Urban diversity and transformation: Public housing and the 'hidden morphology of plots'

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2017

Authors

Cantarino J. (Author) Other; Netto V. (Author) Other

Conference proceedings International

Title: Proceedings - 11th International Space Syntax Symposium, SSS 2017

Initial page: 53.1

Indexing

Scopus - 3 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-018-VVG

Abstract (EN): What are the drivers of urban transformation, including microeconomic diversity and growth? And what could refrain transformation? The city of Rio de Janeiro received 218 developments of the Brazilian Public Housing Programme "Minha Casa Minha Vida" (PMCMV) in the last five years, mostly located in peripheral areas. Recurring criticism has been made to the programme in relation to size and locations of projects, along with a lack of urban diversity and infrastructure. Verifying the assumptions latent in such criticism, this paper develops a methodology to assess (1) the degree of microeconomic support that the built environment offers to residents; (2) the morphological and functional interfaces of new housing complexes and their neighbourhood; and (3) the impacts these complexes have on the economic diversity of their surroundings. In a first empirical study, social and spatial attributes of areas around twelve housing complex in areas of different levels of topological accessibility and building density were compared, including pedestrian movement, distribution of retail and services, and an index of diversity in urban activities based on Shannon's entropy. A second empirical study analyses variations in land use and land parcelling in West Rio, from 2011 to 2015. Assessing the impact of housing complexes on the microeconomic diversity, this approach identifies divergences between patterns of accessibility, and patterns of location of housing compounds and activities. Results indicate (i) substantial differences in topological and absolute distances to the CBD; (ii) strong influences of accessibility in the morphological and microeconomic integration between housing complexes and their neighbourhoods; and (iii) significant influence of land subdivision on the rate of change of land uses in areas of sprawl.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 0