Continuity and Change of Urban Policies in São Paulo: Resilience, Latency, and Reanimation

It is usually considered that urban policy change happens gradually or abruptly, provoked by coalition shifts, political pressure, or by agenda changes in public policies. However, a broad set of urban policies in São Paulo, Brazil shows the relevance of the third kind of oscillating trajectory not yet accounted for by the literature. Departing from compared urban policies in São Paulo, this article shows incremental progressive trends due jointly to political competition (pushed by progressive governments) and policy production itself. While some programs entered the agenda to stay, others swung between implementation, latency, and reanimation. To investigate these processes, we compare four programs—(a) in situ slum upgrading and (b) bus integration (gradually imposing themselves), (c) cooperative housing construction, and (d) bus lanes/corridors (oscillating between latency and reanimation). The results challenge explanations of urban policy change, contributing to closer dialogues between urban studies and political science.

The Building as a Home: Housing Cooperatives in Barcelona

The recent growth of cooperative housing in Spain questions existing design standards and regulations as well as cultural norms of ownership, management and current housing typologies. This paper analyzes the design opportunities and challenges emerging from this. It studies the transformative capacity of housing cooperatives and how the realization of new social, spatial and economic demands is restricted by regulatory and administrative frameworks that limit collective ownership and use. Based on a case study analysis of recent projects in Barcelona, the paper discusses how regulations condition housing design, but also why changing ideas of ownership, household and dwelling structures require a review of how regulations are formulated and implemented. It examines this in the context of designing with housing cooperatives and their ethos defined by engagement in and responsibility for all decision-making processes and self-management. In cooperative housing, architecture is a process, not a product, one that extends beyond the completion of a building. This gives credibility to the claim of cooperative housing not just as a grassroots response to housing failures, but also as a political project of democratization and social transformation.

Re-socialising Aotearoa New Zealand Housing

Urban housing in Aotearoa New Zealand is predominantly unit-titled, individualised dwellings whether the housing is owner-occupied or a rental investment. As housing increases in density, the provision and management of common space becomes necessary. In Aotearoa New Zealand, when this occurs, the extent of privately owned housing space is typically privileged, and shared common space minimised. In contrast, cooperative housing integrates housing, economic factors, and social contexts to create long-term socially and economically sustainable housing. Since the 19th century, cooperative housing has provided evidence of internationally awarded and recognised, self-help, community-generated housing that includes shared components. Cooperative housing offers a third way of achieving affordable housing security, one that lies between home ownership and renting. Legislatively mandated and protected cooperative housing is needed in Aotearoa New Zealand to augment our existing housing production systems and types, and to help address the need for enduring, affordable, and socially sustainable housing.

Toys for Conviviality. Situating Commoning, Computation and Modelling

This article explores the use of agent-based modelling as a critical and playful form of engagement with cooperative housing organizations. Because of its inherent complexities vis-à-vis decision-making, commoning is a well-suited field of study to explore the potential of humanities-driven experimental design (media) research to provoke critical reflection, problem-finding and productive complication. By introducing two different agent-based models, the interdisciplinary research team discusses their experience with setting up parameters for modelling, their implications, and the possibilities and limits of employing modelling techniques as a basis for decision-making. While it shows that modelling can be helpful in detecting long-term results of decisions or testing out effects of unlikely yet challenging events, modelling might act as a discursive practice uncovering hidden assumptions inherent in the model setup and generating an increase of scientific uncertainty. The project “ThinkingToys for Commoning” thus argues for a critical modelling practice and culture, in which models act as toys for probing alternative modes of living together and exploring the constructedness of methods. In countering late forms of capitalism, the resulting situated and critical practice provides avenues for enabling more self-determined forms of governance.

The Goal of Housing for All As Envisaged By the UN Habitat Agenda: A Case Study of Cooperative Housing Societies in Pakistan

Pakistan is member of UN Habitat agenda under which housing for all is the goal of all member states. In pursuance of this goal housing has been acknowledged under the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 in the chapter of principles of policy. It is beyond of financial resources of the Government of Pakistan to provide housing units to all the citizens of Pakistan. To achieve the goal of housing for all, private sector has been encouraged to provide housing units to the people of Pakistan. But, due to a weak Legal Framework to regulate the activities of the developers of the housing industry, there are malpractices and frauds in the housing industry of Pakistan which are committed by the management of the cooperative housing societies. This article deals with the major problems faced by the cooperative housing societies along with the recommendations to strengthen the Legal Framework relating to cooperative housing societies. Secondary data has been used to make critical analysis of the regulatory regime of cooperative housing societies. The aims and purposes of this article includes to provide input the legislature as well as regulatory authorities to amend and strengthen the Legal Framework relating to cooperative housing societies in Pakistan.

Registration Laws of Housing Developers: A Major Obstacle in Achieving the Goal of Housing for All in Pakistan

Among other housing developers, the major housing developers are private housing companies and cooperative housing societies, these housing developers can become very effective to achieve the goal of housing for all, but unfortunately, these two have been used to do massive corruption in the housing industry of Pakistan. The major reason is that the legal framework, which is meant to regulate the housing developers, has become an instrument at the hands of housing developers of the housing to commit corruption in the housing industry. These housing developers can become very effective to achieve the goal of housing for all if some suitable amendments are introduced, and the legal framework is strengthened