| Villa-Lobos State Park | |
|---|---|
 View towardsMarginal Pinheiros | |
.png)  Villa-Lobos State Park  Villa-Lobos State Park | |
| Nearest city | São Paulo |
| Coordinates | 23°32′48″S46°43′16″W / 23.54667°S 46.72111°W /-23.54667; -46.72111 |
| Area | 732,000 square metres (7,880,000 sq ft)[1] |
| Created | 1989 |
| Website | www |
Villa-Lobos State Park (Portuguese:Parque Estadual Villa-Lobos) is a park inSão Paulo, Brazil. It is named after composerHeitor Villa-Lobos, and is located next toPinheiros River. It was created in 1989 on a site that was previously used as arubbish tip. The park now has around 37,000 trees. It hosted the annualAberto de São Paulo from 2001 until 2014 and in 2025 started to host theSP Open.
The park is located theAlto de Pinheiros district[1] to the west of the centre of São Paulo.[2]
In the late 1980s the area where the park is now located was used as a rubbish tip. The western area was used by theCompanhia de Entrepostos e Armazéns Gerais do Estado de São Paulo (Company of Warehouses and General Warehouses of the State of São Paulo, CEAGESP) for their garbage disposal, and around 80 families werescavenging for food and packaging there. The central part was used as a waste dump forcivil construction, and the eastern part was used to holddredged material from the Pinheiros river.[1]
The first studies to turn the area into a park were carried out in 1987 as part of thecentenary ofHeitor Villa-Lobos's birth. State decrees allocated 732,000 square metres (7,880,000 sq ft) to create the park, dedicated to leisure, culture and sport. TheDepartamento de Águas e Energia Elétrica (Department of Water and Electric Power, DAEE) started to clear the site in 1989, removing the families that were living there, and 500,000 cubic metres (18,000,000 cu ft) of debris that was larger than 1 metre (3.3 ft) diameter. The site was landscaped by moving 2,000,000 cubic metres (71,000,000 cu ft) of earth. TheBoaçava creek, which runs through the site, waschannelized.[1]
The new park was designed byDécio Tozzi, with a "music city" theme.[1]
The administration of the park was changed in January 2004 to theSecretaria do Meio Ambiente (State Department of Environment, SMA) of São Paulo state, with emergency maintenance carried out at the park in the same year, and the possibility of extending the park was started to be investigated.[1] In 2011 plans were announced to expand the park by 20% by incorporating a 123,000 square metres (1,320,000 sq ft) area currently used for the construction ofLine 4 of the São Paulo Metro.[3]
Around 5,000 people visit the park each day during the week, around 20,000 people during weekends, and around 30,000 people during holidays.[2]
The park has a bird nursery, musical island, playgrounds, and around 37,000 trees[1] native to theAtlantic Forest.[2] Parts of the park have audio playback of sounds by Heitor Villa-Lobos.[1] It was one of the firstaccessible parks in the city. The "Circuito das Árvores" is a 120 metres (390 ft)-long elevated walkway through trees at heights up to 3.5 metres (11 ft).[2]
There are a number of buildings in the park including:
The park has a bike path, a jogging track,[2] hiking trails,[1] football fields,street basketball courts, tennis courts, and gym equipment.[2]