Mobilidade urbana

The replacement of fossil fuels by clean energy sources has emerged as a focus for those concerned with the creation of a less polluted urban environment. In this context, Brazil's use of ethanol as a vehicle fuel is unique, especially considering the country's successful adoption of flex-fuel technology first introduced in 2003. Currently, most of the fleet of vehicles circulating in Brazilian cities can use ethanol. The effect of this alternative fuel on the Brazilian urban environment is the focus of this study. In our study, the relationship between Brazil's fleet of flex-fuel vehicles and local CO2 equivalent emissions was investigated using parametric and semiparametric analysis based on modified Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) equations. The analyses employed an annual set of state-level panel data for the period from 1998 through 2013. Both analyses show that the Brazilian introduction of flex-fuel vehicles in 2003 contributed to a marginal reduction of passenger car CO2 emissions by 2013. Moreover, results also indicate that (1) there is evidence that flex-fuel vehicles can be a component in the generation of an EKC; and (2) there is a negative relationship between the area under sugarcane cultivation and CO2 emissions due to carbon sequestration. These results indicate that the substitution of ethanol for gasoline through the use of flex-fuel technology leads to fewer total greenhouse gas emissions, considering that greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol combustion and ethanol processing are outweighed by their sequestration during sugarcane growth in rural areas.

This research addresses accessibility inequalities within the context of a major Latin American metropolis, using a longitudinal analysis focused on the low-income population. Emphasizing the paradigm of sustainable accessibility planning, the study examines the evolution of job accessibility over two 15-year-apart timeframes in Fortaleza, the 4th most populous Brazilian city. The findings reveal persistent spatial mismatch and unsustainable changes in land-use patterns, highlighting ongoing challenges for low-income vulnerable groups. Despite overall improvements in accessibility, inequality patterns endure, particularly affecting those relying on public transport. The study underscores the necessity for planning processes in developing countries to address the complex causes and consequences associated with accessibility inequalities. Recommendations include a deeper exploration of differences among precarious settlements, considering population density variations, central location impact, and inequalities in job accessibility between self-built and state-constructed settlements.

In a number of cities around the world the adoption of climate policies has been driven by partnerships between multiple actors from the private sector, NGOs, and academia. With this paper we investigate the formulation and implementation processes of climate policy in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. We argue that the trend of multiactor and multilevel participation in climate policy making, detected in developed countries, can be observed in a major city from an emerging economy. We further argue that the ample engagement of actors driving the adoption of climate policies might not be reflected in policy implementation. Although São Paulo’s Municipal Climate Law was adopted after a participatory process, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the transport sector have been largely absent from its implementation. We propose four reasons for further involvement of SMEs and suggest that participation of relevant actors and sectors is necessary in both the formulation and the implementation of climate policies.

This article examines the trafficking of Venezuelan truck drivers for labour exploitation in Brazil. The remilitarisation of politics is increasingly a hallmark of elite-driven strategies to manage the circulation of labour and goods from extractive zones. This article introduces the notion of logistics of unfreedom to explain the growing imbrication between techniques of control by the state and corporations that confine the reproduction of migrants within the realm of logistics processes. The analysis focuses on data from participatory observations and the narratives of 22 Venezuelan refugees who were trafficked from a militarised humanitarian zone in Brazil's Amazon to work for a freight road transport company in Southern Brazil. Findings show that a concerted logistic approach to refugee employment channelled mobility, constrained statutory protection and shaped the ethno-political differentiation of Venezuelans in the labour market. This forced Venezuelans to live in trucks where both productive and socially reproductive aspects of their daily lives were overdetermined by the rhythms of goods distribution. The article concludes that this logistic rationale has converged towards a self-contained regime of labour unfreedom that facilitates the labour trafficking of Venezuelan refugees.

Based on a study of urban interventions in the city of Rio de Janeiro conducted in the context of the 2016 Summer Olympics, this article investigates how contemporary dispossessions relate, contribute, or do not contribute to the expansion of capitalist accumulation. To do so, I first define 3 types of dispossession: (a) redistributive dispossession; (b) expanding dispossession via capitalization and proletarianization; and (c) expanding dispossession via commodification and proletarianization. The first is only a redistribution of already produced surpluses, and the other 2 expand the accumulation of capital by converting means of production or subsistence into capital or commodities and increasing the availability of labor power. The theoretical distinction between different types of dispossession guides the analyses of spatial restructuring in the wake of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

It is usually considered that urban policy change happens gradually or abruptly, provoked by coalition shifts, political pressure, or by agenda changes in public policies. However, a broad set of urban policies in São Paulo, Brazil shows the relevance of the third kind of oscillating trajectory not yet accounted for by the literature. Departing from compared urban policies in São Paulo, this article shows incremental progressive trends due jointly to political competition (pushed by progressive governments) and policy production itself. While some programs entered the agenda to stay, others swung between implementation, latency, and reanimation. To investigate these processes, we compare four programs—(a) in situ slum upgrading and (b) bus integration (gradually imposing themselves), (c) cooperative housing construction, and (d) bus lanes/corridors (oscillating between latency and reanimation). The results challenge explanations of urban policy change, contributing to closer dialogues between urban studies and political science.

Este artigo pretende apresentar um quadro dos fluxos migratórios das mulheres que cruzam os espaços transfronteiriços dos Estados nacionais brasileiro, venezuelano e guianense, bem como o processo pelo qual reorganizam os laços familiares e os novos arranjos de símbolos e significados culturais, tanto da cultura de origem quanto da cultura receptora. O artigo está dividido em duas partes, a primeira parte faz uma breve contextualização da tríplice fronteira Brasil/ Venezuela/República Guiana, com base em aspectos históricos e geopolíticos na perspectiva de possibilitar o entendimento sobre acentuação dos fluxos migratórios diários, assim como a constituição de redes sociais através da mobilidade transfronteiriça. A segunda parte tem objetivo de situar as mulheres nesse cenário e a contribuição dessa nova realidade social nas reconfigurações de gênero, bem como, os seus reflexos na reorganização familiar.