By 2050, an estimated 6.3 billion people or 66% of the world population will live in cities. Therefore, cities are in a high impact position regarding sustainability. The question is, how do we increase awareness of the sustainability challenge among these populations and gain citywide buy-in and multi-stakeholder collaboration to address this challenge? The Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) at the University of Oregon offers one approach to tackle this issue by matching higher education institutions (HEI’s), with local and regional cities to address their sustainability related needs through publicly engaged scholarship. The objective of this research was to examine how SCYP contributes to strategic sustainable development (SSD). Our research methods included a peer-reviewed literature review, semi-structured interviews, surveys and further document review. Our sources included SCYP co-founders, partner city program managers, strategic sustainable development experts, and municipal planners from around the world. Our research suggests that SCYP creates a subtle paradigm shift towards sustainability among partner city staff and community members while accelerating practical implementation of sustainability related projects. Furthermore, the added layer of SSD concepts can increase the efficacy of this approach and allow the model to embrace a larger systems level perspective over time.

Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / Global urbanisation trends predict a future in which the already overburdened cities of Africa and Asia will house the bulk of the two billion new people born by 2050. This second wave of urbanisation will increase resource demands in these cities and extend the expanse of slums already surrounding them. Given the global imperative of sustainable development, and the existing imbalance of resource access, effective urban planning is necessary to meet this second urbanisation wave, and build resilient, equitable cities. However, preliminary investigation suggests a lack of data-supported decision-making in cities of the global south, due either to limited collection of, or lack of access to, city-level data. This has led to many urban development programmes being implemented with minimal scientific backing to support the success of proposed policy or infrastructure innovations. This directly impacts a city’s ability to reach service delivery, economic growth, and human development goals, let alone protect ecosystem services upon which it relies. This is particularly true in African cities, in which governments are (necessarily) more focused on delivery of basic services than on a greening or efficiency agenda. This is further compounded by the need for African cities to prepare adequate public services for the increased population expected in the second urbanisation wave. A quantitative assessment of cities’ resource profiles can support policy makers in making informed decisions about infrastructure configurations in order to improve their resource management. To this end, methods to accurately estimate and analyse these data are necessary. The primary objective of this study was to establish a resource consumption typology for African cities. Due to limitations in the availability and form of secondary data, this study shifted focus to explore how best to form a typology from limited data. It made use of data for 53 African nations and scaling theories proffered to estimate city-level economic and resource data for 120 African cities. The resultant resource profiles were then normalised and clustered in a number of ways to produce two national typologies and four city typologies. Insights from these typologies both inform the method for categorising cities by socioeconomic or resource indicators as well as provide insights into the shape and magnitude of resource profile for multiple African cities. They also highlight the key drivers of resource consumption in these spaces. Future work involves validating the scaling method with locally acquired data so as to increase confidence in the city-level data, before settling on the preferred method for clustering cities. / Wêreldwye verstedelikingstendense dui op ‘n toekoms waarin die reeds oorlaaide stede in Afrika en Asië die grootste deel van die sowat twee biljoen nuwe mense teen 2050 sal huisves. Die tweede verstedelikingsgolf sal eise wat in hierdie stede op hulpbronne gestel word verhoog, en die uitgestrektheid van krotbuurtes wat hulle reeds omsingel, nog meer laat uitkring. In die lig van die wêreldwye noodsaaklikheid van volhoubare ontwikkeling en die heersende wanbalans wat toeganklikheid tot hulpbronne betref, is doeltreffende stedelike beplanning nodig om aan hierdie verwagte tweede verstedelikingsgolf te kan voldoen en lewenskragtige, gelyke stede op te rig. Voorlopige ondersoek toon egter ‘n tekort aan data-gesteunde besluitneming in suidelike stede van die wêreld weens óf beperkte inwinning daarvan, óf gebrek aan toegang tot data op stedelike vlak. Dit het daartoe aanleiding gegee dat talle stedelike