Ciência Ambiental

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) as the emerging leading powers in the world have great influence on the world development. Urbanization process has been a significant engine for development in these countries, which has important effect on the sustainable development globally. However, rapid urbanization has induced various problems, such as air pollution, traffic congestion, habitat destruction, and loss of arable land. These problems present the threats to the sustainable development of urbanization in these countries. This paper presents an evaluation on the dynamic sustainability performance during urbanization process in these countries by applying an elastic coefficient method and a new-type McKinsey matrix. The data used for analysis are collected from World Bank database for the period of 1990-2011. The findings from this study suggest that during the surveyed period the Brazil, Russia and India have been engaging a sustainable urbanization practice, whilst the urbanization processes in China and South Africa are unsustainable. The study provides valuable reference in searching for solutions to further promote sustainable urbanization practice globally.

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.

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.

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 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.

Small municipalities are key to reducing waste and tackling climate change, but they often struggle to innovate and improve their capacity to deliver public services, especially in developing countries. This article explores how small municipalities can innovate in public service provision despite limited resources. Specifically, we analyzed municipal solid waste management (MSWM), a service typically overseen by municipalities and essential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The study is based on a single case: Harmonia, a small Brazilian municipality selected for its exceptional waste recovery performance – the highest in the country – alongside composting and prevention initiatives. Following an economic and environmental assessment of MSWM effectiveness, including GHG emissions, the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) was applied to analyze the political, social, and institutional factors that enabled innovation in Harmonia’s MSWM system. Findings suggest that successful innovation in small municipalities tends to rely on small-scale initiatives that require neither advanced technologies nor major investments. However, this depends on long-term support from a landscape of actors and public policies to scale up and coordinate efforts across departments, overcoming resource limitations. In Harmonia, the effectiveness of prevention actions, home composting, and recycling was rooted in decades of environmental education, social engagement, public awareness, and collaboration with other levels of government. These technological and management efforts led to costs (US$24.40 per inhabitant/year) and emissions (37.02 kg CO2eq per inhabitant) significantly below the national average (US$35.70 and 396.83 kg CO2eq per inhabitant, respectively).

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).

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.