Urban Housing as Possibilities of Sustainable Communities

Rosa Maria Locatelli Kalil

Adriana Gelpi

ABSTRACT: The housing policies of Program Minha Casa Minha Vida have produced social housing in Brazil, generating urban developments and housing projects in several cities. Most of them are situated in areas of urban sprawl, generating displaced urban appendices of the consolidated urban fabric. This paper presents a case study in Passo Fundo (RS) that combines private construction with public investments, with the characteristic diversity of typologies, building technology and streamlined the gradual provision of community facilities. The analysis is based in methods and concepts of full valuation of residential areas proposed by Montaner, Muxi & Falagan (2011). In preliminary investigation, the new development presents a number of facilities and sustainable improvements such as: landscape, infrastructure and urban facilities: – paving roads with walks for pedestrians; – School child education; – Elementary school and sport center under construction; – public transportation; – Health equipment; – Shed recycling waste; – Environmental preservation area along the stream; Set and housing unit: – differentiated housing typologies: terraced houses, detached houses, houses with apartments; – Sanitation in the condos themselves; – Housing units with parking for vehicles; – Use of solar heating for water; – Balconies in the apartments. As a result, it appears that even in private enterprises, the tools “to inhabit the present”, that consider housing as part of urban design can contribute to the resulting urban morphology of new landscapes get better quality and sustainability, provided that effect the corresponding public housing policies.

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