Mina das Águas Claras Masterplan

The redevelopment of the Águas Claras Mine represents the greatest opportunity for urban transformation in Belo Horizonte and Nova Lima, holding the potential to integrate the environment and urban development in an emblematic way.

Beyond the commitment to devising a sustainable form of urban development, our team sought to create solutions that are pertinent and sensitive to the cultural and social particularities of the context in which the project is situated.

Therefore, it involves envisioning an urban occupation rooted in the open pit, the mountains, the sterile soil, and the legacy of industrial buildings, while also taking into account the Mata do Jambreiro and the striking contrast between mining and nature present throughout the region.

The urban development footprint is restricted to 190 hectares, or about 10% of the total 1,900 ha area. A large portion of the land consists of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) adjacent to streams and the Serra do Curral, the RPPN (Private Natural Heritage Reserve), the Legal Reserve, and areas with slopes greater than 47% or at risk of geological hazards; these restrictions result in a developable area of 190 ha.

The goal of this masterplan is for the MAC area to become a new paradigm of urban centrality in one of the last pockets of urban expansion along the southern vector, near the South Zone of Belo Horizonte. It is a development plan where environment, mobility, and land use are integrated into a unique context, building its identity upon its local peculiarities and constraints.