Habitação

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.

Upgrading existing social housing (SH) requires user-centred participatory processes to promote values. Comparative case studies in Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK are presented. Living Labs (LLs) were conducted for the delivery of user values and to promote an informed decision-making process. Tools and LL activities were tested to engage stakeholders in the upgrading process, support the co-creation of solutions and address social and societal challenges. The main research aims were to facilitate SH upgrading processes focusing on the delivery of value for users, achieving end-user empowerment, as well as assessing participatory decisionmaking through LLs. Research goals were achieved in each case study setting. The evaluation of specific cases informed a conceptual framework and guidelines to facilitate upgrading through LLs in varied SH landscapes.

This paper is about changes in people's perceptions relating to security of land tenure in Recife, Brazil. This paper investigates why people living in contested settlements invest and consolidate their houses despite the apparent lack of land tenure security. The question is very simple, but the answer is highly complex. Although the topic has been widely researched, there is still insufficient understanding of what security means to individual households, and how security influences the consolidation and improvements of houses. Households invest in all kinds of processes and commodities to improve their plots, and their houses, and inevitably this changes their perceptions of security. Data were mainly gathered from in-depth interviews held with a total of 63 households living in five different informal settlements in Recife. The paper focuses on the informal claims made by households about their perceived rights over their property, since for the great majority of the households living in these settlements, property rights in the form of title deeds are not available. The key aspects highlighted in this papers are that (1) the lack of a better understanding about what tenure really means to low-income households can pose threats to the survival of low-income housing markets, and (2) contrary to orthodox knowledge, the paper contends that perceptions of tenure security increase as a result of housing consolidation.

This paper presents a study on quality of life and sustainability indicators relating to site-planning parameters for low income public housing projects in the region of Campinas, Brazil. The study is based on a post-occupancy-evaluation (POE), conducted in five housing developments. Most of these housing projects are based on a repetitive model and are devoid of urban infrastructure. Users act on their own in providing for some elements considered necessary to create an identity and community spirit. Results show that the population relates quality of life to economic factors and sustainability is associated to reduce utility bills. Houses are preferred to apartments and satisfaction with the present housing conditions is high, despite low feelings of security in the neighbourhood. This work is part of a broader study, which aims to develop design evaluation tools. Most sensitive quality of life and sustainability indicators related to site-planning should permeate these tools and establish design guidelines. The inclusion of a large number of qualitative design issues into the decision-making process and the questioning of existing standardized solutions are seen as essential means to increase local housing quality.

This paper evaluates a technical assistance program for house self-builders in the region of the city of Campinas, Brazil. The assistance given is in the form of an individualized house design, distributed to selfbuilders, based on an automated computer aided design (CAD) generated design method. A case study is used to demonstrate the efficacy of the assistance program. The transfer process of a population from an environmental protection area to a new location and their need for rapid house construction is the specific case presented. Houses are evaluated as to satisfaction and environmental comfort conditions. As a result, lessons are learnt about assistance programs and their success in improving housing quality.

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 main purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether the concession of real right to use (CRRU) has been widely applied by Brazilian municipalities, and the extent to which beneficiaries (individuals living in regularised low-income settlements) make effective use of such an instrument to secure tenure status. Another relevant aspect is to review the relationship between securing land tenure and the use of land as collateral for investment. It is hoped that the paper can be used as the basis for a longitudinal study to monitor progress in the provision of secure tenure for the urban poor in Brazil, by investigating the strengths and weakness of CRRU to the formulation and implementation of pro-poor urban land tenure policies. Findings indicate that municipalities have to overcome problems related to the implementation of these programmes, such as; resistance on the part of the judiciary (at the municipal level) to incorporate newly acquired rights; the need to change attitudes towards the legalisation process of occupied land; and the need to change residents’ perceptions of this new instrument. The success of CRRU can depend on the articulation of these issues, as well as more integrated actions among planners, lawyers, city managers, and the residents of these settlements to advance performance.

User satisfaction has been studied extensively in social housing, but this has not had a significant impact on design factors in many cases. In recent years, such studies have included the assessment of values relating to design attributes. This paper presents a discussion on the concept of desired value in social housing, based on results of a study conducted in the region of the city of Campinas, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. End-users of four multi-family social housing projects, based on five storey walk-up apartment blocks were asked to identify aspects of housing design, which are most valued. The research method was based on the concept of stated preferences, where approximately 200 respondents organized a list of design attributes in order of their desired values. The investigation tool was based on the analogy of a deck of cards. Data was statistically analyzed and a general importance index was created for each of the value attributes. Results showed that security was the main preference aspect. Analysis of general results indicates a list of possible improvements to projects with regard to value delivery to end-users at little or no costs. To contribute towards a process of incremental improvements to social housing models in the State of São Paulo, the results of the case study can be applied by agents of the local housing provision system, in conjunction with a conceptual framework of data on housing quality indicators.

International theory and practice have promoted state-assisted upgrading of ‘informal’ urban areas worldwide since the late 1970s, with various forms of monitoring and assessment of impact. Two independent studies of how residents perceive and evaluate such interventions have recently been undertaken for neighbouring parts of the upgraded area of Novos Alagados on the Itapagipe peninsula in the northwestern part of Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city. These studies start from different premises and have been implemented in very different ways, but both have the objective of permitting the ‘voice’ of the residents to be heard concerning the upgrading process. Comparing them helps highlight the essential ‘fuzzy’ nature of values concerning urban interventions of this nature and leaves us with thoughtprovoking questions concerning the role of local society in relation to the state in urban development, and the potential this has for on-going forms of urban management in cities which are emerging globally.

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.