ontwikkelingsprogramme met minimale wetenskaplike steun, wat die sukses van voorgestelde beleids- of infrastruktuurinnovasies rugsteun, geïmplementeer is. ‘n Stad se vermoë om sy doelwitte ten opsigte van dienslewering, ekonomiese groei en menslike ontwikkeling te bereik, word sodoende gekortwiek om nie eens melding te maak van beskerming van die ekostelsel-dienste waarop hy staatmaak nie. Dit is veral die geval in Afrika-stede waar regeerders (uit noodsaak) meer gefokus is op die lewering van basiese dienste as op ‘n agenda vir vergroening en doelmatigheid. Dit word voorts verhewig deur die behoefte van Afrika-stede om doeltreffende openbare dienste op die been te bring vir die groter bevolking wat met die tweede verstedelikingsgolf in die vooruitsig gestel word. ‘n Kwantitatiewe vasstelling van die omvang van stede se hulpbronne, kan beleidskeppers help om ingeligte besluite te neem oor infrastruktuur-konfigurasie en sodoende die bestuur van hulle hulpbronne verbeter. Met dit as mikpunt, is metodes nodig om hierdie data korrek te bepaal en te analiseer. Die hoofdoel van hierdie verhandeling was om ‘n hulpbronkonsumpsie-tipologie op te stel. Weens beperkinge wat betref die beskikbaarheid en vorm van sekondêre data, is die verhandeling se fokus verskuif om te bepaal hoe daar ten beste ‘n tipologie uit beperkte data gevorm kan word. Daar is van data rakende 53 Afrika-nasies, en skaal-teorieë aangebied deur gebruik gemaak om data oor die ekonomieë en hulpbronne van 120 Afrika-stede te bekom. Die hulpbron-vasstelling wat hieruit voortgevloei het, is vervolgens genormaliseer en saamgevoeg op ‘n verskeidenheid van wyses om twee nasionale tipologieë en vier stadstipologieë te lewer. Insigte wat dié tipologieë voortbring, lig die metode toe waarvolgens stede deur sosio-ekonomiese of hulpbron-aanwysers gekategoriseer word en bied ook insigte rakende die voorkoms en omvang van hulpbron-bepaling vir menige Afrika-stede. Hulle benadruk ook die sleutel-aandrywers van konsumpsie in hierdie opsig. Toekomstige werk sluit die bevestiging van die skaalmetode met plaaslik aangeskafde data in ten einde die vertroue in stadsdata te vermeerder alvorens daar op die voorkeurmetode vir die bondeling van stede besluit word.

This study explored the “sustainable city” by focusing on pro-cycling policies as a way to adapt theprinciple of sustainability to urban reality, as impacting the shape of the urban context and the lives of itsinhabitants. The case of the City of Seoul provided the opportunity to discuss potential and pitfallcharacterizing the implementation of pro-cycling policies, in light of the broader international contextoffering cases and examples that are here used as background for the analysis and interpretation of the case ofSeoul. This paper has two main parts. The first questions the key determinants of pro-cycling policies oftenproclaimed as “best-practices” in the field of cycling policies. It suggests that the overall level of cycling ismore related to government policies rather than history, culture, topography and climate. The identifiedgovernment policies have something in common. Firstly, cycling policies have evolved into an essential partof urban planning (cycling-inclusive urban planning). Secondly, they are created through the partnershipbetween the state, the private sector and civil society organizations based on the collaborative planninggovernance. Thirdly, policy components of hard and soft measures tend to be designed based on the needs ofthe great majority of citizens, particularly users. The second part explores the main causes of theshortcomings charactering pro-cycling policies in the case of Seoul. It argues that the main causes aredifficulties of achieving cooperation among different levels of government, the lack of opportunities forcitizen’s participation, the problems of hard components (cycling infrastructure) which is not based onpeople’s needs, unbalanced policy mixture of hard and soft components (non-infrastructural measures).Pro-cycling policies can play a significant role in achieving the sustainable city. To implement cyclingpolicies as a way of achieving the sustainable city, cultural and social shifts should be entailed. Theimplementation of pro-cycling can contribute to this cultural shift which is fundamental to the sustainable city.This is a cycle that has to be turned into a virtuous cycle leading to the city and urban community towardssustainability. However, if the created cycling policies are not based on the partnership and collaboration withvarious stakeholders, they are not likely to get society-wide support, meet the needs of users, and thus reachthe targeted goals. This is also true of Seoul. Even though the City of Seoul set up ambitious goals andinvested a lot of city budget, it could not achieve the desired aims. As a novice in pro-cycling policies, it isinevitable for the city experience trial and error. To reduce trial and error and develop more suitable policies,the city needs to explore best practices of cycling policies around world and adapt them to the local context.

