Meio ambiente e qualidade de vida

Cities are the major contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They account for about 75% of global energy consumption and up to 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. With the ongoing rapid increase in urban population, expansion of middle class in urban centers in developing countries, and availability of cheaper vehicles such as Tata Nano and Bajaj RE60 in India, the demand for energy and associated emissions from cities are expected to grow rapidly. Though cities are in a better position to mitigate climate change, it does not necessary mean that there is a willingness on their part to capitalize on these mitigation opportunities. Climate change mitigation is not the priority for them because they face a number of competing priorities including local economic growth and development and service delivery. This paper suggests a range of policy tools that can help cities achieve both local priorities as well as reduce emissions, including GHGs. The suggested policies will be effective when used synergistically.

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.

COVID-19 initially spread among prominent global cities and soon to the urban centers of countries across the globe. While cities are the hotbeds of activities, they also seem highly exposed to global risks including the pandemic. Using the case of COVID-19 and the World Risk Index framework, this paper examines if the leading cities from the global south are inherently vulnerable and exposed to global risks and can they exacerbate the overall risk of their respective nations. Compared against their respective national averages, most of the 20 cities from 10 countries analyzed in this paper, have higher exposure, lower adaptive capacity, higher coping capacity and varied susceptibility. As this relative understanding is based on respective national averages which are often lower than the global standards, even high performance on certain indicators may still result in elevated predisposition. This paper concludes that the leading urban centers from the global south are highly likely to be predisposed to global risks due to their inherent vulnerability and exposure, and many of the drivers of this predisposition are related to the process of urbanization itself. This predisposition can enhance the overall exposure and vulnerability of the nation in which they are located.

The spontaneous conversion of formal residential and commercial buildings into high-density, informal housing is a major policy issue in the inner cities of developing countries. Yet there remains little research material to date analysing the residence dynamics, environmental health and related policy implications of this form of settlement. This paper presents and compares findings from two preliminary studies of informal sub-divided housing in the cities of São Paulo, Brazil, and Johannesburg, South Africa. It points to some of the policy implications of the work, in the light of broader debate on the management of informal settlements, and calls for further research examining this housing form within developing countries.

Growing global low-income populations living in informal urban settlements need basic services to live healthy, productive, dignified lives, but their informal status presents a legal barrier to service extension. In this paper we explore the informal mechanisms or ‘negotiated institutions’ that emerge to overcome this barrier, and the resulting link between service extension and tenure security. Primary data was collected in São Paulo, Brazil through semi-structured interviews with water supply decision makers and two community-level case studies. Interviews identified four mechanisms for approval of service extension: two forms of ‘permission’ (non-opposition) at the municipal level, a local elected official signing a law (without legal standing) or a unique instance of victory in court. We argue that the factual circumstances of de facto tenure security have to be interpreted through the lens of the entity with the power to evict. Thus, the impact of ‘negotiated institutions’ on de facto tenure security depends on the level of political support. In this case, the use of informal mechanisms to extend services did not change legal tenure status but improved de facto and perceived tenure security. Understanding these ‘negotiated institutions’ and how they emerge is crucial to being able to harness them to the advantage of informal communities that lack access to basic services.

The employment of means for efficient use of water and energy are being increasingly incentivized, in relation to the sustainability of buildings. In Brazil, there is much concern regarding the difficulty of getting low-income segments of the population to adopt energy-saving technologies. This study provides guidelines for the inclusion of manufactured, low-cost solar water heaters (LCSWH) in low-income housing in combination with environmental education of this segment of the population. Therefore, a group of dwellings located in a low-income community in Campinas SP, Brazil, was selected for installation of LCSWHs, which were assembled and installed by the study population itself, who also participated in environmental awareness workshops. Particularly apparent in the results obtained, was a tendency to reduce energy consumption by using the LCSWH, attributable in part to behavioral changes from environmental awareness; and that the planning, application or organized systematization of knowledge is feasible in low-income housing, provided it is not promoted solely by dependency culture, since the objective is to provide an instrument for self-discovery, mobilization and participation by the population.

