Exploring alternatives for the redevelopment of peri-central neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro: an urban design teaching perspective Guilherme

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2016
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AESOP
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Strategic planning has been a means for cities to enhance their ability to attract investment, transforming them into territories that are now essentially understood as real estate profits generators. Acting as a main partner in such a process, the concept of urban regeneration then converges with the rehabilitation of historic centers, an agenda dictated by the postmodern critique and recently reinforced by the concept of 'sustainable city'. The first struggle is culturally driven and emerged as a reaction against the large-scale application of functionalist urban planning precepts incubated in the European context of postwar reconstruction. The second initiative, more concerned with environmental issues, seeks to reorient a whole lifestyle associated with a kind of urban 'product' that had been simultaneously stimulated by the consumer goods industry, especially in North America: the suburban single-family detached house. In both cases, we are talking about a process that resulted in the abandonment of urban centers by the economic elite. In Europe, the return to the city center was initially driven by historical heritage concerns combined with aggressive policies to improve energy performance of old buildings but has since been slowed down by the 'sales success' of these picturesque neighborhoods where the high cost per square meter is driven by the investments strategies of the international financial system (especially in major global cities). This tendency has represented a constant challenge for local governments forcing them to create and make use of legislation specifically conceived to ensure a minimum of social mix.
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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
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