The emergence of natural innovation ecosystems in Brazil strategies and impacts related to the implementation of the 4D Innovation District in the city of Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is the capital and the largest city of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the southern most Brazilian state. The 4th district is a region encompassing 5 zones that composed the industrial perimeter of the XIX century. Due to economic changes and the set back of the industrial activity in the city, the 4th District region suffered a progressive degradation of public spaces and several historical buildings of cultural value are abandonned. This area has frequently been the focus of interest of local governments when discussing urban improvements, but none of the plans went ahead. That is one of the reasons why the current 4D Innovation District project is being carefully setup and structured. In this paper we report from the 4D Master Plan that has been developed in the last years coodinated by the Urban Technology Nucleus (NTU) from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul,