Urban Legislation Research Articles

Creating of urban spaces: between legislation and application. A case study of land use plan N°06 in the city of Batna

The illegal and disorderly practices committed by the IUC (inhabitants/users/citizens) have introduced chaos into urban spaces at different levels. The aim of this study is to examine how the practices do not comply with urban legislation impact urban spaces. It applies a socio-spatial analysis using three methodologies: the first is a social survey through questionnaires, the second is a field survey of the area studied, and the third is a spatial configuration modeling using space syntax analyses. The results show the dysfunctionalities caused by the unplanned interventions of IUCs within the study area, specifically land use plan N°06 in the city of Batna. Disobeying urban planning principles leads to compromised accessibility and visibility according to spatial syntax measures. Additionally, the results of the questionnaire and the survey highlight the inadequacy of legislation without effective enforcement mechanisms. Furthermore, the study contrasts the findings of field survey with spatial configuration analyses, indicating the disadvantages of the created urban space.

Medium-Sized Cities, Gated Communities, and Urban Legislation: Reflections from Campina Grande/PB and Mossoró/RN

Medium-Sized Cities, Gated Communities, and Urban Legislation: Reflections from Campina Grande/PB and Mossoró/RN

The environmental dimension in urban legislation in Belém/PA: the neighborhood impact study in the master plan

The Master Plan is an urban policy instrument that aims to guide city planning. This tool encompasses economic, social, political and environmental issues. Within this context, this research seeks to make a brief analysis of the environmental dimension of the Belém Master Plan, specifically the issue of the Neighborhood Impact Study - NIS. In order to achieve the proposed objective, we will use the methodology of bibliographical and documentary research. At the end, some observations will be made on the environmental issue, the Neighborhood Impact Study, within the aforementioned Master Plan, noting the need to improve the institute.

An Integrated Analysis of the Urban Form of Residential Areas in Romania

Romanian cities are facing two opposing patterns of urban development that are common worldwide: a significant number of small cities are undergoing a process of shrinkage, while large cities are experiencing dense urban sprawl. This study examines the framework of the current legislation and urban codes that impact the growth of Romanian cities. The aim is to establish a critical analysis of the current urban codes of residential areas in Romania and to create a framework for an integrated neighbourhood tool of analysis for Romanian residential areas, using urban form as a starting point. This direction starts from the fact that international documents such as the “New Leipzig Charter” recommend a resilient and environmentally friendly approach to urban development, while current Romanian normative documents on resilience and sustainability focus mostly on buildings, ignoring a broader vision that includes the urban scale of the neighbourhood or city while considering the multidisciplinary requirement for understanding urban morphology and phenomena. Existing urban legislation in Romania is characterised by several deficiencies resulting from the fragmentation of outdated regulatory bodies in the field of urban planning. Furthermore, this study has demonstrated that urban indicators can serve as a versatile tool for the assessment and enhancement of residential areas in the country.

Strategic Master Plan: sustainable public governance tool

Research Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the “Master Plan” of the city of Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, from the perspective of Urbanism, whose good practices, when applied, outline the quality of life of the population and the development of a city. Methodology: A literary review and documentary, descriptive and historical analysis were carried out in academic databases, online data from the City of Rio de Janeiro and other public bodies. The Master Plans (PD) of the city were consulted from 1992, the year of creation of the first PD of Rio de Janeiro. Only the PD that contemplated social and sustainable policies that provide an improvement in the quality of life were analyzed, using the following descriptors “Master Plan”, “Strategic Master Plan”, “Strategic Planning”, and elimination of articles that dealt with issues away from Urbanism. Findings: The research showed that although the PD of the city of Rio de Janeiro may be late or poorly managed, it still presents itself as a fair, democratic and sustainable way to conduct good practices of Municipal Public Governance, serving as a tool for planning medium and long-term goals. It is worth noting that such governance, since the 19th century, has been accumulating plans, projects and urban legislation that overlap, but do not resolve the ills of a city that has witnessed rapid and disorderly growth. Originality/Value: In order to have a Sustainable Public Governance in the city of Rio de Janeiro, it is essential to use a Master Plan, elaborated with the principles widely presented and compiled in this study.

Sport mega-event fantasies to financialization: the case of Porto Maravilha.

