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Editorial

Maria Assunção Gato e Ana Rita Cruz

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1After 2 atypical years trying to control a global pandemic that hit hard in every dimension of life in society, 2022 could have been a calm year if the devastating war in Ukraine had not broken out. In this Christmas season, it is not possible to remain indifferent to the suffering of a huge country caused by a senseless war that has been going on for 11 months and no one knows when or how it will end. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the pandemic and with its effects aggravated by the context of the war, there are also some local issues that should not be forgotten.

2The thematic dossier presented in this 45th issue of CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios revisits the pandemic period to focus on the access to housing in Portugal, using case studies located in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto. Edited by Sílvia Leiria Viegas and Sílvia Jorge, the thematic dossier gathers six articles, two interviews, one book review, and two “testimonial” texts. The first pays tribute to architect Nuno Teotónio Pereira, one of the most relevant names in 20th century Portuguese architecture and a leading advocate for housing rights. The second is the presentation of the collective Habitação Hoje, a diversified group of people committed to the right to housing nowadays and to guaranteeing access to more fragile socioeconomic families. Notwithstanding the wide panoply of sources of inspiration for the collected materials, the access to housing remains a hot topic and still requires a broad debate in Portugal.

3In addition to the thematic dossier, this issue presents six additional articles on a wide range of themes illustrated by case studies in different geographical locations. A policy brief and a book review round off the issue. The first article is authored by Pedro Abrantes, who questions “Are the Priority Intervention Educational Territories reducing educational and social inequalities?”. With a public policy programme in the area of education as the basis for analysis, this article seeks to assess how effective were its impacts in the fight against educational and social inequalities in the Portuguese context. The comparative study carried out by the author between public schools covered by the programme and others which were not included hints to expectations falling short in terms of school success and levelling out of socio-economic and territorial asymmetries. However, the reality that supports the results seems to be much more complex, meaning that it is important to read the article carefully in order to better understand the mismatches of this relevant public policy.

4“Rio de Janeiro’s attempt at Favela urban upgrading: Analysis of the Favela-Bairro programme three decades later” is the title of the second article, written by James Miyamoto e Stephen Buckman. As the titles suggests, the subject is also inspired on a public policy programme in Brazil, concluding that the results remained well below the aimed objectives. Notwithstanding the unbridled growth of favelas in Rio de Janeiro being a well-known issue, documented by so many studies and articles produced over decades, reality insists on showing that no effective programme seems to beat poverty and extreme social inequality at its root. In this specific case, the political programme aims at the urbanization of favelas, seeking to provide them with some infrastructure to improve living conditions and to sustain their precarious housing for a while longer. Parallel with this process, many other gains were obtained in terms of civic participation, strengthening social and identity ties. However, after a few years, there seems to be few traces left of the programme, both in terms of physical and social interventions, which is also a useful result in terms of analysis, as the authors conclude.

5From Rio de Janeiro we move to São Paulo with the third article, getting on with public policies dedicated to housing (or lack thereof) as the focus of analysis. “Construir y gestionar el parque de viviendas: aportes desde el análisis de la demanda demográfica para el caso de São Paulo (1991-2040)” is authored by Kelly Cristina de Moraes Camargo, Mariana Marcos, Antonio López-Gay and Juan Antonio Módenes Cabrerizo. This article explores the housing need through demographic dynamics, advancing with projections outlining useful scenarios to inform public policies aimed at the housing sector. Observed dynamics lead the authors to conclude that the stabilization of population growth will not imply an immediate stabilization of the demographic demand for housing. However, as the aging process advances, other factors related to housing structures will gain different roles, and it is uncertain how the family units will evolve and behave in the future. Demographic analysis also points to the need for future housing policy instruments to be less based on planning and promotion of new housing and more on the management of the existing stock, a valid evidence for many cities in different countries.

