Evolução urbana

Cities have long been enmeshed in global economic and cultural networks, so the challenge is to differentiate what is distinctive in the current processes of globalization from long-standing trends. The major cities of Latin America have played an important role in global economic and political organization since the conquest of the Americas by Spain and Portugal. In Spanish America, cities such as Mexico City and Lima were important rodes in the organization both of transatlantic and transpacific trade. They were also essential elements in ordering the internal economies of the Spanish colonies so that these could contribute to the global economy (Morse, 1971). Other cities, such as Guanajua to in Mexico or Potosi in the viceroyalty of Peru performed specialized and subordinate roles within the urban hierarchy of the colonies as sites of mining and manufacturing. In Brazil, the cities were equally important in organizing the participation of the colony in the global economy of the day. Indeed, the unity of Brazil was, to a certain extent, maintained in the face of centrifugal forces by the trade and communication between its major coastal cities. With independence, the new countries of Latin America were configured around the major cities and around the economic and political projects of the elites that dominated those cities. 

This paper examines the systems of social relations underpinning the late 1980s’ office boom in São Paulo, Brazil. Using ‘institutionalist’ approaches to provide an empirical examination of these systems, it focuses on the nature of the dominant agents and their strategies, the linkages that allow them to perform their functions, and the relative position and power of the agents in the production and use of built structures. The paper tries to situate these systems in their economic and social environment and to point to the connections between socially constructed property markets, their environment, and the characteristics and outcomes of the property boom. In doing so, it aims to cast some light on the processes through which a mix of economic, social and cultural impulses, of global and a local origins, are related to the structures of provision of offices in the context of São Paulo and lead to the production of specific forms of built environment.

One of the main factors of imbalance in the urban development of cities is undoubtedly their growth rate. In this sense, one of the main characteristics of rural-urban migration phenomena that have shaped the development of megacities in developing countries has been the need to integrate a large mass of people through processes of rapid growth of its urban plot. In this paper the growth of five different cities in Latin America is analyzed from the perspective of the impact of these processes of transformation in the urban landscape, describing different levels of pathology in their development. Consumption of periurban space, cityscape misconfiguration, or the longterm sustainability of these processes of transformation are complex issues that need to be addressed from a rigorous and technical perspective. These variables will be subject to GIS evaluation and diagnosis by territorial indicators in order to establish patterns of behaviour.

This paper examines the effects of the new economy on national city size distribution in 102 countries. Results show that the new economy has significant effects on city size distributions and such effects are heterogeneous across countries. Human capital contributes to the polarization of city size distribution in developed countries and service-dominated countries, while it helps to equalize city size distribution in industrial-dominated countries. While innovation promotes an equalized city size distribution in general, globalization promotes polarization and then equalization of city size distribution. Information and communication technology triggers an equalized followed by a polarized city size distribution, and has contributed to an equalized city size distribution in service-dominated countries. It is evident that thriving new economic processes are changing the global urban hierarchy and reshaping national city size distribution. This study facilitates an in-depth understanding of the effects of the new economy on city size distribution, which is of great importance to promote more equitable development and urbanization.

The paper is based on quantitative evidence and case examples of city learning drawn from both developed and developing countries to explore selected questions raised in the literature on learning and competitiveness. Anecdotal and quantitative evidence suggest that a large shadow market for knowledge has already formed among cities around the world. Case observations reviewed here suggest that the best learners are deliberate and systematic, finding or creating new knowledge, converting it to use, and storing learning experiences that draw on collective memory. Acquired knowledge resides in two main forms: one is hard data, stored in documents, computers, or specialized units of government. Another is soft data stored in professional and social networks that link a wide array of actors in the community - not just staff in the city bureaucracy. The analysis leads to a number of propositions that deserve attention and testing: several kinds of learning systems can be observed, that the process of learning may be as important as the product in contributing to competitiveness, that policies can helpful to facilitate learning, and that a radical departure from customary policy, especially in donor institutions, may be needed to effectively meet requirements of institutional capacity building in cities of the developing world.

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.

Studies of urban development, and specifically studies of urban inequality, have tended to neglect the role of young people. While development studies more broadly have begun to take young people's experiences, perceptions and practices into account, research on urban development and inequality has remained largely focused on adults. This lack of attention to young people is all the more surprising given the large percentage of urban residents in low-income countries that is under 25. Drawing on research in Rio de Janeiro's Zona Sul, this article argues for including young people in debates on urban development and urban inequality. It argues that a relational approach, juxtaposing the views and experiences of both rich and poor youth, is especially valuable in this regard, as those studies that have paid attention to youth, development and inequality tend to focus on low-income youth living in informal settlements. Based on mixed-method research with adolescents and youth (age 14e24) from both low-income and high-income areas, the article analyses young people's socio-spatial perceptions and practices. The research highlights that both groups experience urban inequality and insecurity as major and interrelated development problems, and that these issues affect their opportunities and quality of life, albeit in different ways.

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.

O artigo explora as visões da cidade do Rio de Janeiro no início do século XX, presentes no romance de Lima Barreto e discute como a dinâmica da implantação da modernidade em contextos periféricos se processa tardiamente e de forma subalterna em relação às metrópoles, centros do capitalismo internacional.

Cities worldwide face the challenge of balancing densification and open space provision. However, few studies investigate how urban morphology influences that balance across different cities and continents. We identified eight urban morphological types characterizing high-density residential areas in São Paulo, Brasília (Brazil), and Berlin (Germany) and assessed those morphologies using seven indicators: population density, housing density, Floor Space Index (FSI), Ground Space Index (GSI), average building height, Open-Space Ratio (OSR), and average number of people per built area. Our findings from the Brazilian cities showed that intense verticalization does not automatically ensure open space and high density. Vertical morphologies showed the highest FSI values but not the highest housing densities, and had low to moderate OSR values, comparatively. Three morphologies found in Berlin (Contemporary, Half-Open and Edge) balanced housing density and OSR best (127–147 dwellings/ha, 0.5 to 0.8 OSR values, on average). Berlin’s Traditional type showed the best balance between FSI, GSI, average building height and OSR, with buildings ranging from 1 to 9 storeys. It also achieved the highest housing densities (188 dwellings/ha, on average), but at a cost of OSR. Those findings suggest that a compact city model with perimetral blocks (Half, Edge and Traditional types) could provide an optimum use of urban space, if open space provision is properly considered. We further discuss the advantages and implications of block-based urban planning and design (traditional in Berlin and other European cities) in contrast to plot-based (often observed in Latin American cities).