PIU, AIU and OUC: the structural urbanism package of São Paulo.

Three acronyms, two tiers of regulation

PIU, AIU and OUC. Three acronyms, three distinct urban planning instruments, on two distinct regulatory tiers. The OUC is part of the City Statute, a federal law. The pair PIU plus AIU is a creature of the São Paulo Strategic Master Plan. Treating all of them as if they belonged to a single family is the most common way to err in the diagnosis.

What each acronym means

OUC, Consorted Urban Operation

Federal instrument established by the City Statute, articles 32, 33 and 34 of Law 10.257 of 2001. Article 32 § 1 defines the OUC as the set of interventions and measures coordinated by the municipal authority, with the participation of owners, residents, permanent users and private investors, with the goal of producing structural urban transformations, social improvements and environmental enhancement within a given area. Article 34 authorizes the issuance of Certificates of Additional Construction Potential, the CEPACs, which finance the works of the operation itself. The OUC depends on a specific municipal law anchored in the master plan. The instrument is federal, the approval is case by case.

PIU, Urban Intervention Plan

Municipal instrument of São Paulo, established by article 134 of Municipal Law 16.050 of July 31, 2014, the Strategic Master Plan, and originally regulated by Decree 56.901 of March 29, 2016. It assembles and articulates technical studies to advance the planning and restructuring of underused areas with transformation potential. In the 2023 revision of the PDE (Strategic Master Plan), the name shifted from Urban Intervention Project to Urban Intervention Plan. The content is the technical study that delimits the perimeter, defines parameters, the program of interventions and the financing model. Cities in other states may have equivalent instruments under different names, anchored in their local legislation.

AIU, Area of Urban Intervention

Territorial unit where the PIU applies, with an operating perimeter, land use and occupancy parameters, a program of interventions and a management council that is jointly composed of public authority and civil society. Also established by the PDE of São Paulo. Interventions within the AIU are funded, as a rule, by the charge for additional building rights, with mandatory allocation of part of the resources to social interest housing.

The order matters

The AIU delimits the eligible territory. The PIU designs the technical content of the intervention within it, with perimeter, program and parameters. The OUC, once approved by specific municipal law, provides the larger-scale financial instrument: the issuance of CEPACs established by article 34 of the City Statute. Without AIU, the PIU loses its territorial base under the PDE. Without PIU, the technical study that sustains the OUC is missing. Without OUC, what remains is ordinary charge for additional building rights and the current budget, valid instruments yet smaller in scale for large restructuring efforts.

Who does what at each stage

The matrix below separates, stage by stage, the role of the public authority, of the market and of the architecture firm. Read vertically, the contribution of each agent appears; read horizontally, the operational sequence.

Why Arsenic operates on all three fronts

Structuring developments today requires circulating between city hall, investor and technical design. Delivering a floor plan is not enough. One must understand how the urban planning instrument functions, how it generates revenue and how it is approved. That is why Arsenic positions itself as a link: the same team that drafts the PIU follows the legislative process in the municipal council and models the feasibility book of the OUC.

Reference cases

• OUC Faria Lima. The current consorted version is set in São Paulo Municipal Law 13.769 of January 26, 2004, which replaced the former Operação Urbana Faria Lima of Law 11.732 of 1995. It introduced CEPACs and financed works such as the tunnel system, the reurbanization of Largo da Batata and social interest housing developments.
• OUC Água Espraiada. São Paulo Municipal Law 13.260 of December 28, 2001, regulated by Decree 53.364 of 2012. A reference model for CEPAC with social counterpart. The name is Água Espraiada, in the singular.
• OUC Água Branca. Updated by São Paulo Municipal Law 17.561 of June 5, 2021, which revised Law 15.893 of 2013, adjusted CEPAC values and raised the mandatory allocation of resources to social interest housing to 30%.
• OUC Bairros do Tamanduateí. Established by São Paulo Municipal Law 18.079 of January 11, 2024, with a perimeter of about 16 million square meters covering Cambuci, Mooca, Ipiranga, Vila Carioca and Vila Prudente. Estimated R$ 1.15 billion in CEPACs over 20 years, with at least 35% of resources directed to social interest housing.
• PIU Setor Central and AIU of Setor Central, in São Paulo. Approved by Municipal Law 17.844 of September 14, 2022 and regulated by Decree 63.368 of April 23, 2024. A perimeter of 2,098 hectares covering República, Sé, Brás, Belém, Pari, Bom Retiro and Santa Cecília. At least 40% of resources from the charge for additional building rights are directed to popular housing for families earning up to two minimum wages.

What changes for the investor

• Outside AIU and OUC. The lot operates under the general parameters of the zone established by the master plan and the land use and occupancy law.
• With AIU and PIU approved. Parameters may be differentiated in floor area ratio, height limit, uses and program mix, in exchange for counterpart payment through the charge for additional building rights.
• With an OUC in force. Additional building rights within the perimeter depend on acquiring CEPACs at public auction promoted by the municipality. CEPACs are securities, tradable on the market, and article 34 § 1 of the City Statute provides that they may only be converted into building rights within the area of the operation itself.

Conclusion

PIU, AIU and OUC are not bureaucracy. They are the way São Paulo, within a shared federal framework, reconfigured the relationship between city, capital and project. Other Brazilian municipalities can replicate the logic by adapting the instruments to their own master plan, always anchored, on the OUC side, in the City Statute. Whoever masters the three instruments, and knows how to identify when the local equivalent exists and when it has yet to be established, masters where and how the next wave of developments will take place.

Sources consulted

All URLs accessed on May 16, 2026.

• Law 10.257/2001, City Statute, Planalto. Articles 32, 33 and 34 on the Consorted Urban Operation and CEPACs.
• São Paulo Strategic Master Plan, Municipal Law 16.050/2014 and 2023 revision, Gestão Urbana SP
• Urban Intervention Plans (PIU), official Gestão Urbana SP page, legal basis and regulatory decrees
• Areas of Urban Intervention (AIU), official Gestão Urbana SP page
• OUC Faria Lima, official Gestão Urbana SP page (Law 13.769/2004 replacing Law 11.732/1995)
• Law 13.260/2001, establishment of OUC Água Espraiada, São Paulo Municipal Legislation Catalogue
• Revision of OUC Água Branca, Law 17.561/2021 superseding Law 15.893/2013, Gestão Urbana SP
• OUC Bairros do Tamanduateí, Law 18.079/2024, Gestão Urbana SP
• PIU Setor Central, Law 17.844/2022 and Decree 63.368/2024, Gestão Urbana SP
• AIU of Setor Central, official Gestão Urbana SP page