Abigail Friendly

The right to the city: theory and practice in Brazil

In Brazil, a country notorious for its spatially segregated, unequal cities, a 2001 federal law recognizes the “right to the city” and mandates participation in planning processes, aiming to achieve social justice. Planning theory has dealt extensively with the “right to the city”, but critical examination of the implementation of this law – the Statute of the City – is lacking. Drawing on the ideals of Lefebvre and the global “right to the city” movement, I contribute to the theoretical debate on the right to the city, connecting this discussion to an analysis of the practice of applying this ideal in Brazil. I examine the challenges of implementing this innovative policy in Niterói (Rio de Janeiro State), showing that a more nuanced approach is needed to understand Brazils unique right to the city experience.

Urban Policy, Social Movements, and the Right to the City in Brazil:

Brazilian urban social movements have played a key role in bringing about change in urban policy since the 1980s and in light of the widespread protests across the country in June 2013. This insurgency and the urban reform movement of the 1980s and 1990s exemplify waves of mobilization and demobilization, signaling positive change at the level of praxis. More recent events have highlighted challenges for Brazil’s political left. Os movimentos sociais urbanos brasileiros tem desempenhado um papel chave na mudança da política urbana desde os anos 80 e em vista dos mega-protestos espalhados pelo país de junho de 2013. Esta insurgência e o movimento de reforma urbana dos anos 80 e 90 exemplificam ondas de mobilização e desmobilização, sinalizando mudanças positivas ao nível da praxis. Eventos mais recentes têm destacado desafios para a esquerda política brasileira.

Toronto and São Paulo: Cities and International Diplomacy:

With globalization, the largest cities in the world have been growing in economic importance. And their local powers have often been enhanced as a result of decentralization reforms over the past two decades. In this context, cities—and particularly their mayors—have been reaching out to other cities and jurisdictions to pursue a variety of goals. One term for this process is “paradiplomacy,” but most of the literature on the subject gives little attention to the local political dynamics behind these initiatives. In this article, we explore these local dynamics through a comparison of two major cities, Toronto, Canada, and São Paulo, Brazil. The cases show that external initiatives, both in scope and direction, vary according to the political strategies of the elected mayors. These strategies are strongly affected by the local context and by the political logic of mayoral leadership.

Paradigm or paradox? The ‘cumbersome impasse’ of the participatory turn in Brazilian urban planning

The Brazilian urban reform movement expanded citizen participation in decision-making processes through a policy environment motivated by a right to the city (RTC), a collective development strategy for political transformation. Yet recent events evidence that social exclusion and spatial segregation remain dominant features of the Brazilian city. These contradictions have led planning scholars and practitioners to grapple with misalignment between the reform movement’s paradigmatic goals and its paradoxical failures. We build upon this genre of thinking to assess critical areas of paradigm and paradox in Brazilian planning – insurgent urbanism, informality and knowledge – each of which is rooted in the lesser-understood concept of autogestão for improving the equity of land division through urban planning.1 Although not all inclusive of the issues faced by Brazilian cities, these three categories were selected for best representing how Brazil’s participatory turn established a range of paradigmatic and paradoxical conditions that can help us to understand cities in Brazil and beyond and might better leverage autogestão in the future.

Community Service-Learning in Graduate Planning Education:

Community service-learning (CSL) has gained popularity over the past decades in universities across North America. Although planning programs tend to involve more graduate-level community-engaged learning than other professional disciplines, learning outcomes have not been sufficiently examined. Based on a review of existing literature and analysis from four years of a CSL course at the University of Toronto’s Department of Geography and Planning, this article describes the implications of CSL for graduate planning education. We argue that CSL in graduate planning programs has a series of unique characteristics and thus requires distinctive pedagogical approaches.

The Changing Landscape of Civil Society in Niterói, Brazil

In the context of urban poverty in Brazil, this article considers the national context of civil society starting in the 1950s through to the approval of the Statute of the City in 2001. Focusing on a case study of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro State, I unpack the perception of a declining civil society in that city. Rather than taking a retraction of civil society at face value, I make the case for alterations within civil society and the role of the political context.

Toronto: Transformations in a City and Its Region.

Portney draws the reader’s attention to how cities that have a relatively large creative class are cities where there is likely to be a greater push for sustainability initiatives. He also notes that local public officials are responsive to organized voices that advocate for environmental or sustainability initiatives; in reverse, if grassroots advocacy groups can be organized and contact public officials, those public officials are likely to push for sustainability programs. Throughout the text, Portney points out that the goal of his book is not to ascertain whether cities are actually achieving sustainability—whether the policies and programs in place are having an effect in creating more environmentally, economically, or socially just cities. He states repeatedly that such a goal would be premature. Rather, his text—and presumably, his Index of Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously— are a necessary foundation in setting up future work that may be able to answer that question. As a prelude to being able to ask whether sustainability programs are working, Portney’s book asks what cities are doing to try to become more sustainable places. Overall, Portney’s Index, his qualitative case studies, and his quantitative models are all of value to researchers in environmental policy and land use—as well as to would-be decision makers in policy. His Index in particular is a significant contribution to the existing scholarship on sustainability by providing a means of evaluating how seriously a city is taking sustainability and allowing a comparison among multiple cities.

Book Review: Toronto: Transformations in a City and Its Region

Portney draws the reader’s attention to how cities that have a relatively large creative class are cities where there is likely to be a greater push for sustainability initiatives. He also notes that local public officials are responsive to organized voices that advocate for environmental or sustainability initiatives; in reverse, if grassroots advocacy groups can be organized and contact public officials, those public officials are likely to push for sustainability programs. Throughout the text, Portney points out that the goal of his book is not to ascertain whether cities are actually achieving sustainability—whether the policies and programs in place are having an effect in creating more environmentally, economically, or socially just cities. He states repeatedly that such a goal would be premature. Rather, his text—and presumably, his Index of Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously— are a necessary foundation in setting up future work that may be able to answer that question. As a prelude to being able to ask whether sustainability programs are working, Portney’s book asks what cities are doing to try to become more sustainable places. Overall, Portney’s Index, his qualitative case studies, and his quantitative models are all of value to researchers in environmental policy and land use—as well as to would-be decision makers in policy. His Index in particular is a significant contribution to the existing scholarship on sustainability by providing a means of evaluating how seriously a city is taking sustainability and allowing a comparison among multiple cities.

Review: Toronto: Transformations in a City and Its Region

Portney draws the reader’s attention to how cities that have a relatively large creative class are cities where there is likely to be a greater push for sustainability initiatives. He also notes that local public officials are responsive to organized voices that advocate for environmental or sustainability initiatives; in reverse, if grassroots advocacy groups can be organized and contact public officials, those public officials are likely to push for sustainability programs. Throughout the text, Portney points out that the goal of his book is not to ascertain whether cities are actually achieving sustainability—whether the policies and programs in place are having an effect in creating more environmentally, economically, or socially just cities. He states repeatedly that such a goal would be premature. Rather, his text—and presumably, his Index of Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously— are a necessary foundation in setting up future work that may be able to answer that question. As a prelude to being able to ask whether sustainability programs are working, Portney’s book asks what cities are doing to try to become more sustainable places. Overall, Portney’s Index, his qualitative case studies, and his quantitative models are all of value to researchers in environmental policy and land use—as well as to would-be decision makers in policy. His Index in particular is a significant contribution to the existing scholarship on sustainability by providing a means of evaluating how seriously a city is taking sustainability and allowing a comparison among multiple cities.