Abstract With the growing trend of urbanization in the world, subjects of the sustainable urban development keep gaining increasing attentions, and researches about indicators of the sustainable urban development also become conspicuous discussions. Nevertheless, recent decades there were still fewer researches referring to construct indicators of sustainable urban development applying the concept of single city. On the important dimensions of discussing sustainable urban development, we should emphasize both on whether a city grows towards the sustainable trend and monitoring the development process of a city. Decision authority, monitoring the situations of the sustainable urban development, should design the indicator groups of a city in accordance with its particular historical background, geographical conditions, character of existing pattern, and topics people concerned. The analysis framework of this research broadly includes the aspects as follow¡G the natural environment of urban hardware, and the socio-economy and culture of urban software. An empirical study of Kaohsiung City was performed to illustrate the analysis procedures of the entire research process. Recognizing the growing environmental damage and population density increase in Kaohsiung city, actually decision authority need to outline the guidance of strategies or decisions with regard to monitoring the indicators of sustainable development. Using a case study of Kaohsiung, we adopt the indicator groups of measuring urban sustainability in¡§An Assessment System for Sustainable Taiwan¡¨as foundation , expect developing sustainable development indicators for Kaohsiung¡¦s version. Referring to noted assessment systems for sustainable city, this paper established an initial assessment system for sustainable urban indicators dividing into four aspects as follow: product, living, survival, ecology, with regard to aggregating environmental, economic, social, cultural discussions, and et al. Through a survey of expert questionnaire in Delphi method, this paper compiles the recognition and opinions from the experts of different background and the officials of government department, then modifies 31 suitable indicator items to assess Kaohsiung¡¦s sustainability. Tracking whether a city developed towards sustainability to provide references for government¡¦s policy making in the future, we employ statistic numeral data government published from year 1996 to year 2001 for time-series analysis and examine the results of constructing a sustainable city on developmental expense government offered in Kaohsiung city. The goal of this research is through suitability evaluating of an assessment system for sustainable indicators to develop an indicator system with place characteristics according to telling the developmental setting and monitored dimension of a city easier and clearer, and finally fitting the input of substance expense from government for constructing a sustainable city.

Many researches have shown that urban parks can enhance the quality of life, which is a key factor of building a sustainable city. Hong Kong, as one of the most densely populated financial city in the world, has severely low urban park density. Instead, a large number of small public urban open spaces (SPUOS) are scattered within the city fabrics. This paper therefore aims to study the design and functions of these SPUOS. It is also hoped that find out whether a network of connected small open spaces can compensate for a large urban park. After reviewing the history of urban parks in Hong Kong. It is believed that the multitude of SPUOS is the result of poor urban planning and imperfect urban renewal schemes during the early occupation by the British Government. These SPUOS are usually around 1000 to 1500 m2 large in size and can be abundantly found along adjacent streets. For the design of the SPUOS, benches are usually the only facility installed and the vegetation is of poor quality. The connectivity of SPUOS located within the study area in the Yau Tsim Mong District is investigated with the use of graph theory and connectivity indices. The result has shown that these SPUOS in the study area have a high degree of connectivity. They are further compared with a larger urban park located nearby. Based on the comparisons and other prior researches, a conclusion has been drawn that size of a park is not the major concern of park users but rather its facilities and design. It is believed that a network of connected SPUOS might serve the local community better due to their locations. However, they should not be able to entirely replace large urban parks since they have fewer amenities provided. The SPUOS are found to have rather different functions to the society than what urban parks are commonly expected. Their environment and economic functions are constrained mainly by the poor design and the locations. An interview with the representative of a non-government organization has been made to further understand their social functions. The interviewee believes that SPUOS now mainly act as social hubs and living rooms for senior citizens. This statement is then verified by the result of a prior survey and some other researches. This is due to the combination of aging population structure, exploding population growth, and expanding poverty gap. Lastly, a comparative study has been made on the small public urban green spaces (SPUGS) in Copenhagen. The SPUGS can attract visitors of different age group from other far neighborhoods. Despite than fact that there is cultural difference and citizens from these two cities have different lifestyles, a better design of the pocket park might be the reason of why it becomes an attractive natural meeting point in the central Copenhagen for all age-groups visitors. Based on all the investigations and findings, suggestions have been made to improve the quality of SPUOS in Hong Kong.

