Informal Settlement Upgrading and the Rise of Rental Housing in São Paulo, Brazil

Rental housing was historically a minimal feature of urban informality. Now it is surging amid municipal attempts to “upgrade” informal settlements in São Paulo, Brazil. Drawing upon a mixed-methodological study of two favelas on São Paulo’s east side, we analyze how cycles of upgrading shape informal rental housing at the urban, community, block, and parcel levels, providing detailed comparative data for 2010–2020. Our findings suggest that rental housing redevelopment can increase precarity in urban living, but is an important source of low-income housing in already built-up and “consolidated” settlements where access is declining. Our study emphasizes the need for scholars, policy makers, and planners to further explore the praxis of informal renting and rental housing, which can be effective conduits for channeling public investments across consolidated informal settlements and into individual dwellings.

Self-Organizing Special Districts: A Tool for Community Change and Development

Can self-organizing special districts created from the bottom up be a tool for community change and development? Focusing on community services districts in California, this study introduces the context in which communities opt out of a county service system to reshape their governing structure for better representation. The empirical part measures their effectiveness, using single-family home sale prices as an impact metric. Leveraging multi-level difference-in-difference hedonic regression methods, the analysis shows that district formation increases the prices annually up to 16 percent, compared to both the surrounding and distant county service areas, indicating their efficacy as a tool for community change and development.

Teaching Generation Y: Which Instructional Tools Do Students Prefer in a Traditional Classroom Setting?

The paper evaluates different teaching aids used in an introductory in-class course that focuses on planning theories. We examine the perceptions of students regarding specific teaching tools and how helpful they were in making the course more approachable and providing a better learning experience. The analysis covers 133 student responses over a period of four consecutive years. Findings show that certain instructional tools are regarded as more helpful in making the course material more intelligible. This suggests educators in planning theory courses should review and continuously monitor the didactic tools they use in class.

Between Architecture and Planning: Urban Design Education in Poland against a Background of Contemporary World Trends

Urban design, as an academic discipline, was born in the 20th century in response to challenges related to the planning, design, and renewal of urbanized areas. Since then, there has been an ongoing debate about the scope, scientific basis, and teaching formula of the discipline. The aim of this article was to assess the formula for teaching urban design at an academic level in Poland, considering global trends in this field. The theoretical framework involved a review of contemporary scientific concepts, which provided the basis for extracting the most popular and well-recognized domains, definitions, and dimensions of urban design. The research results confirm that urban design has permanently taken its place between architecture and urban planning. In Poland, but not only, the elements of both the theory and practice of urban design are dispersed among various master’s degree courses. This is not conducive to strengthening the position of urban design as such, and in Poland, it may be one of the reasons for deepening spatial chaos.

Parametric Urban Design Thinking: Shared Patterns in Design by Algorithm and Design by Drawing

The paper suggests a focused examination of the processes of drafting-based design and parametric design in urbanism. It discusses how spatial design’s settled cognition would differ by using algorithmic systems through the altered relationships between the basic operations in design. To reveal the commonalities and distinctions between the two design methods, the authors present the detailed documentation of the workshop series, which experimented with both techniques within similar design contexts. By the design analysis, the idea of “parametric thinking” is revisited in the specific context of urban design.

Toward Equitable Micromobility: Lessons from Austin E-Scooter Sharing Program

This study revealed the inequitable societal impacts of E-scooters on disadvantaged populations. The study conducted a population distribution analysis to compare the use opportunities and space intrusion burdens of E-scooter sharing on four vulnerable population groups in Austin, Texas. Nearly all minority population experienced fewer E-scooter use opportunities. Ten percent of the minority population waited for a disproportionately longer time before a disturbance could be resolved. Ten percent of the low-income population were in a disadvantaged position in high opportunities and moderate burdens. Twenty percent of the physically disabled population faced more moderate-level burdens. The result did not show significant inequitable outcomes for the elderly population.