After the “Ibirapuera effect,” Urbia looks to PPPs to unlock a new cycle for parks

On October 23, 2026, Urbia, a company belonging to the Construcap Group, marked a turning point in its trajectory within the public space management market. After completing six years at the helm of Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo's most iconic park, the company announced a strategic shift in its expansion model. The focus has now turned to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), a financial and administrative mechanism designed to enable the management of parks that lack sufficient commercial revenue to cover their own operating costs. This transition reflects a maturation of the concession sector in Brazil, which currently has 39 active contracts, and signals a necessary adaptation to scale the business beyond assets with high tourism and commercial appeal.

Urbia's decision does not occur in a vacuum, but rather as a direct response to the limitations of the traditional concession model. In the format applied to Ibirapuera, the concessionaire's profitability depends on the commercial exploitation of the space—such as events, food services, and sponsorships—without charging admission fees for public access. However, the company's board recognizes that this financial equation is an exception, not the rule, in the national scenario of urban and natural parks.

Context and background: The consolidation of Urbia

The recent history of Urbia is intertwined with the evolution of park concessions in Brazil. The Construcap Group took over the management of Ibirapuera Park exactly six years ago, in a move that sparked intense debate about the role of the private sector in maintaining public assets. Since then, the company has consolidated a business model that required massive capital injections. To date, investments made by Urbia exceed R$ 430 million, applied to the recovery of infrastructure, security, cleaning, and maintenance of the spaces under its care.

Throughout this six-year period, the company did not limit itself to the state capital of São Paulo. Urbia aggressively expanded its portfolio and today brings together 12 operations spread across five Brazilian states. In São Paulo, in addition to Ibirapuera, the company operates five other parks. Outside the São Paulo axis, the concessionaire has taken over the management of assets of national and international significance, such as Iguaçu National Park, in Paraná, and Jericoacoara National Park, in Ceará.

This geographic and asset-profile diversification—mixing urban parks for daily use with natural parks of global tourist appeal—provided Urbia with the operational data necessary to understand the limitations of the pure concession model. The current perception is that to maintain the pace of growth and take on less commercially attractive areas, the contractual model needs to change.

The exhaustion of the commercial model and the bet on PPPs

Urbia's president, Roberto Capobianco, has been the primary voice articulating this new phase for the company. The diagnosis is clear: the financial model applied at Ibirapuera is not replicable for all assets. Parks located in peripheral areas, mid-sized cities, or with severe land-use restrictions cannot generate the volume of business necessary for the concessionaire to recover investments and pay the grant to the government based solely on ancillary revenues.

It is in this scenario that Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) emerge as the tool capable of unlocking a new business cycle. Unlike a standard concession (where revenue risk is 100% on the private partner), a PPP, specifically in the form of administrative or sponsored concession, provides for financial compensation from the State. In practical terms, the government pays the company to maintain the park at a quality standard pre-established in the contract, compensating for the lack of self-sufficient commercial viability of the asset.

Currently, the Brazilian market has 39 park concession contracts in place. However, many municipalities and states have green areas that suffer from neglect and a lack of public budget for basic maintenance, but do not attract investor interest precisely due to the inability to monetize them. Urbia's strategy targets this exact gap.

Impact on the sector, users, and the government

Urbia's pivot toward PPPs has direct consequences for three main spheres of society:

• For Urbia and the concession sector: The change represents a search for more predictable revenues. By anchoring part of its billing in government compensation, the company mitigates the risk of market fluctuations (such as drops in sponsorship or event revenues). This sets a precedent for other companies in the infrastructure sector to view smaller or deficit-ridden parks as viable business opportunities.
• For the Government (state and municipal levels): The PPP model acts as a fiscal and operational relief tool. Governments that currently spend resources inefficiently on the precarious maintenance of parks can transfer execution risk to the private sector. Although the government still needs to disburse resources to pay the PPP compensation, the total cost tends to be lower and the level of service (cleaning, security, maintenance) significantly higher, optimizing public spending.
• For park users: The population is the ultimate beneficiary of infrastructure improvements. Parks that previously lacked resources, proper lighting, and security now benefit from professional maintenance. Furthermore, Urbia's strategy reinforces an effort to demystify privatization. The company emphasizes that a concession or a PPP does not mean the sale of public assets; the park remains owned by the State, with guaranteed access for the population, with only the maintenance operator changing.

What is not yet known

Despite the clarity in the change of strategic guidelines, Urbia's announcement leaves some important gaps to which the market and civil society are still awaiting answers:

• The specific asset pipeline: Although the company mentioned it is monitoring new projects, such as those in the city of Goiânia, there is no detailed list of which specific parks are on the immediate radar for the structuring of PPPs.
• The reaction of the public sector: The macroeconomic scenario of 2026 presents significant budgetary challenges for states and municipalities. It remains to be seen how governments will react to the demand for PPPs, as this model requires the commitment of future revenues from the public budget to pay compensation to the concessionaire.
• The guarantee structure: In PPP projects, the private partner requires robust guarantees that the State will honor monthly payments. The details of how the payment structure would work and which guarantee funds would be used in Urbia's future PPPs remain an unknown.

What to expect next

Urbia's next steps should involve a more intense engagement with city halls and state governments to model feasibility studies. The market should watch for:

• Progress in Goiânia: The explicit mention of the Goiânia projects indicates that the capital of Goiás may be one of the first practical laboratories for this new Urbia PPP thesis.
• Market education: The company will need to invest in institutional communication to convince public managers that a PPP is financially more advantageous than direct maintenance, especially in a year of fiscal restrictions.
• New entrants: If Urbia is successful in structuring the first PPPs for parks without commercial appeal, it is likely that investment funds and other infrastructure concessionaires will start to compete for this niche, heating up the auction market in the coming years.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is the difference between the Ibirapuera concession and the PPP model that Urbia wants to adopt? In a traditional concession, such as Ibirapuera, the company assumes the costs and makes a profit exclusively by commercially exploiting the space (events, restaurants, sponsorships). In a PPP, since the park does not generate sufficient commercial revenue, the government pays a monthly fee (compensation) to the company to ensure maintenance and service quality.

2. Does the adoption of PPPs mean that parks will be privatized and charge entrance fees? No. Urbia emphasizes that concessions and PPPs are not privatizations. The park remains public property. The financial model of Ibirapuera, which does not rely on entrance fees, is the basis of the company's philosophy, and the PPP serves precisely for the government to subsidize the operation, maintaining free access or low social prices for the population.

3. How many parks does Urbia currently manage and what is the amount already invested? As of October 2026, Urbia manages 12 operations distributed across five Brazilian states, including Ibirapuera (SP), Iguaçu (PR), and Jericoacoara (CE). The company has already invested over R$ 430 million in the improvement and maintenance of these assets.