Les villes Africaines connaissent de multiples transformations liées à la recherche d’un développement économique, à l’intégration mondiale des préoccupations environnementales, à la recherche d’une unité nationale et d’une cohésion sociale. Toutes ces dynamiques attirent de plus en plus les populations des campagnes vers la ville et favorisent ainsi une urbanisation rapide. L’une des conséquences est l’étalement urbain qui s’accompagne de la bidonvilisation c'est-à-dire de la juxtaposition de quartiers précaires. Au Cameroun, les documents de planification urbaine ne sont pour la plupart établis qu’après appropriation de l’espace par les populations. Cela questionne principalement la capacité des acteurs institutionnels en charge de la gestion de ces villes à développer des stratégies d’anticipation dans les allocations foncières. Pourtant, ces villes dont les plus importantes sont Yaoundé et Douala, ont pour principaux enjeux : la consolidation d’une planification retardataire et la transcription des préceptes du développement durable au sein de leurs aménagements. Cependant, il subsiste dans cette mouvance une rupture idéologique entre les visions stratégiques d’aménagement urbain portées par les pouvoirs publics (l’Etat) et les pratiques urbaines locales issues des populations (citadins) dont les attentes sont autres. Les formes d’appropriations traditionnelles différentes de ces dernières créent une impression de ruralité urbaine rejetée pour les pouvoir publics qui ne désirent pour toute urbanité que celle portée par la communauté mondiale, influencée par les préceptes du développement durable. Cette rupture selon notre analyse est celle qui donne aux villes camerounaises une segmentation morphologique. Aussi, l’influence occidentale n’est maintenue qu’aux travers des aides financières et parfois techniques, c'est-à-dire que la motivation première des Etats Africains, en situation de précarité financière depuis la crise des années 80, par rapport à leur inscription aux préoccupations environnementales mondiales repose sur la notion d’aide au développement : sur la croyance africaine à l’Occidentsauveur. Il est donc question de savoir quelle durabilité est à l’œuvre au Cameroun : quels acteurs pour quelle ville durable ? / African cities are currently at the heart of many transformations as a result of political dynamics, the search for economic development, the global integration of environmental concerns, the quest for national unity and social cohesion. All these dynamics attract more people from the countryside to the city and thus promote rapid urbanization. This results to urban sprawl and shantytowns which are the juxtaposition of precarious neighborhoods. This mainly questions the capacity of the institutional actors in charge to develop strategies of anticipation in land allocations. The biggest cities (Yaoundé and Douala) of the countryoscillate between the consolidation of an outdated urban planning and the transcription of the sustainable development precepts. However, there remains in this movement an ideological break between the strategic visions of urban development carried by the public authorities (the State) and local urban practices from (urban) populations whose expectations are different. Different forms of traditional appropriation of the latter create an impression of urban rurality shocking the public authorities who desire the world community largely influenced by the precepts of sustainable development. This break according to our analysis, gives to theCameroonian cities, although influenced by the precepts of sustainable development, a morphological segmentation. Also, Western influence is maintained only through financial and sometimes technical aid, meaning that the primary motivation of African states, in a situation of financial precariousness since the crisis of 80s, compared their inclusion in globalenvironmental concerns based on the notion of aid: the African belief in the West-savior. It is therefore important to know the type of sustainability in Cameroon: Which actors for which sustainable city ?

