Recife faces significant challenges from the climate emergency. It is the first Brazilian city to recognise the state of climate emergency and has a goal to become carbon neutral by 2050. In October 2023 Spatial Practices director and architect Alex Warnock Smith and MA Cities course leader Diana Ibanez Lopez along with Juliana Muniz Westcott from London's Central Saint Martins took part in the REC’N’Play 2023 Festival in Recife. They joined Lucie Renou, Coordinator of International Projects at the SAMOA Urban Development Agency and Sophie Maitrallain, responsible for the Agency's open innovation and experimentation area to discuss Recife's sustainability and resilience and the environment. During the festival, MA Cites produced a live broadcast on Spatial Radio as a collaborative research piece exploring the concept of the City as a Climate, with a focus on Recife’s complicated relation to water; its three rivers, the ocean, flooding, drainage and more.