Sao Paulo, Brazil: Helicopters and Social Fragmentation in the Developing Urban World

July 22rd, 2002 - Magplane Technology Inc. strives to develop and deploy a transportation system that will enable the urban form to continue its evolution in a manner that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. We believe that these objectives are linked and are interdependent.

"Social cost is that fragmentation, that separation, that segregation really on an income level more than anything else."

Emily Talen, University of Illinois

On May 20th of this year, we posted a story about Urbanization in the 21st Century focusing on the difficulties that the mega-cities in the developing world (populations in excess of 10 million people) will experience as they try to cope with booming population levels. In that article, we mentioned that the social fabric of the city would be strained beyond the breaking point because of the unimaginable levels of congestion both on the road and in housing.

Today, there is a city that is representative of the potential breakdown in social order that is at least in part, attributed to such appalling congestion levels: Sao Paulo, Brazil, a city of 18 million people. The Washington Post reported on a growing trend where citizens who can afford the option, move into gated communities that are protected by thousands of security guards armed with heavy machine guns. Estimates include 1 million citizens residing in 300 protected gated communities.

The remaining 17 million residents live in vulnerable neighborhoods where the murder rate is nine times greater than either Washington D.C. or New York City. While not all of these residents live in squalid conditions, a sizeable proportion of the people do.

While the boom of the 1950s made this city a major industrial and financial center, internal migration from the rural regions caused the slums to increase in size. In 1994, the urban population of Brazil accounted for 78% of the national population compared to an urban share of 45% in 1960. In the last five decades, continual population growth has caused Sao Paulo to become the second largest city in the world after Tokyo and the slums have become larger and more dangerous. So much so, that many of the residents of the gated communities like Alphaville, resort to commuting by helicopters. Compared to New York City where there are 10 helipads, Sao Paulo has 240 helipads with 100 helicopters taking flight every hour. The streets like the slums are to be avoided for reasons of safety and security.

To accuse the grid-locked transportation network as the single most important contributing factor to the social breakdown of Sao Paulo is a simplification as the economic policies of Brazil have also helped in increasing the economic divide between the have and the have-nots (10% of the population control 50% of the economy, the poorest 10% control less than 1% of the nation's wealth.)

However, because the intracity transportation network is limited in range the urban population is hemmed in a small area (Land Area: 1,500 sq. km.) As a result, the population density is 11,928 persons per square km. In 1974, the Sao Paulo Metro opened and today while it carries 1.7 million riders every day, the speed of the metro is limited to 30 km. per hour, severely limiting the range of the city.

The problems of Sao Paulo cannot be solved by any smart growth strategy in isolation from major transportation infrastructure improvements. In order to alleviate the conditions of this city, an urban development strategy called the Interlocking Metropolitan Region favored by the People's Republic of China offers the best promise in the long term. To be effective, the Interlocking Metropolitan Region would require a transportation system capable of providing fast intercity transportation services with intracity transportation attributes.

Because the Magplane Commuter System is able to merge the speed of intercity transportation modes with the attributes of intracity service with respect to capacity, trip time, cost, convenience and reliability, it would be able to expand the outer boundaries of this city to lower population densities and improve the quality of life for the citizens of Sao Paulo.

Readings: Brazil's Elites Fly Above Their Fears, Washington Post, June 1st, 2002 Sao Paulo Metro The Hidden Costs of Sprawl, Lester Graham, Great Lakes Radio Consortium

This article is published with the express permission of Richard Zavergiu the author. Please visit the www.magplane.com web page for more details.

Zimbabwe's deadlock over land

Some of Zimbabwe's white farmers, defying an eviction order, are hoping for a reprieve. By Nicole Itano

Proposed high-speed rail lines -- Texas

".. the governor's plan would require local governments to extend their transit systems out to the corridor .."

Commuters propose alternatives to gridlock freeways in Los Angeles

".. why not put the cars -- dozens of them -- on a maglev train and whoosh them down the Ventura Freeway .."

Amtrak Cancels Acela Service on Safety Concerns

".. cracks and breaks in a heavy bracket on the wheel sets .."

Understanding Rising Housing Prices: Winners, Wealth, and the Subsidy Game

There's more to skyrocketing housing prices than basic supply and demand.

By Christopher Williamson Aug 05, 2002

Many planners face rapidly-rising housing prices and rents in their communities. Why? It seems pretty simple: population growth (births, and jobs, and migration) exceeds housing production (land, density, and approvals). I want to argue for three more explanations: Winners, wealth, and subsidies. Planners help pick winners (and by default, losers) as they make and/or recommend development decisions or carry out past decisions embedded in plans and codes. Wealth drives growth, especially accumulated homeowner equity. The foggiest question is the role of government programs and subsidies, mostly via taxes. I suggest all three play a role in driving up housing prices and in keeping them high.

Population Exceeds Housing

Whether the increase comes from within the community (i.e. births exceeding deaths) or net immigration (domestic or international) the net effect is more people in the same geographic area who want housing, jobs, and services and produce economic growth (most of the time), waste, and congestion. The United States and California were built on population growth which continues to be the basis of our economic and political stability. There is no end in population growth forecasts for California, not in 20 or 40 or 100 years.