Humanity is facing big environmental challenges. Apart from the climate changes, there is also an ongoing depletion of the natural resources necessary for our survival in general, and for highly electronics-dependant lifestyles especially. At the same time, both urbanisation and digitalisation are progressing at a rapid pace. Digitalisation holds a potential to decrease environmental impact from cities and urban lifestyles, and many cities want to increase their use of digital technologies and services. This is often at least partially motivated by environmental concerns. In these cases, it is often the municipality that is responsible for strategies and support of increased digitalisation. This dissertation places itself in the Smart Sustainable City field, but more specifically aims to support municipalities’ work with digitalisation for environmental goals. The results are structured around three parts. The first part accounts for six cities’ promising digital solutions with possible environmental benefits, and of possible digital tools to support two EU directives that can affect municipalities’ environmental work. The second part suggests how municipalities can work with digitalisation for environmental goals, and especially stresses evaluation and strategic investments. The third part looks at possible long-term societal changes in relation to digitalisation, and the risks with a city depending on electronics: It is important that a city can remain adequately functional, even in the case of a short- or long term shortage of resources and/or energy. Finally, I discuss some of the uncertainties in digitalisation for environmental goals. There are uncertainties regarding digitalisation’s actual effects, which can make it harder to know what investments to make. Implementing digital technologies for municipal aims often demands cooperation between actors with different interests, but if the municipality relates its decision to environmental goals, it facilitates demanding that digital services and tools have environmental benefits. / Mänskligheten står inför stora utmaningar på miljöområdet. Utöver klimatförändringar sker en utarmning av de naturresurser som krävs både för vår allmänna fortlevnad och för livsstilar med hög användning av elektronik. Samtidigt pågår både en snabb urbanisering och en snabb digitalisering. Digitaliseringen har potential för att minska miljöpåverkan från städer och urbana livsstilar, och många städer uttalar en vilja till ökat nyttjande av digitala tekniker och tjänster, oftast åtminstone delvis motiverat av omsorg om miljön. Ofta är det då kommunen som står för strategier och stöd för ökad digitalisering. Den här avhandlingen placerar sig i det fält som berör den smarta hållbara staden, men syftar mer specifikt till att hjälpa kommuner i deras arbete med digitalisering för att nå miljömål. Avhandlingens resultat är uppdelade i tre delar. Den första delen redovisar några lovande digitala tjänster med möjliga miljöfördelar, respektive möjliga digitala stöd för två EU-direktiv som påverkar kommuners miljöarbete. Den andra delen ger förslag på hur kommuner kan lägga upp sin arbetsgång för att rikta digitaliseringsarbetet mer mot miljöfördelar och miljömål, och rekommenderar särskilt att följa upp arbetet med utvärderingar och mer strategiska investeringar. Den tredje delen går in på möjliga långsiktiga förändringar av samhället i relation till digitalisering, samt riskerna med att en stad blir beroende av elektronik: Det är viktigt att en stad kan bevara huvuddelen av sin funktionalitet, även vid kort- eller långvarig strypning av resurser och/eller energi. Slutligen diskuterar jag något av osäkerheten i digitalisering för miljömål. Det finns stora osäkerheter kring vad de verkliga effekterna blir, vilket kan göra det svårt att veta vilka investeringar som ska göras. Att införa digitala tekniker och tjänster för att nå kommunala mål kräver samverkan från aktörer med olika intressen, men om kommunen tydligt kopplar till miljömål underlättar det för att kräva att de digitala tjänsterna och verktygen gör nytta på miljöområdet. / <p>QC 20180302</p> / ICT for Urban Sustainability

<p>The study is about how green spaces and structures of Dar es Salaam city, quantitatively and qualitatively, are browning out. It also tries to explore the different reasons behind the browning tendency, and what it means to the function of the city and to the daily form of life of the inhabitants. Finally there is a discussion about how to counteract the tendency by involving the inhabitants in planning procedures following the communicative approach to planning. The main investigations have been a) time series mapping of the browning process at city, settlement, block and plot levels; and b) interviews with inhabitants individually and as groups in two settlements. </p><p>The result is that the quantity of green spaces and structures is decreasing fast in all levels. It is also found that, concerning the browning tendency, the development in formal and informal areas is the same. The quality of the remaining green spaces and structures is also decaying. Among other things, imported plant species, in all levels, replace the indigenous ones. They often cause disturbance and extinctions to local flora and fauna. All in all, the browning tendency is a threat to the ecological functioning of the green as a system, infrastructural and health aspects on the city. It is also a threat to typical daily lifestyles in the city. Throughout, low-density with low-rise detached houses characterize the city, which expands continuously both outward and inward. So it is a sprawled city. In most