This paper examines the relationship between sport mega-event construction and the financialization of housing in Rio de Janeiro. It focuses on the area of Porto Maravilha, constructed prior to the 2016 Olympic Games, and the particular use of the 2001 federal Statute of City and 1995 Strategic Plan for Rio de Janeiro to create new possibilities for neoliberal-capitalist expansion, initially disguised as democratized access to land yet, in effect, further commoditized land into a form of fictitious capital. To do so, we follow the work of Brazilian architect and author, Raquel Rolnik, and her argument that the legal-institutional emphasis on wealth distribution in urban legislation, propagated at the time of the internationally recognized sport mega-event in Brazil, was not adequately harnessed and instead used to endorse real estate speculation and uneven development in the metropolitan area. The coordination and collaboration between state and nonstate entities in mega-event construction is typically associated with deepened socio-spatial inequities, the privatization of public resource material, and the in/direct displacement of low-income communities. We review pertinent literature to better understand the role of sport mega-event fantasies in the construction of Porto Maravilha-which we come to understand as a speculative logic lubricant for finance. We do this to call attention to future studies to be particularly attuned to financialization in mega-event cities.

Effects of a disordered urbanization: “the cities with their backs to the river” in the Cuiabá River Valley Metropolitan Region - RMVRC/MT

The growing and disorderly Brazilian urbanization caused a series of impacts on the environment, among them the rivers pollution and the irregular banks occupations, being a characteristic phenomenon of the Cuiabá River Valley Metropolitan Region, where “the cities turned their backs to the river” developing without considering the different potentials of the existing watercourses in its territory. With this approach, this article aimed to understand this dynamic, considering that this river is responsible for the water supply of both cities, and a Pantanal Mato-Grossense affluent, making it important to identify the contradictory relationships between socio-environmental issues and the application and urban legislation supervision, by mapping PPAs, carried out in order to verify the degradation of the Cuiabá River and urban water streams in the Cuiabá-Várzea Grande conurbation. The applied methodology, based on bibliographical, documentary, and empirical research, involved studies about the theme and the region history, analyzes the legislation, maps, satellite images, thematic maps preparation from the studied areas (multiple cases) and on-site visits generating photographic records for analysis the socio-environmental impacts arising from irregular occupations verified in the protection strips (PPAs). The results demonstrated the importance of continuing new research, as well as being able to subsidize decision-making processes, formulation of urban and environmental legislation, public policies aimed at socio-environmental protection of remaining areas, which are relevant for improving the quality of life and the region environment.

Planning as an instrument for protecting the Guarani Aquifer, municipality of Ribeirão Preto/SP, Brazil

The Municipal Master Plan and its complementary Legislation have the function of determining rules for conducting the urban development of a city, so that the impacts of anthropic activities on the natural environment are minimized and the social function of the property is guaranteed. This research aimed to analyze the advances and setbacks of urban legislation in the municipality of Ribeirão Preto/SP, Brazil, with regard to the protection of the recharge area of the Guarani Aquifer. To this end, the initial versions and respective revisions of the Municipal Master Plan (Municipal Complementary Laws nos. 501/1995, 1,573/2003 and 2,866/2018) and of the Land Subdivision, Use and Occupation Law (Municipal Complementary Law no. 2,157/ 2007 and Complementary Municipal Law Project nº 11/2022), with emphasis on the analysis of the update of the territorial organization criteria for this area. Restrictions were added to the territorial organization in the last version of the Municipal Master Plan, however, retrogressions were observed in the urbanistic requirements in the revision of the Law of Subdivision, Use and Land Occupation in relation to the protection of the recharge area of the Guarani Aquifer.

Tourism and public insecurity: what are its roots?

PurposeStudies examining public insecurity and tourism tend to develop their research from the tourist's perspective, thereby focusing on its consequences, which insufficiently and poorly contribute to the development process. With that in mind, the purpose of this study is to discuss the root causes of public insecurity and the urban development process surrounding tourism dynamics in Brazil's northeast region.Design/methodology/approachThe complexity method was used to collect both documentary and normative data to understand the reality beyond the data on accommodations and vertical real estate developments over time. These data were organized in ArcGIS (version 10.5) and are discussed within the context of urban development, public insecurity and tourism theories.FindingsThe results of this study demonstrate that the relationship between tourism and public insecurity is rooted in discussions surrounding the urban development process, remodeled by the physical and symbolic dimensions surrounding the production of space. Nevertheless, the symbolism of tourism is not a constant when it comes to socio-spatial changes but rather acts as a physical and secondary dynamic throughout the entire reconfiguration process.Originality/valueThe findings of this study indicate that this study can be used for the elaboration of security policies in tourist destinations in Latin America that present high levels of violence, considering the discourses at implementing urban legislation.

