingredient in building future-proof cities. What we saw wasn’t just a project. It was a movement. One rooted in community, driven by trust, and backed by a growing network of allies – both local and global.
Baía do Guajará, Belém
Gisele Mendes
Yasmin Luiza Fonseca
These photos were captured on shoot for the film ‘Raising flood awareness in a lowland city’ – produced for us by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions
A Mission Beyond Belém
At the Foundation, we support leaders who are willing to challenge the status quo and drive forward solutions. In Belém, that mission became tangible. Not in the form of sweeping policy, but in everyday decisions: a flooded library being rebuilt to host classes again; a mother using a new alert system to move her children to safety; a teenager mapping his neighborhood because official data doesn’t exist. These are the acts that build trust. That challenge exclusion. That offer a glimpse of the cities we can live in – if we center connection, compassion, and co-creation.
Cities as Living Systems
Belém is more than a COP host city; it offers a lesson for how we think about urban transformation globally. It shows what is possible when communities are empowered and there is collaborative leadership to face the pressing issues and improve their lives with solutions tailored to their needs and environments. Because at its heart, this story is not about Belém alone. It’s about a global shift in mindset. From extractive systems to regenerative ones. From siloed decision-making to collective action. From top-down strategies to participatory governance. The real work of climate adaptation doesn’t happen in conference halls. It happens in the baixadas, in the classrooms, in the code of a locally built app. It happens when those most affected are given the power – and the trust – to shape solutions. Concerning COP30, the world may see Belém not just as a venue, but as a teacher. A city that is already showing what’s possible when leadership is shared, systems are reimagined, and resilience is rooted in collaboration and solidarity.
Baía do Guajará, Belém
Juliana Baladelli Ribeiro, Project Manager, Fundação Grupo Boticário
Andrew Leal, Founder and General Coordinator, Observatório das Baixadas
Belém, Brazil
Vila da Barca, Belém
Waleska Queiroz, Co-Founder and Project Advisor, Observatório das Baixadas
These photos were captured on shoot for the film ‘Raising flood awareness in a lowland city’ – produced for us by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions
Questions? Contact us.
BMW Foundation Team