Desempenho socioeconômico da forma urbana: implicações do adensamento com verticalização e baixa permeabilidade

Abstract

This thesis is part of the discussions on urban morphology, and its objective is to analyze how formal and spatial characteristics that permeate the relationships between built density and urban form are associated with certain socioeconomic processes that enhance urbanity, namely: the number of people on the streets; and the diversity of land uses. Although they cannot solve the socioeconomic problems of the uneven city, urban morphological devices and arrangements play an essential role in aggravating or minimizing them, by accentuating or attenuating patterns of social isolation, sociospatial segregation and lack of urban vitality. Deepening and expanding the empirical knowledge about the potential for socioeconomic performance in the urban form allows it to be more reliably applied in urban practices, in favor of more socially cohesive, more vibrant and urban-prone cities. Therefore, the theoretical model of converging and diverging urban patterns by Netto et al. (2012) is assumed and, as a methodological procedure, the relationships between multiple variables linked to the built density, urban form and socioeconomic processes are analyzed by bivariate correlation with the Spearman coefficient. Distance, density and diversity are recognized as the primary attributes that shape the sense of the city, with regard to the relationships between urban space and society. These three characteristics underlie the selection of the analysis variables, which also follows an ontology of the urban form based on the relationship between public and private space. The methods Spacematrix (BERGHAUSER PONT; HAUPT, 2009), Place Syntax (STÅHLE; MARCUS; KARLSTRÖM, 2005; STÅHLE, 2008) and Spatial Syntax with Angular Segment Analysis (HILLIER; HANSON, 1984; HILLIER, 1996b; TURNER, 2001) are used, in addition to interface permeability indices developed within the scope of the research (ANDRADE; BERGHAUSER PONT; AMORIM, 2018). The case studies include urban areas of João Pessoa, the capital of the state of Paraíba and a regional capital positioned among contemporary Brazilian medium-sized cities, where densification by verticalization is common for housing purposes. The results of the research demonstrate that, among the analyzed variables, those most strongly associated with the number of people on the streets are the visual interface permeability (mainly that aimed at non-residential spaces) and non-residential use. The case studies corroborate the theory of Netto et al. (2012) on urban dynamics based on reciprocal interference and different temporalities between converging and diverging patterns of accessibility, density, activities location and pedestrian movement, in contrast to Hillier's (1996b) emphasis on the multiplier effect of attractors on natural movement generated by spatial accessibility. It is reinforced the claim of Netto et al. (2012) that type-morphological attributes and patterns of activity location can have a greater influence on movement patterns, when there is a discrepancy between the latter and accessibility patterns. The results also indicate that there is a type-morphological heterogeneity in the investigated urban areas, with a converging process for the predominance of disurban patterns, averse to the presence and movement of people on the streets, and monofunctional, constituted by isolated buildings in the lot, with densification by verticalization, and low permeability of interfaces.