Recodification of the Latin American City: Emerging Urban Legislation in the Pandemic Era

In recent years, urban policies have been transformed in response to the pandemic. The new normality has translated into a new urbanity, in the broadest sense of the word; that is, into new rules that shape daily life and the production of urban space itself. However, in Latin America, most of these measures have been contingent on the emergency, as they have not been translated into structural or long-term policies. 
 This research focuses on the changes experienced in urban legislation as of 2020. Period where national governments had to simultaneously confront health problems and pre-existing urban dysfunctionalities. This is a descriptive study outlining the landscape of emerging urban policies. It focuses on visible changes at the Latin American level, 
 The results reveal that many Latin American countries have changed their urban policies during the pandemic, including a growing interest in social housing. Among the issues addressed are land regulation, the right to the city, the management of public spaces, informal settlements, etc. In conclusion, the pandemic was the scene of a change of course based on new urban policies. These policies improve the management of our cities and make it possible to build more sustainable and equitable spaces.

The formation of the urban space of Conselheiro Lafaiete, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This paper analyzes the space of the Brazilian municipality of Conlheiro Lafaiete, as a medium- sized city, in the period between 1970 and 2018. The research has a descriptive-exploratory character and was divided into five stages: theoretical basis, case study, document analysis, cartographic production and interviews. We found that the process of urban expansion in Conselheiro Lafaiete is marked by its consolidation as a service and commerce center in the region, with a strong presence in the real estate and civil construction sectors. However, there is no effective application of urban legislation; planning and supervision of the occupation of urban space become inefficient and give rise to spontaneous and disorderly growth. The consequences of these transformations reflect directly on the intra-urban space and on the phenomena linked to the modification of these spaces.

Cities back to the river: the neglect of urban PPAs in the Cuiabá River Valley Metropolitan Region - RMVRC/MT

This research studied the process of irregular urban occupations that occurred along the Cuiabá River Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs), as a key to understand its importance for urban sustainability. Its objective was to study the dynamics and socio-environmental impacts resulting from irregular occupations along the banks of the river that cuts through the two largest cities in the Metropolitan Region of the Cuiabá River Valley - RMVRC/MT, the state capital Cuiabá, and Várzea Grande. Considering that this river is responsible for the water supply of both cities, and a Pantanal Mato-Grossense affluent, which have a fundamental relevance for the local and regional ecosystem, it became important to identify the contradictory relationships between socio-environmental issues and the application and surveillance of urban legislation, by mapping the APPs, in order to verify the degradation of the Cuiabá River. The methodology was based on bibliographic, documental and empirical research. The results showed the importance of its continuity in new research, and may also subsidize decision-making processes, formulation of urban and environmental legislation, public policies aimed at socio-environmental protection of vulnerable areas, relevant to improving the quality of life and the environment.

The Environmental Dimensions of Iraqi Urban Legislation and Laws they Specialize in Environmental Protection Legislation

The legislation and laws related to protection against the natural environment aim to achieve a balance between what is taken from the natural environment and what can be achieved to protect it by the contemporary ideas of the international organizations of Earth Day and environmental protection organizations. That legislation has directed reflections on the protections against urban and architectural environments that are achieved by activating the role of the institutions under the names of environmental protection to adopt basic legislation for protecting the urban and architectural environment. The general problem of research is to determine the shortcomings of the environmental dimensions of Iraqi legislation, laws, and instructions, and the reality of the control system in the light of the renewable mechanisms in this area. The research aimed to assess the status of the local legislative system through a practical study to identify the category of specialists that are directly involved in the system (The planners, engineers, and designers).

BIM-Based Method for the Verification of Building Code Compliance

Urban planning is a valuable tool for growth control and city development, both to maintain the local urban identity and provide life quality for inhabitants. To regulate it, local governments have defined standards for a proper city’s growth through municipal and detailed urban plans. Such instruments identify a set of rules which constructions and buildings must fulfil for a careful and smooth integration within the urban areas. New projects are required to comply with such rules, and designers must adapt and guarantee that their projects fulfil all the local urban requirements. However, the verification process of construction projects is still a manual procedure and often a time-consuming process, with high possibilities for inaccurate measures. Thus, this paper aims to streamline the verification procedure of construction projects’ code compliance to enhance project design efficiency and save designers time. To do so, the Building Information Modelling (BIM) method will be used through the Dynamo programming software. By creating a Dynamo routine to check the building code and urban plan compliance from Brazilian municipalities, specific BIM models will be automatically analysed to detect and evaluate if it is according to local urban legislation. Results have provided a real-time decision support tool, where designers can assess if their buildings are complying with local urban codes at any time of the design stage, making it easy to innovate and integrate innovative design options, as well as to precisely communicate their buildings’ code compliance. Such a method can also support municipality authorities to verify project compliance, reducing assessment and calculation errors, as well as the required time and bureaucracy for project appraisal.