The objective of this article is to analyze the implementation of climate change related policies by subnational governments in 3 countries: Japan (Mie Prefecture), Germany (Saxony-Anhalt) and Brazil (São Paulo). Through an empirical research, the article develops the 3 cases to understand the achievements and obstacles to implement mitigation and adaptation policies. The cases provide an interesting sample, including countries that range from a developed country more pro-active in environmental international negotiations (Germany) to a more conservative developed country (Japan) and a developing country (Brazil). The results have pointed that, as compared to adaptation, mitigation policies (such as energy conservation) have a much longer implementation history and government support at the subnational level, especially in more progressive governments, but adaptation policies have gained space in the policy agenda recently because of the increasing public interest. The success of implementation of climate related policies is linked to the way they are integrated with sectorial policies, with policies of other levels of government, with civil society and within themselves (integration of mitigation–adaptation policies).

With over half of the world's population living in cities, and with rising consumption, the generation of solid waste has become a ubiquitous and serious problem in urban agglomerations. City administrations are facing social, cultural, environmental, and economic challenges when planning solid waste solutions. The paper discusses the participatory epistemology and methodology experience resulting from inclusive solid waste management in Brazil. In the global South countless informal and organized solid waste collectors are engaged in resource recovery, classification of discarded waste, and redirection of recyclables towards the recycling sector. Their work is mostly unrecognized and the service is not remunerated. Governmental support to include recycling cooperatives in selective waste collection varies significantly in scope and quality. In theory, the Brazilian solid waste management legislation supports recycling cooperatives and promotes avoidance, reuse, and recycling as a primary solution tackling waste. In praxis, however, many challenges towards inclusive resource recovery and awareness building about waste avoidance and diversion are yet to be overcome. Action-oriented, participatory qualitative research, conducted with recycling cooperatives and local governments in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, has revealed some of ~ the environmental and social contributions, as well as challenges arising in planning, policy design, and implementation of waste management. The research applies a feminist and post-colonial theoretical lense and demonstrates a wealth of knowledge co-generation on waste management. The participatory method underlines important social aspects to consider in planning and policy design for inclusive waste management. The final conclusion of this paper is that selective household waste collection with recycling cooperatives creates unique opportunities to build more inclusive and cleaner cities.

The city of Curitiba, Brazil, is considered an exceptional model of sustainable urban planning. It has received praise for its invention of the Bus Rapid Transit System and numerous awards identify Curitiba as one of the world's greenest cities. Controversial elements have, however, been left out of this hegemonic city discourse, along with inevitable new challenges. The aim of this article is two-fold. First, we assess whether Curitiba is living up to its reputation as a leading sustainable city by analyzing three areas of urban sustainable development: green spaces, water bodies and public transportation. We show how Curitiba experiences problems ranging from social exclusion resulting from green space policies, to polluted water bodies and hampered planning in the area of public transportation. Second, we examine how the Curitiba discourse as a leading sustainable city is able to endure in this changed material context. We demonstrate how this hegemonic discourse prevents institutional transformations: the discourse becomes reproduced by powerful networks and propaganda, masking new unsustainable realities and by the same token preventing fast and successful institutional renewal.

Slum identification and mapping are fundamental to support public policies. However, slum data is affected by differences in definition, identification, spatial delimitation, sample and data collection periods. This study compares slum maps in Sao Mateus (a peripheral region of Sao Paulo city) from the 2010 demographic census and the Sao Paulo municipal government. The census and the municipal basemaps and orthophotos were overlaid in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to evaluate their similarities and differences, the reasons for inconsistencies between them. Of the 68 districts with subnormal agglomerates (EDSAs; special enumeration districts for slum areas in the Brazilian demographic census), 59% are in the categories ‘high coincidence’ or ‘partial coincidence’ with the perimeters of favelas (the main type of slum in Brazil) delineated by the Sao Paulo municipal government; the names of the residential area (favela/EDSA) are the same in only 51.5% of the subnormal agglomerates, while 26.5% of the EDSAs include residential areas not considered favelas by the municipality. Many Brazilian researchers state that the underestimation of EDSA census data is accentuated by the exclusion of favelas smaller than 51 dwellings from the census. However, at least in Sao Mateus, the exclusion of small favelas (3.6%) was not the only reason for census underestimation of favelas.