of the remaining green spaces of this sprawled structure vegetables and other food plants are grown for the benefit of the urban poor, now threatened. </p><p>The inhabitants in the studied blocks seem to take responsibility of supplying, using and caring their green plants and spaces. They also often co-operate in solving ad-hoc environmental problems in their living environments. But in their plots and around them they nevertheless keep on building more and more on a limited plot space, mostly for economic reasons. Another room is more worth economically than some vegetables or the shade of a tree. Finally it seems that local community, if well empowered, have potentials in managing their own living environment. </p><p>The study concludes that in a city whose largest proportion of population is poor and unemployed, urban sprawl could offer, at the moment, an appropriate form. This conclusion challenges how the concept of the sustainable city has been elaborated and evolved in western countries.</p>

A cidade é palco dos grandes conflitos e dos grandes problemas contemporâneos. Mais que mero cenário, no entanto, o espaço urbano é um elemento ativo na formação da história da cidade. Para além de sua existência física e material, o território urbano é um código de significação e subjetividade. Ele é responsável por favorecer ou dificultar as trocas entre cidadãos, as transformações sociais que se estabelecem ao longo do tempo, a qualidade de vida da população. Como a cidade está em contínuo movimento, existe uma relação que ultrapassa a ordem funcional entre os grupos sociais e o espaço urbano. É nela que o Homem pode projetar sua identidade, situar sua presença no mundo, exercer sua cidadania. Cidadania nasce na cidade. A civilidade supõe o bom convívio urbano e civil, que ultrapassa o controle de normas e autoridades. Civilização é poder viver em uma cidade na qual, de um lado, injustiças sociais sejam combatidas e, de outro, as mais diversas aspirações individuais possam ser atingidas. O desafio do planejamento urbano atual consiste, dessa forma, na organização do espaço não para reprimi-lo, mas para favorecer o diálogo entre diferentes etnias, classes, carreiras, estilos. Permitir a comunicação entre espaços públicos e privados. Revitalizar a relação entre o indivíduo, o coletivo e a natureza. Tornar a cidade sustentável. Este trabalho aborda essas questões, analisando a sustentabilidade como um instrumento na busca de melhor qualidade ambiental urbana. Além disso, apresenta uma metodologia para o planejamento urbano sustentável, aplicada no estudo de caso sobre Poços de Caldas, em Minas Gerais. / The city is the stage of great conflicts and great contemporary problems. More than a mere scenario, the urban environment is an active element in the formation of the history of the city. Beyond its physical and material existence, the urban territory is a code of meaning and subjectivity. It is responsible for favoring or making difficult the exchange between citizens, the social changes throughout the time, and the standard of life of the population. As the city is in continuous movement, it comes out a relationship that exceeds the functional order between the social groups and the urban environment. At this place, the human being can project its identity, point out his presence in the world, and exert his citizenship. The citizenship is born in the city. The civility assumes urban and civil conviviality that exceeds the control of standards and authorities. Civilization is a way of being able to live in a city in which social injustices are fought as well as the most diverse individual aspirations can be reached. Therefore, the challenge of the current urban planning consists in the organization of the environment - not to suppress it, but to favor the dialogue between different etnias, social standards, careers, and styles. Furthermore it should allow the communication between public and private environments, revitalize the relationships between the individuals, the collective and the nature, and turn the city sustainable. This work focuses these questions, analyzing the sustainability as an instrument for searching a better quality of the urban environment. Moreover, it presents a methodology for the sustainable urban planning, applied to Poços de Caldas, in Minas Gerais.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:43:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoaoStefaniak.pdf: 1510883 bytes, checksum: 309f2fee3412498233d25d9f2b41c7f6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-09-30 / Despite being ensured in the constitutional and infra-constitutional juridical ordainment, the human and fundamental right to housing is far from being fulfilled, since the urban development policy adopted by the Capitalist State is based on its main function that is guaranteeing the production and reproduction of the process of capital accumulation. The urban tools proposed by the City Statute to face property speculation and urban segregation and, consequently induce the reform of the excluding land distribution in Brazilian cities, have not been used by most cities even after ten years of its approval. Housing programs tend to meet the demands of the middle class while the population lower class has no access to banking credit. This scenery reveals contradiction that constitutes the framework of this research: the lack of effectiveness of the right to housing in the city despite its existence in the urban legislation. From the conceptualization of decent housing and the right to housing, this paper highlights the protagonist role of the Capitalist State and the