Registration of the territory planning and survey projects when placing linear facilities: current problems and prospects of legislative regulation

The rapid growth of freight and passenger traffic in rail transport creates an urgent need to expand and modernize the rail infrastructure. However, the legal regulation of linear facilities, which includes the railroad track, is one of the most complicated in the contemporary land, forestry and urban planning legislation of the Russian Federation. Hence, the given paper is focused on scrutinizing of the most pivotal issues of development, coordination and approval of planning and land surveying projects when placing linear facilities. After the thorough analysis of literature and a wide array of regulatory legal acts, the authors provided their own legal definition of the term «linear facilities». Besides, the paper examines the most difficult cases concerning the division, allocation of a share, combination, and redistribution of land plots during the period of project approval. Furthermore, the findings of the study make it possible to present a number of recommendations for their subsequent legislative consolidation in relation to land-surveying projects that do not contain information about the owners or landowners who have not registered their rights in the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

INNOVATIONS REGARDING STATE REGISTRATION OF LAND USE RESTRICTIONS IN THE STATE LAND CADASTRE

The article considers innovations in the state registration of land use restrictions in the state land cadastre. In order to establish the optimal regime of land use, the law defines land use restrictions, which are designed in a comprehensive plan of spatial development of the territorial community, master plan of the settlement, detailed plan of the territory and subject to state registration in the State Land Cadastre. The sequence of state registration of land use restrictions is considered. This article considers only the rules on state registration of restrictions on land use, which came into force in 2021. Particular emphasis is placed on changes in the legislation on registration of restrictions on land use, namely: types of land use restrictions subject to state registration and the grounds on which the State Land Cadastre enters information (changes to them) on restrictions. At the legislative level, both land and urban planning legislation defines all types of restrictions, including restrictions defined by sectoral norms on land management, land protection, etc.

Public discussions and public hearings as a form of direct expression of will in the Russian Federation

The article raises questions of the formation of civil society around urban planning. The concepts of “public discussions” and “public hearings” enshrined in urban planning legislation are of interest to theorists and urban planners, not only because this is an obligatory stage in the adoption of urban planning documents, but also because more and more often citizens are turning to their right to direct expression of will in the form of public discussions and public hearings. The authors tried to analyze and suggest possible ways to increase the civic engagement of the local population of the municipality.

Designing linear objects: topical issues of urban planning legislation reform

Designing linear objects: topical issues of urban planning legislation reform

The concept of neighborhood in Brazilian urban legislation and its application in Neighborhood Impact Studies (EIV) in Florianópolis/SC

Resumo A delimitação das áreas de influências dos impactos no meio urbano, realizada durante os Estudos de Impacto de Vizinhança (EIV), é fundamental para que os empreendimentos contribuam com o cumprimento da função social da propriedade e da cidade. Este artigo demonstra, a partir de pesquisa em casos concretos, como a vizinhança vem sendo delimitada nos primeiros cinco anos de aplicação do instrumento na cidade de Florianópolis/SC. Trinta e dois EIVs aprovados foram analisados como casos-referência para esse objetivo, os dados e especificações técnicas utilizados na pesquisa foram extraídos dos documentos protocolados pelos empreendedores, dos pareceres emitidos pelo Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano de Florianópolis (Ipuf) e Termos de Compromisso de Compensação assinados, além de visitas exploratórias. O universo estudado demonstrou frequentes distorções quanto ao conceito de vizinhança utilizado na implementação do instrumento da política urbana EIV, pois a delimitação dos impactados na cidade não é utilizada como parâmetro para a definição da área de influência dos impactos dos empreendimentos. Os levantamentos indicaram a necessidade da revisão do princípio para a delimitação da vizinhança, essencial para que o princípio da função social da propriedade prevaleça sobre os interesses individuais.

Review: Architectural Rhetoric and the Iconography of Authority in Colonial Mexico. The Casa de Montejo, by C. Cody Barteet

Review: Architectural Rhetoric and the Iconography of Authority in Colonial Mexico. The Casa de Montejo, by C. Cody Barteet