Alphaville can be considered a forerunner of the many privately developed new cities that pop up around the world nowadays. In the seventies, Alphaville was part of the attempts of the empoverished city of Barueri to improve the economy of the city by giving tax incentives to international companies. To provide attractive housing, the developer Alphaville Urbanismo built Alphaville 1, a luxury gated community modelled along the lines of American suburbs. The concept proved highly popular and was repeated not only in Alphaville 2-12, but was also widely copied throughout Brazil.

Now, after 40 years, Alphaville has reached the next phase in its life cycle and needs to develop a new view on its development, its relation with its ‘mother town’ Barueri and the region in general. The spatial segregation of which Alphaville has become the symbol, and its focus on high end family housing need to be reconsidered if Alphaville wants to become a viable and resilient city for the next 40 years.

The Expo wants to adress all these issues by starting a Research Centre, in which scholars will focus on the culture and economy of Alphaville, with the aim of proving insights and knowledge as well as coming up with proposals for improvement: an endeavour which INTI gladly supports.