Vanessa Elias de Oliveira

Integration of urban and environmental policies in the metropolitan area of São Paulo and in Greater London: the value of establishing and protecting green open spaces

Whilst major metropolitan areas across the globe share some issues in attempting to improve quality of life for their citizens, other issues are specific to their particular situations of geography and governance. There are some approaches, nevertheless, which may have value in rather different contexts, and in this article the establishment and protection of green open spaces is discussed as a measure to help integrate urban and environmental policies and also to address some climate change impacts. The circumstances and policies of two contrasting metropolitan areas – São Paulo and London – are reviewed to demonstrate both the diversity of challenges that may exist and some of the measures that may be taken; the potential for cross-fertilization of ideas and policies in different urban contexts is then explored. São Paulo has experienced great increases in population and extent since the middle of the twentieth century, with illegal settlements in vulnerable areas and risks including flooding and landslides, as well as inadequate infrastructure systems. London faces risks of overheating, flooding and sea level rise as a result of climate change. Spatial planning policies to maintain and improve environmental functioning and ecosystem services delivery in São Paulo and London are reviewed, considering the relevant hierarchical levels and indicating some specific targets. Protection and expansion of green open spaces in many forms are seen in both cities as important and is incorporated into strategic planning. Barriers to achieving progress on green spaces as part of urban policy are explored and some ways forward are highlighted.

POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS REGIONAIS PARA GESTÃO DE RISCOS: O PROCESSO DE IMPLEMENTAÇÃO NO ABC, SP

El impacto de los desastres asociados a episodios extremos de precipitacion en Santa Catarina (2008) y Rio de Janeiro (2010/2011) motivo importantes avances legales y institucionales en la incorporacion de la tematica de la gestion del riesgo (GRD) para la agenda del gobierno: Ley 12608/2012 y una serie de acciones a nivel federal constituyo un importante salto en la gestion de riesgos de desastres. En ese sentido, describimos las experiencias en territorio brasileno que ejercieron un papel importante en la construccion de una politica publica nacional de la gestion de riesgos, destacando el trabajo en la region del Gran ABC (SP): Santo Andre, Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Caetano do Sul, Diadema, Maua, Ribeirao Pires y Rio Grande da Serra, y se implementan por medio de una articulacion regional que es una excepcion a la regla en la federacion brasilena, buscando actuar de manera conjunta en la gestion de riesgos.

Neither spatial Keynesianism, nor competitive neolocalism: rescaling and restructuring the developmental state and the production of space in Brazil

This article is focused on the trajectory of productive and state spatial restructuring in Brazil since the technocratic-centralist developmental state of the mid-1960s. As compared to the restructuring of Atlantic Fordism, commonly described in terms of a shift of spatial Keynesianism toward a rescaled and competitive state spatial regime, it is claimed that the Brazilian experience has important specificities. Despite the changes in its developmental regime which have occurred over time, there are important continuities in the production of Brazilian urban and regional spaces. The technocratic-centralist national developmental regime has always privileged some spaces as opposed to others, while neglecting the dimensions of social-spatial and environmental sustainabilities. Moreover, the recent rolling out of the developmental state, after a destructive round of neoliberalization of state spaces in the 1990s, can be interpreted as a crisis-driven response, which has not structurally altered the production of urban and regional spaces.