Estrutura econômica e mercado de trabalho

Appropriate finance can greatly increase the speed and lower the cost of incremental housing - the process used by much of the low/moderate-income majority of most developing countries to acquire shelter. Informal finance continues to dominate the funding of incremental housing. However, new sources have developed including housing microfinance, community-based finance savings and loan groups, and consumer credit for building materials. This paper examines informal and formal finance for incremental housing and makes recommendations for the vast expansion necessary to meet the affordable housing demand from the huge urban wave in developing countries projected over the next three decades.

Focusing on the labor market outcomes, we present the research methodology discussing the strategy to get rid of the usual identification hypothesis that restricts job locations to the central business district (CBD). Our strategy allows dealing with the simultaneous nature of business and housing locations, and urban prices determination in a richer geographical setting. Before proceeding to that, we look at some stylized facts concerning the spatial structure of our study region.

This paper presents one of the case studies of the international applied research project ‘‘Promoting Decent Work in Construction and Related Services: the Key Role of Local Authorities’’. An article in this special issue presents the aims, scope, methodology and rationale of this research project. The purpose of this article is to present the local employment situation in Santo André, using some indicators of the four key components of decent work. In this case study, quantitative data analysis included official statistics at both the national and local levels. In addition, qualitative information was collected by interviews with key actors of different institutions involved in the construction sector, namely staff of the Municipality of Santo André, workers’ unions and employers’ associations. The research also analysed the initiatives of the municipal authorities in Santo André to promote employment in the construction sector and related services. Special attention has been attributed to the Santo André Mais Igual (SAMI) programme, because it has been selected as an example of ‘‘best practice’’ for urban upgrading and social inclusion.

In recent decades, the world has witnessed a remarkable surge in urban expansion, leading to profound consequences for the global climate, biodiversity, and ecological environment. Despite the existence of numerous case studies, assessing the precise contributions of individual cities to this global trend has proven challenging, primarily due to the daunting task of collecting census data for thousands of cities. The study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the recent urban expansion in more than 6000 cities, utilizing state-of-the-art longterm datasets of urban impervious surface area (ISA), population, gross domestic product (GDP) data, and a global city boundary. By tracking the changes in ISA, population, and GDP, we assessed the magnitude and direction (increasing or decreasing) of these variables over time at both the global level and across different regions and countries. Through correlation analysis, we established statistical relationships between urban expansion and GDP growth as well as population change. Furthermore, we examined the profits of these cities and evaluated the projected flood risks they faced. Through the study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis and revealed detailed characteristics, patterns, and disparities in city development, economic output, population density, as well as the profits and projected flood risks across cities, countries, and regions. This in-depth understanding of recent urban expansion provides valuable insights for decision-makers and stakeholders to actively promote sustainable urban development and effectively manage associated risks in diverse geographical contexts.

This study investigated the mobility patterns of favela residents based on an analysis of their daily movements derived from high-frequency mobile phone data. Daily movements were measured considering the distance traveled at different times of day over the course of more than two months. Potential trip purposes for the most frequently visited locations were inferred based on land use data from property taxes. The high volume of geocoded data from mobile phones enabled the analysis during multiple days, also covering weekends, usually not considered in traditional transport surveys. The mobile phone data indicated that, on average, favela residents go farther from home during business days and perform less out of home activities during weekends when compared with non-favela residents. Further, distinct patterns for favelas and non-favela residents were mapped, considering different geographical areas, revealing space and time mobility inequalities.

Recently a large data set has been collected for LAC countries, which permits detailed study of household tenure. This data set constitutes the empirical basis of this paper in which the following research questions are addressed: What are the main patterns of urban housing tenure in LAC countries and how and why do they differ? What is the role of household income in determining urban housing tenure? To what extent does the presence of informal housing upset the positive linear relationship between income and tenure that is typically found in developed countries? The paper is organised as follows. The first section offers a brief review of the existing literature on the role of household income and tenure. The methodology employed in the study is explained in the second section and the results are presented in the third section.

Urban inequality is widely debated but few studies examine developments over time and across cities. In this contribution, we develop a novel approach to study the dynamics of inequality in cities of the Global South. Using a sample that includes cities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, we track trends in equality since the 1990s in four domains: the labor market, education, private goods, and public amenities. With descriptive statistics, inequality indexes, and logistic regression analysis, we show that while inequality in educational attainment is decreasing across all cities in our sample, patterns in the other domains are more complex. Even though the middle occupational group is growing in most cities in our sample, there are important exceptions and substantial regional variations. While we find that inequality in material comfort more often decreased than increased, class position continues to predict access to both private goods and public amenities. Although the observed patterns are complex, we find no proof of escalating inequalities in the domains under study.

Experiences of state/community partnerships in the field of land and housing in developing countries have had mixed results in attaining their goals of improving access to shelter for low-income households. Drawing upon evidence from Porto Alegre, Brazil, this paper argues that partnerships may represent an opportunity when the relationship is based on accountability and transparency, on common goals and shared responsibilities, even when resources are scarce. The role of the public partner was to provide technical and organizational assistance and act as a mediator between coops and private interests. The role of the cooperatives was to mobilize as a cooperative and develop a savings and organizational capacity. The partners carried out these roles and developed new ones during the construction of the partnership. The partnership however was not exempt from difficulties. Besides frictions between state officials and cooperators and among types of cooperatives, external constraints jeopardized the development of the organizations. Land use restrictions, lack of access to construction finance and lack of a supportive legislative and policy framework still constitute shortcomings for the development of low-income housing cooperatives in Brazil.

The city of São Paulo, home to 11 million people, suffers constantly the effects of  flooding caused by extreme precipitation. Localized floods occur every summer in various parts of the city. Besides the losses and inconvenience felt by the residents, floods produce damages that cross the city boundaries, affecting income and output in the metropolitan area as well as in other parts of the state and the country. The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic impacts of floods in the city of São Paulo through the use of a Spatial Computable General Equilibrium (SCGE) model integrated to GIS information related to the location of points of floods and the firms within their influence. It is estimated that floods contributed to reduce city growth and residents' welfare, as well as hampering local competitiveness in both domestic and international markets. An intra-city total impact-damage ratio of 2.2 and an economywide total impact-damage ratio of 5.0 were found.

The presence of precarious housing solutions, such as favelas and irregular settlements, is a basic feature of urban inequalities in Southern cities, and the predominant description of the international literature suggests social and housing homogeneity of these areas. They are known to be strongly affected both by economic conjunctures and by public policies, which changed intensely in Brazilian metropolises since the 1990s, transforming the existing housing precarity. This article discusses recent changes in housing precarity in the city of São Paulo, showing a reduction of its intensity, but the increasing heterogeneity of the situations. We estimate the population in favelas and irregular settlements and the socioeconomic indicators of their inhabitants and households recently, drawing on a study using Census data and Geographic information system techniques. The paper shows that nonetheless there was a significant improvement of life conditions in favelas and irregular settlements, which tend to be quite heterogeneous, there is a maintenance of considerable inequalities between these housing solutions and the entire rest of the city.