An example is urban mobility: people with lower incomes tend to live farther from where they work, from education and health services, and from commercial areas (Carneiro et al, 2019). In addition, they often do not have their own transport and are dependent on public transport and/or walking or cycling. Thus, they spend, on average, more time in transit per day, make fewer trips and spend a greater proportion of their income on transport compared to wealthier people.
With time lost in transit, opportunities are wasted: whether it’s looking for a new job or getting an education. In this way, urban immobility not only maintains inequality, but it increases it - a vicious cycle.
To break this cycle, researchers have suggested more compact cities, with a densified occupation and mixed land use, with commercial residences and services coexisting.
However, a common problem on the fringes of urban areas is urban sprawl. With the high costs of living in central areas, the increase in the size of families and the lack of access to transport, it is common for low-income families to occupy areas not yet used as housing. Likewise, due to the price of land, housing complexes and high-income condominiums also contribute to urban sprawl.
The result of these processes are cities with greater urban dispersion, occupied more horizontally, which increases the costs for the provision of social infrastructure by the State. These dispersed communities in turn need indispensable constructions, like schools or sewage networks.
It also becomes more difficult to provide security, as surveillance becomes more dispersed and street lighting costs themselves increase. Finally, planning also becomes much more complex, as the location of new residences becomes unpredictable, making almost instantaneous revisions of plans necessary – otherwise, gaps appear in areas of new occupations, which require social infrastructure. Therefore, dispersed urban areas tend to be less efficient and more unequal, in several dimensions.
To control urban sprawl, policies related to issues of urban mobility, urbanism and the environment are needed. The search for transverse (instead of radial) transport connections encourages the population to make shorter trips, which can increase the supply of goods, services, and jobs in peripheral areas, generating urban density and less unequal opportunities. Master plans can indicate areas of occupation and avoid construction in areas that encourage dispersed urban areas. Ecological belts can prevent spreading in peripheral areas and generate environmental benefits in a given location. However, little has been studied on the relationship between income distribution and urban sprawl.
To combat inequalities of opportunities and productive inefficiencies, a common instrument is income distribution policies. Although there is empirical evidence that these policies result in improving income distribution and economic growth, little has been studied into their impact on the expansion of cities.
In other words, a better income distribution can allow the reduction of inequalities (in addition to income inequality) with families moving to more central areas and having more access to services such as education and health. However, it does not allow homes in peripheral areas to have adequate sanitation conditions, nor schools and health facilities nearby.
Considering that these households will remain occupied, it is necessary to think about the best way to offer social infrastructure in these locations, in order to promote the social inclusion of their residents.
My PhD research aims to find the relationships between urban sprawl, provision of social infrastructure and income distribution. The results will be important both for generating knowledge about the relationship between these themes, leveraging new studies, and improving the performance of public policies that aim to improve the distribution of income and opportunities in different territories.
About the author
Guilherme S B Vianna is a former economist and a PhD student in the IPPUR-UFRJ (Urban and Regional Research and Planning Institute at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), studying a semester at Kings Brazil Institute, King's College.
His doctoral thesis is titled 'The relationship between urban sprawl, urban and social infrastructure and income distribution policies in Brazil'.
His main research areas are Urban Mobilty, Income Distribution, Social Infrastructure and Urban Planning. Guilherme also is a collaborator at Quanta Consultoria, and has participated in urban planning projects, such as the Director Plan of Fortaleza and the strategic urban and integrated development plan for the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro.