Raul Silveira Neto (p), Eric Santos

Juan Eduardo Chica-Mejía

With approximately 85% of its population living in cities, Brazil is a highly urbanized country. This rapid urbanization has created significant challenges in providing infrastructure and adequate housing for its citizens. In this context, areas with better infrastructure and proximity to jobs are highly valued, which leads to significant residential segregation and pushes poorer populations to the outskirts. The ZEIS (Special Zones of Social Interest), initiated in the City of Recife in the 1980s, serves as the primary public policy response to the exclusion of the poorest communities from access to employment opportunities. This zoning defines a specific urban area for low-income housing, aiming to prevent the displacement of residents from locations that are closer to services and employment. Today ZEIS is present in more than 2,000 Brazilian municipalities, although the impacts of this instrument are still poorly evaluated. The current study aims to assess how ZEIS affects residents' employment opportunities and income in the City of Recife. Although well-intentioned, the ZEIS restricts housing supply and may lead to higher housing prices and increased urban sprawl, resulting in longer commuting times. To evaluate the impact of ZEIS on labor market outcomes, we use official data from Cadúnico, a database from the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger, and an instrumental variable approach based on railways built in the 19th century in Recife for the transportation of sugar from sugarcane during the Brazilian Empire period (Recife was the main Brazilian center of sugarcane production during the colonial period). The railways were originally used exclusively for transporting sugarcane and cotton from the countryside to the harbor in Recife. As a result, they are not integral to the current labor market conditions. However, they were constructed in flat and sturdy areas of the city, which led to the development of many avenues and streets around them. Thus, our instrument is exogenous and relevant. The main results indicate that: i) having better access to employment positively influences the likelihood of an individual residing in a ZEIS, ii) the enhanced probability of being employed for those living in a ZEIS can be fully attributed to this improved accessibility to employment opportunities for its residents, and iii) the zoning of ZEIS has no impact on the labor income of its residents. Overall, our evidence favors the idea that the zoning of ZEIS improves employment prospects for those living in it.

Patricia Briega, Sara Pelaez-Sanchez, Dionysis Latinopoulos (p), Enrique Berruezo, Guzide Aslankaya

Raul Silveira Neto

Nature-based solutions in urban areas are receiving increasing attention in European municipalities for their proven multiple benefits to city residents. Some of those improvements include health and well-being, local climate regulation, air and water quality, and enhancements to the local green economy and cultural city assets. The NatUR-W project aims for an innovative and systemic approach to urban renaturalisation in Lorca, Spain, by fostering Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for climate adaptation, effective water management, and energy efficiency. NatUR-W is implementing GreenThermoWall (GTW), a self-sustaining green wall system designed to improve building insulation, reduce heating costs, and enhance urban resilience. The GTW system utilises bio-polyurethane, a lightweight and insulating substrate made from recycled materials, significantly lowering the carbon footprint compared to conventional insulation systems. By reducing heat loss in winter and mitigating heat stress in summer, GTW lowers energy consumption and utility costs in vulnerable social housing and public buildings, such as the repurposed citizen university in Lorca’s former prison. The GTW innovative solutions will be integrated into an urban regeneration plan that includes a participatory plan based on a co-design approach or collaborative design process where stakeholders are actively involved in all NbS stages. The co-design solutions will bring social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits, such as better community acceptance, recreational and cultural landscape values, improved natural water cycle (infiltration, water reservoirs, water resilience), climate regulation, better air quality and boosting urban biodiversity. The proposed NbS will reduce maintenance costs since they leverage natural processes, are self-regulated, adapt and evolve, and provide climate shelters to help people cope with the heat waves. One of the project’s outcomes is to reach 100 stakeholders involved in co-design activities. NatUR-W has already organised two co-designed workshops, has conducted stakeholder mapping and analysis as part of the engagement strategy, and has created a Stakeholders Board that meets every four months to foster citizen involvement in local governance. The monitoring of energy savings and climate benefits will be conducted through IoT sensors and open-access digital platforms, ensuring data transparency and replicability for future urban interventions.
NatUR-W’s green transition model demonstrates how NbS can simultaneously address energy poverty, climate adaptation, and urban renaturalisation. It offers a scalable and sustainable solution for cities facing similar challenges.