Geneva, Palais des Nations - May 3-6, 2000
CITIES OF THE SOUTH:
SUSTAINABLE FOR WHOM?
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ESF/N-AERUS International Workshop Geneva, Palais des Nations - May 3-6, 2000
CITIES OF THE SOUTH:
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Fernando Murillo
Faculty of Architecture, Design & Urbanism, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
The program "Casa Propia" of Buenos Aires City Government constitutes an innovative case of local policy focussing on public- private partnership to finance social housing projects in the context of an strategic urban development plan increasing densities of certain areas. The program's aim is to attract investors to build housing on private land for low-medium income buyers supported financially by the state through "soft" credits.
The central research hypothesis is that in the south, where the states tends to lack consolidated "social contention network", the design of housing programs theoretically sustainable tends to give priority to financial variables over social and environmental issues, leading to crucial contradictions implying negative social and environmental impacts.
Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, with three million inhabitants and twelve million considering its metropolitan region concentrate 40% of the total country population. The housing deficit in BA represents approximately 500.000 persons, 15% of its total population. Such deficit is distributed as 51% from the low socioeconomic level (familiar average incomes below to 1.000 $/month), 34% from medium-low level, (income between 1.000-2.000) and 15% from medium level, (between 2.000-3.000$) -GCBA, 1998-.
The lack of available land has generated an important pressure to the local government to increase urban densities in key areas. It leads to new regulations, allowing construction of high rises. The "compact city" approach applied to such zones generates rapid urban renewal process.
The Housing Municipal Commission has dealt historically in financing of housing complexes for low-income people. Looking for more efficiency and transparency in the management of public funds the program "Casa Propia" was created in 1996 to promote social housing projects as a way to renew the southern region of BA, historically with lower land costs -fig 1-.
The hypothesis of "Casa Propia" is that providing social housing in the sustainable development framework tends to create conditions of free market: Free supply of capitals and private land to implement public policies; free election for the "buyers" to choose among a set of offers.
On the other hand, the issue of "compact city" generates a set of competitive advantages to build in areas with demand and possibilities for higher land exploitation. The investors taking advantage of such advantages get favorable positions in the market offering lower prices and attracting lower income buyers. In this way, the financial sustainability is followed by social & environmental sustainability, by including the lower income brackets and renewing degraded areas at the same time.
Crucial contradictions have been identified between the program's principles and its results. The financial scheme proposed, even although theoretically aimed at the promotion of vulnerable groups, when establishing maximum marks to the construction costs and income levels, results in the offer of projects only for the higher income of the deficit, around 2.000$/monthly. It implies that at the end of the day, the program is financing the less vulnerable 15% of the housing deficit. Such fact would not be negative if it is complemented by other policies from the local government facing the rest of the deficit.
Densification of strategic areas means in the context of "Casa Propia" the construction of high rise buildings for medium income people in neighborhoods of low density inhabited by low-medium income people. It generates tensions expressed in the irruption of security systems and social exclusion. The conflict is intensified when such neighborhoods are inhabited by tenants instead of owners. Tenants as a result of the increases of land prices followed by rent increases produces migration of the lowest income inhabitants from the area towards cheaper locations.
On the other hand, the policy of densification implemented through high rise buildings imply when applied drastically to low-density neighborhoods, infrastructure saturation, traffic congestion, sunshine and ventilation reduction, privatization of public areas, etc. contradicting social and environmentally the idea of urban revitalization. But, in fact, the irruption of high rises in such neighborhoods are not the direct responsibility of "Casa Propia", but of the urban-environmental plan of Buenos Aires, encouraging densification as a way towards compact city-sustainability.
The implementation of the sustainable development approach in cities of the south needs a critical review of the role of local governments. The use of best practices as a channel to disseminate innovations contain the danger of exporting paradigms from cultural contexts where exists historically consolidated norms and social policies to contexts where it doesn't exists. The crucial issue is where, when and how free market principles can complement objectives of social & environmental promotion.
Casa Propia provide an interesting case of applying principles promoted internationally whose local conditions in the south leads to distorted results. Such "normal" contradictions of local policies in the South, are not necessarily resulting from the program itself but from its context as well. The lack of a global strategy to cope with the social housing deficit of BA by the local government leaves Casa Propia operating isolated supplying housing for the less vulnerable groups of the deficit. Casa Propia inserted in a major strategy of policies consolidated over the time could induce private investments for lower income segments releasing public funds.
The contradiction resulting from the program itself is the lack of foresight that the offer of projects would tend towards the upper social segments. The free market per se is not sufficient to induce investments to generate building offers for the lower income sectors. Neither is it enough to establish maximum marks too high for low-middle income groups thinking that the offer "naturally" or by free market competition will tend to include them. The creation of a state subsidy system founded on the logic of social equity beyond its financial sustainability is absolutely necessary.
On the other hand, urban densification with highly permissive standards tends to create conflicts between the interest of the community, expressed in social and environmental terms or at least, less drastic changes in the urban landscape. High-rises projects, in this context, contradict the idea of improving living conditions for the population settled in the areas to renew.
Such contradictions lead to consider sustainable development from the perspective of its target population. It is necessary to work with more than an unique paradigm of sustainability. For middle income levels is applicable the concept of "weak sustainability" or economic sustainability where the emphasis is upon allocation of resources and levels of consumption, and financial value is a key element of system quality. That is typically the case of "Casa Propia". But it is expected of a program to reach low-income groups, it should be applied the concept of "strong sustainability", in which there is little if any consideration of the financial or other costs attaining sustainability -Bell & Morse, 1999-.
Whether strong or weak sustainability are applied to particular "compact city" and "social housing" policies to address sustainable urban development constitutes a key issue to be taken into account.
Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1998. Plan Urbano Ambiental de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Elementos de diagnóstico. Documento de trabajo.
Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. 1999 Programa Habitacional Casa Propia. Manual para compradores.
Simon Bell & Stephen Morse, 1999. Sustainable Indicators, measuring the immeasurable. Earthscan.
N-AERUS: Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South
http://www.naerus.net