6Barcelona is the city that follows in the article “La urbanización diferencial en el Área Metropolitana de Barcelona: El caso del Parque Agrario del Baix Llobregat”, authored by Alejandro Morcuende González and Carles Carreras i Verdaguer. This article proposes to analyse the urbanization processes of the metropolitan area of Barcelona, presenting a case study of an interface territory between rural and urban contexts, anchored on the concept and discussion of a differential urbanization process. Besides demonstrating the functional complexity underlying these territories as the urbanization processes evolve, the authors argue for a certain movement of ‘return’ to the countryside and rural areas through these agricultural parks surrounding large cities, which could be a path to restore some balance in urban ecosystems that are dilapidating their rural surroundings.

7Carrying on with Spain as our setting, the fifth article presents Madrid as a territorial context of analysis, to address urban hygiene or street cleaning, more specifically, a topic that seldom attracts research attention but is hardly overlooked by city dwellers. “Urbanism and privatization: The case of Madrid's street cleaning system (1975 – 2000)” aims to shed light on the effects of the only example of street cleaning services privatization in Madrid, according to authors Javier Arribas Cámara and Estrella Trincado Aznar. Despite all the specificities that contextualize this case study and the hypotheses raised by the authors, a very interesting and rich reading can be achieved about the intricacies of municipal policies and their protagonists, inspiring similar analyses elsewhere.

8The sixth article also arrives from Spain to address a substantially different theme, “La caracterización del urbanismo de Le Corbusier: Los planes urbanos para las ciudades costeras”, by Juan-Andrés Rodríguez-Lora, Daniel Navas-Carrillo and María Teresa Pérez-Cano. As suggested in the title, the focus is on a few urbanistic projects for coastal cities developed by Le Corbusier. The authors seek to broaden the critical and sometimes simplistic understanding of the architect and his work, highlighting in particular its diversity and richness. Enticing to architecture studies and professionals in general, and to Le Corbusier scholars in particular, this article is equally useful for all who wish to understand cities from a more structural and space production viewpoint.

9Eduardo Medeiros offers us “Sustainability and efficiency in the use of resources in Portugal: the impacts of PO SEUR (2014-2020)” and inaugurates the new ‘policy brief’ section of CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios. This section intends to be a space to disseminate illustrative overviews on public policies, namely in terms of their application and evaluation. This text is a good example, addressing the Operational Program for Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources, assessing its implementation between the years of 2014-2020.

10To conclude, Paula Guerra invites readers to “Getting into the Batida”, presenting DJs do Guetto in the book review section. Authored by Richard Elliott, DJs do Guetto explores the evolution of a certain musical aesthetics carried out by African immigrant communities and their descendants located in peripheral neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Lisbon. In a way, this book tries to illustrate, through more alternative musical sounds and their protagonists, an alternative urban reality that escapes the mainstream senses. In Paula Guerra words, Elliot’s work is extremely innovative, not just a narrative description of the history of the batida, but a real methodological journey, crossing theory and empirical experience.

11Closing this 45th issue, we present the reviewers’ acknowledgement 2021-2022 with a word of grateful appreciation to all reviewers who, so generously and through a seemingly invisible work, contributed to substantially improve the scientific quality of our published contents. Moreover, because our times are propitious for transitions, in 2023 CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios will emerge with a refreshed image to continue on its growing path. Wishes of a great and peaceful 2023 to all.

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Referência eletrónica

Maria Assunção Gato e Ana Rita Cruz, «Editorial»Cidades [Online], 45 | 2022, posto online no dia 29 dezembro 2022, consultado o 17 abril 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/cidades/6402

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Autores

Maria Assunção Gato

Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa DINÂMIA’CET, Portugal, maria.gato [at] iscte.pt

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Ana Rita Cruz

Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa DINÂMIA’CET, Portugal, ana.rita.cruz [at] iscte.pt

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Financiamento

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Ref. UIDB/03127/2020

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CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Apenas o texto pode ser utilizado sob licença CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Outros elementos (ilustrações, anexos importados) são "Todos os direitos reservados", à exceção de indicação em contrário.

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