urban social movement regarding housing as a social issue, it also analyses the interlink between housing, the right to housing and the similar categories city and the right to a sustainable city. Taking into consideration the uneven and combined development of the capitalist urbanization process – will focus on the urban phenomenon called slums which constituted the city, necessary object of regularization and land urbanization. The city of Ponta Grossa was chosen for the practical observation of the hypothesis formulated, and its urban municipal legislation as well as the local urban social movement were analyzed. It was concluded that the contradiction between urban norm and urban policy employed by the municipality, which implies the lack of universality of the right to decent housing, is associated to the current phase of capitalist development, characterized by the system structural crisis. This reality is partially hidden by the ideological mirage articulated by the Capitalist State, and a task is posed to the urban social movement: the construction of the social city utopia and a sustainable environment on the ruins of such a mirage. / Apesar de consagrado no ordenamento jurídico constitucional e infra-constitucional o direito humano e fundamental à moradia está longe de ser efetivado, a política de desenvolvimento urbano adotado pelo Estado-capitalista é fundamentada na sua função precípua de garantir a produção e reprodução do processo de acumulação do capital. Os instrumentos urbanísticos estabelecidos para combater a especulação imobiliária e a segregação urbana e, conseqüentemente, induzir a reforma da excludente estrutura fundiária das cidades brasileiras, após dez anos da aprovação do Estatuto da Cidade não foram colocados em prática pela maioria dos Municípios. Os programas habitacionais continuam direcionados a atender as demandas da classe média, pois a camada mais pobre da população não tem acesso ao crédito bancário. Este quadro revela uma contradição que constitui o fio condutor desta pesquisa: a ausência de efetividade do direito à cidade apesar da sua previsão minuciosa na legislação urbanística. Parte-se da conceituação de moradia digna e direito à moradia, destacando o papel protagonista do Estado-capitalista e do movimento social urbano na questão social da habitação, passando pela imbricação de moradia e direito à moradia com as similares categorias cidade e direito à cidade sustentável. Levando em conta o desenvolvimento desigual e combinado do processo de urbanização capitalista - vai enfocar o fenômeno urbano da favela que constituiu a cidade, objeto necessário da regularização e urbanização fundiária. Definida a cidade de Ponta Grossa como lócus para a constatação prática das hipóteses enunciadas, é realizado a análise da legislação urbanística municipal e da atuação do movimento social urbano local. Em sede de síntese conclui-se que a contradição entre a norma urbanística e a política urbana aplicada pelo Município, que implica na ausência de universalização do direito à moradia digna está associada à atual fase de desenvolvimento capitalista, caracterizada pela crise estrutural do sistema. Esta realidade é acobertada pela miragem ideológica articulada pelo Estado-capitalista, sendo que a tarefa posta para o movimento social urbano é a construção da utopia da cidade social e ambientalmente sustentável nos escombros desta miragem. Apesar de consagrado no ordenamento jurídico constitucional e infra-constitucional o direito humano e fundamental à moradia está longe de ser efetivado, a política de desenvolvimento urbano adotado pelo Estado-capitalista é fundamentada na sua função precípua de garantir a produção e reprodução do processo de acumulação do capital. Os instrumentos urbanísticos estabelecidos para combater a especulação imobiliária e a segregação urbana e, conseqüentemente, induzir a reforma da excludente estrutura fundiária das cidades brasileiras, após dez anos da aprovação do Estatuto da Cidade não foram colocados em prática pela maioria dos Municípios. Os programas habitacionais continuam direcionados a atender as demandas da classe média, pois a camada mais pobre da população não tem acesso ao crédito bancário. Este quadro revela uma contradição que constitui o fio condutor desta pesquisa: a ausência de efetividade do direito à cidade apesar da sua previsão minuciosa na legislação urbanística. Parte-se da conceituação de moradia digna e direito à moradia, destacando o papel protagonista do Estado-capitalista e do movimento social urbano na questão social da habitação, passando pela imbricação de moradia e direito à moradia com as similares categorias cidade e direito à cidade sustentável. Levando em conta o desenvolvimento desigual e combinado do processo de urbanização capitalista - vai enfocar o fenômeno urbano da favela que constituiu a cidade, objeto necessário da regularização e urbanização fundiária. Definida a cidade de Ponta Grossa como lócus para a constatação prática das hipóteses enunciadas, é realizado a análise da legislação urbanística municipal e da atuação do movimento social urbano local. Em sede de síntese conclui-se que a contradição entre a norma urbanística e a política urbana aplicada pelo Município, que implica na ausência de universalização do direito à moradia digna está associada à atual fase de desenvolvimento capitalista, caracterizada pela crise estrutural do sistema. Esta realidade é acobertada pela miragem ideológica articulada pelo Estado-capitalista, sendo que a tarefa posta para o movimento social urbano é a construção da utopia da cidade social e ambientalmente sustentável nos escombros desta miragem.