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Recent Submissions
Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
(AESOP, 2016) Randolph, Rainer
We are publishing here the extended abstracts presented at the IV WPSC. Those which were discussed in the Track Sessions, as well as a considerable number of contributions in Plenary and Special Sessions and Roundtables. Farnak Miraftab´s Opening Keynote “Insurgency, planning and the prospect of a humane urbanism” was published (in portuguese) in ANPUR´s journal Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais (Brazilian Journal of Urban and Regional Studies), v.18, n. 3 (2016), p. 363-377 (http://rbeur.anpur.org.br/rbeur/article/view/5499).
It is our conviction that these texts reflect an important panorama of ideas, thoughts, experiences and practices of the nearly 600 researchers, scientists, students and practioneers who attended the congress in Rio de Janeiro with the aim to have an unique opportunity to discuss the matter of planning with colleagues from all over the world.
As it puts our colleague Carlos Balsas in the conclusions he wrote about his experiences by participating the discussions at the congress: “Attention was directed at the need to look forward to more planning not less, more planning research not less, and more educational opportunities to strengthen urban and regional planning. … Alternative paradigms based on the radical deconstruction of prevailing knowledge sets and philosophies by some of those living in southern and northern hemispheres are making positive strides and can be confidently further developed”
The pure and slave science of large scale urban projects: convergences between Belo Horizonte north and south projects, Brazil
(AESOP, 2016) Medeiros de Freitas, Daniel; Morado Nascimento, Denise; Aurigi, Alessandro
Recent world prospects of urban population growth have put cities at the centre of global challenges debate. All over the word, massive investments are pushing urban regeneration initiatives, essentially through Large Scale Urban Projects (LSUPs). In the last three decades, this group of urban interventions has been linking urban renewal, mobility infrastructure improvements, and large architectural interventions through public private partnerships and selective deregulation in urban policy. This paper analyses the dichotomy between the pros and cons of global LSUP to discuss the agents’ role in two Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area LSUPs.
In general, the arguments in favour of LSUPs associate these with international urban design, architecture and city management best practice. In this background, LSUPs are a ‘pure science’ oriented by urban design technique. On this basis, LSUPs distortions and impacts tend to be blamed on external factors, such as lack of political will or speculative action of economic forces. On the other hand, LSUPs can be criticised for being a 'slave science' to neoliberal determinism in urban policy, i.e. a final product of market friendly urban policies. On this basis, LSUPs problems are not a distortion, but result of a bigger process.
The paper discusses how that such pure and slave dichotomy has an important role in LSUPs production by comparing two LSUPs in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The first one uses the Aerotropoles approach to articulate a set of interventions in the North Vector of Belo Horizonte. The second one named C-SUL is a new district driven by new urbanism concepts.
City marketing in Medellin - Colombia: awards and good urban practices as a global reference
(AESOP, 2016) Giraldo, Marcela
“Cities can´t be totally global”. It is the statement of Doreen Massey, (1993 cited in Fortune and Silva, 2002, p. 443), who examines that before the social and cultural conditions that make up the city, a globalization of a few projects in the others localization. By this way, globalization generates its own opposition, allowing actions, groups or movements to break what otherwise would be an universal continuity of logic global institutional messages (Fortuna; Silva, 2002, p. 451).
In Colombia, globalization and international policies has also affected the development of cities. In line with Peck and Theodore (2010, p. 171) "there is a pre-made market for Barcelona or Vancouver classes, in locations that are in line with current policies and ready to insert the cities in a global market to ensure possibility of making the local an overall practice". That is how the city of Medellin established in the global planning debates as a successful example and as a good practice, which has allowed to host some of the most important international events in the country, like a headquarter of the seventh World Urban Forum organized by UN-HABITAT in march 2014.
But such recognition has been the result of several political processes where city marketing is the key element for the dissemination of urban practices and as advertising platform abroad. For Boneti (2007) “agents that define urban policies are not just national, and the programs and projects are not unique or different, as they are according to the global economy”.
The double periphery in Metropolitan Area of Lisbon: Suburban cities without centre
(AESOP, 2016) Gonçalves, Jorge; Carvalho, Luís; Elias, Patrícia
The suburban growth has almost always been an optimistic growth. Optimistic for land owners who gave a profitable use to land long off from agricultural practices; to speculators that use the tremendous pressure of a demand with no viable alternative in the housing market; for buyers who, in the ongoing (and seemingly endless) appreciation of property, saw its assets swell; to financial capital that found skyrocketing profitability levels and very low risk; finally for municipalities that obtained resources (toxic, for what they represent in the future) that were significant portion of their annual budgets.
It was this unrepeatable optimism, a kind of collective alienation that allowed the emergence of a metropolitan area needing land use planning. This, incidentally, would be an acceptable requirement in this euphoric environment for all, including for the central government that felt some relief from social pressure in this area. It is recalled that already in the period of formation of illegal neighborhoods, in the 60s and 70s, the state allowed the construction by applying the “fine system”. That is, while it marked his commanding presence through a soft supervision never did in something in order to dissuade the owners of the construction of their own home, as it was to solve a problem that the state had.
These brief notes help to contextualize the two original aspects that this communication is intended to bring out linked to the big housing neighborhoods in the suburbs of Lisbon: i) its generation in spaces that had only to accommodate infrastructure and correspond to properties that were perpetuated in the toponymy of these housing developments and that have no linkage to each other concerning the road network, the public spaces system or in urban or architectural terms;
Built environment, active transportation, and childhood overweight: an exploration analysis
(AESOP, 2016) Li, Jianling
The prevalence of overweight and obesity continues to challenge public health professionals and planners in the United States (US). During 2009–2010, more than a third of adults and nearly one of five youths aged 2–19 years was obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The problem is more profound in socioeconomically disadvantage groups. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is an important issue as obesity is one of the leading causes of death and disability and the cost of treatment has climbed over the years in the U.S.
The lack of physical activities is considered as one of the important factors contributing to obesity and other chronic diseases. The public health and planning literature suggests that the built environment may play a significant role in health outcomes. Land use and transportation planners have long advocated smart growth solutions such as transit-oriented development and changes in the design of the built environment to promote sustainable development and active transportation. Despite the recent efforts on promoting physical activities through change in design of the built environment, more empirical studies are needed to demonstrate the linkage between built environment, active transportation, and health benefits, especially the health benefit of children.
Using the 2008 Cook Children’s Community Needs Assessment Survey (CCHAPS) data in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and GIS and statistical analysis techniques, this study investigates the complex relationship among built environment, childhood overweight, and other socioeconomic and behavior factors.