Sociologia

Urban Latin America has become synonymous with violence and insecurity. Whereas levels of violence since 2000, in terms of homicide rates, dropped everywhere else in the world, Latin America and the Caribbean were the exception. Often, efforts to explain this make a connection between poverty, crime, and violence that finds its typical representation in peripheral urban areas: shanty towns. This paper challenges such one-dimensional assumptions by critically examining the complex nexus between violence, insecurity and urban space in urban Latin America. We will define contemporary urban violence in the region and discuss its key characteristics and explanatory factors. Then, we will examine the socio-spatial dimensions of violence and insecurity in three domains: the linkages between criminal gangs, drugs, and violence in peripheral areas; the impact of violence and fear on the strategies of seclusion employed by specific social classes; state responses, especially policing, to show how regimes of public security are differentiated in socio-spatial terms. We will argue that these differences reflect differences in citizenship status and citizenship subjectivity, between the privileged and the excluded. This in turn generates bottom-up responses by urban residents that take matters of security and law enforcement in their own hands.

Appropriate finance can greatly increase the speed and lower the cost of incremental housing - the process used by much of the low/moderate-income majority of most developing countries to acquire shelter. Informal finance continues to dominate the funding of incremental housing. However, new sources have developed including housing microfinance, community-based finance savings and loan groups, and consumer credit for building materials. This paper examines informal and formal finance for incremental housing and makes recommendations for the vast expansion necessary to meet the affordable housing demand from the huge urban wave in developing countries projected over the next three decades.

Emerging from the global city literature of the 1980s and 1990s, a vast scholarship has developed that embraces the ‘dual city’ concept as a useful analytical tool for explaining how global transformations produce polarization within cities. However, less is known about how local policies shape uneven patterns of development. Through an examination of Rio de Janeiro's Favela Pacification Program, we argue that state-level public policies play a significant role in institutionalizing duality. The recent military occupation of the slums in Rio de Janeiro demonstrates how the historically and politically contextualized public policy of confrontation has exacerbated tensions between the city's elites and poor residents along a number of social, economic, and political dimensions. Local policymakers can influence the impact of globalization on social polarization by considering the effects of public policies on spatial justice.

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.

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.

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 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.

Ensuring equal access to opportunities while assessing the housing needs of low-income populations has been a significant challenge in many global south countries. Social housing programs have been recurrently criticized for reinforcing inequalities by ignoring the poor conditions of urban access. This study evaluates the urban access of a national social housing program, My House My Life (Minha Casa Minha Vida, MCMV), in Brazil, one of the most unequal countries in the world. This program is renowned for building many of its housing projects in urban outskirts. We use job accessibility metrics to identify differences and similarities in MCMV housing production in six large Brazilian cities through a comparative lens. We find that although MCMV beneficiaries have less access to job opportunities than average-income citizens, the program may improve their conditions compared to individuals with similar income levels within central cities. We hope that future studies may expand this work to include the surrounding metropolitan areas, which were not considered due to data restrictions. We also expect to encourage other efforts in the investigation of social housing impacts through spatial data science, especially in evaluating accessibility in large-scale social housing programs.