With population and housing growth land owners, businesses, and developers are winners. Homeowners also gain unless excess housing supply softens values. Self-perceived losers will move on to the next valley, or stay and are sometimes successful at diverting or delaying growth. After all, if you restrict new housing then existing housing values increase triggering another set of changes. So, whether or not new housing is built to accommodate population growth, communities are changed and there are winners and losers. The current winners want to continue winning–and that’s understandable. Local planners play a major role in picking the winners and losers by implementing a community’s decisions about growth, and these decisions are largely a function of who votes in local elections.

Wealth

Increasing wealth will trigger growth as renters become owners and owners buy more housing. Second and vacation home development increases. Couple increasing income and wealth with increasing population and you have a powerful growth force, especially in desirable areas like the Central coast of California. Most Americans see their home as their single largest wealth creator and secure investment. I stress ‘secure’ given the recent collapse of stocks. The Baby Boom is soon to start retiring in large numbers and they collectively control enormous home-equity wealth, which may come swooping into retirement-friendly communities and spur growth. Conversely, their selling and leaving could lower local prices and/or free up older-suburb housing for younger larger households.

Government Subsidies

Many people see government housing subsidies as a way of helping low and moderate income households make ends meet. But I want to argue that housing subsidies are also a growth force, especially the mortgage interest and real estate tax income tax deduction for homeowners. A 2001 Brookings Institution report found that over 75% of net homeowner tax benefits nationwide accrue to homeowners in just three metropolitan areas: New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles: $5,400, $7,000 and $6,100 annually, respectively, based on 1990 Census data (Gyourko and Sinai, “The Spatial Distribution of Housing-Related Tax Benefits in the United States, July 2001, Discussion Paper, Table 4). With that much subsidy poring in year after year, there has to be an upward push on prices.

How do tax subsidies affect home values? If I give you 30 cents for every dollar you spend on mortgage interest and local taxes, create low interest rates, insure your five percent down mortgage, and then let you keep up to $250,000 gain in capital gains tax free when you sell, you can afford a higher price. As each house sells for more, tax subsidies automatically kick in and you play another round, most likely upgrading to a larger house on more land (hence sprawl). There are lots of winners (including me) with a stake at keeping the game going. But those who cannot play the homeowner subsidy game are losing more and more ground–so much that it undermines all of us.

I have to wonder, is this game a house of cards?

Dr. Chris Williamson, AICP is a staff senior research associate at Solimar Research Group in Ventura, California.

Still fizzy

How does the Bay Area compare with the rest of the nation in terms of housing, transportation, education, and economy? Aug 06 -- Economist

Holding The Line: Urban Containment In The United States August 2002

"Policies designed to deliberately control the spread of urban areas are increasing in popularity throughout the United States. Several states, and many local governments in the west, are adopting urban growth boundaries and other containment measures in their land-use planning laws and legislation. Whatever the primary purpose, it is clear that the precise impacts of containment policies are not well understood. This paper reviews the research on urban containment generally, and also examines the experience of such policies in particular metropolitan areas. It discusses some lessons learned and raises relevant research questions for practitioners as well as policymakers at the state and local level."

http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/pendallfultoncontainment.pdf

CALIFORNIA'S HOUSING CRUNCH The housing crunch has no easy fix, but advocates aren't giving up. The affordable housing shortage is the top priority for business and labor groups in Silicon Valley, the Legislature has a special caucus devoted to it, and at least three state commissions and several special panels have tackled the problem.

"Just because we can't solve the problem in its entirety doesn't mean we shouldn't take incremental steps," said Assemblyman Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, co-author of a housing bond on the November ballot. "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

ENRG, has opened a state-of-the-art CNG fueling station

ENRG, has opened a state-of-the-art CNG fueling station with a total capacity exceeding 2,100 gallons per hour as part of a long-term agreement as the natural gas fuel provider for Foothill Transit (Los Angeles). The station was completed on time at a cost of $2.5 million. The agreement anticipates initial annual fueling of 1.5 million gallons, increasing to 2.75 million gallons in two to three years. Initially, Foothill will be fueling 66 new Orion compressed natural gas (CNG) buses as well as other vehicles.

http://www.businesswire.com/

Gyroscopes That Don't Spin Make It Easy to Hover

Piezo gyroscopes have cut the time it takes to learn to fly model helicopters from months to hours.

U.S. Agrees to Give $4.5 Billion to Link Subway and Path Hub at Trade Center

The federal government will contribute $4.5 billion in disaster relief money to build a transit center linking the subway and PATH systems around the former World Trade Center site.

Are Politics Built Into Architecture?

Has the architectural profession contributed to escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Or is architecture neither political nor ideological?

ZIMBABWE WHISPERS

Some 3,000 white farmers in Zimbabwe won a temporary reprieve to a Thursday midnight deadline to vacate farms or go to jail. The country's High Court ruled that the government can't seize mortgaged or bonded property without informing lender banks first. The evictions are part of President Robert Mugabe's land-reform policy.

At least two people were reported dead and as many as 70 more were missing, after floods swept away tourists camping near Russia's Black Sea coast. More than 400 people were evacuated from the area.

Boston, Austin top list of best for living single

To compile its annual list of cities with the most to offer the unwed set, Forbes rated the 40 most-populated metropolitan areas on jobs, spots to dine out and dance, culture (universities, theaters, museums, and sports teams), and cost of living. The magazine's picks of the top 10 best cities for singles:

1. Boston

2. Austin, Texas

3. Washington-Baltimore

4. Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

5. Denver-Boulder

6. San Francisco-Oakland

7. San Diego

8. Houston

9. Minneapolis-St. Paul

10. Atlanta