Papers by Gabriel Silvestre
Planning Perspectives , 2024
This paper examines the growth of the Olympic Games against that of former host cities to underst... more This paper examines the growth of the Olympic Games against that of former host cities to understand whether this mega-event may have ‘outgrown’ its hosts. The increasing hosting requirements and governments’ expansive use of mega-events as tools for urban development would suggest that the ‘Olympic city’ – a term we use for describing the size of the Olympics as hosted in different cities over the decades – has grown at a faster rate than former host cities. The analysis contrasts historical indicators that capture the evolving size of planning for the event based on four dimensions – sport, spectators, marketing and costs – as well as the urban dimension of hosting experiences (venues and infrastructure) with city trajectories based on demographic and economic indicators. This is done through a longitudinal analysis of former Olympic host cities from the 1960s and 1970s and from which continuous longitudinal data are available: Tokyo, Munich, and Montreal. The findings indicate that the Olympic city has grown more strongly than these former host cities, although not uniformly across trajectories. This gives evidence for the need to review the size of mega-event impacts if they ought to continue to generate interest in hosting them in the future.
Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2025
This paper provides a comparative analysis of three symbolic dimensions of waterfront regeneratio... more This paper provides a comparative analysis of three symbolic dimensions of waterfront regeneration projects in Latin American cities: the inter-referencing practices alluded to in relation to projects from elsewhere, legitimating strategies that are discursively and materially constructed to present these projects as socially distributive, and subsequent approaches to leverage lessons from these experiences and re-circulate practices to other places. Following recent literature on urban megaprojects, policy mobility and inter-referencing we postulate that urban megaprojects production and legitimation involves material and symbolic, as well as territorial and relational processes, including the mobilisation of symbols, 1 representations and images that generate consensus and mitigate criticism and resistance.
Latin American Geographies Blog, 2023
Mar 28 10 min read New municipalism and the Latin American left ¿Existe una ola de municipalismo ... more Mar 28 10 min read New municipalism and the Latin American left ¿Existe una ola de municipalismo latinoamericano? | openDemocracy O novo municipalismo e a esquerda latino-americana | openDemocracy The third edition of the Fearless Cities summit was held in the Argentinean city of Rosario between 21 and 23 October 2022. This was the first in-person meeting since the inaugural event held in Barcelona in 2017 that brought together a new generation of politicians, activists, NGOs and scholars among others to discuss the contours and direction of the nascent 'global municipalism movement'. Since then, regional chapters took place, and a second online summit was organised in 2021.
Open Democracy, 2023
Alguns exemplos se propõem a construir uma alternativa à políticatradicional e desafi ar a velha ... more Alguns exemplos se propõem a construir uma alternativa à políticatradicional e desafi ar a velha esquerda regional
Open Democracy, 2023
Algunos ejemplos de nuevo municipalismo, que proponen construiruna alternativa a la política trad... more Algunos ejemplos de nuevo municipalismo, que proponen construiruna alternativa a la política tradicional desde los movimientosciudadanos, intentan interpelar a la vieja izquierda latinoamericana
Planning Perspectives, 2022
Model cities are exemplary cases representing a particular policy and/or practice approach. The e... more Model cities are exemplary cases representing a particular policy and/or practice approach. The external gaze is a necessary condition in the attainment of such prestige and city leaders often engage in promotional activities to boost the reputation of their cities while audiences attempt to translate references into usable knowledge. However, there has been limited attention to how external audiences are implicated in the 'modelling' process, as promoters refine their strategies through the encounters they articulate and through critical reflection. This article examines the backstories of the connections that have facilitated the circulation of planning practices developed in Barcelona as a model for Latin American cities. We use the notion of retro-transfer to consider not only the 'international experts who come and go, who "bring" but also "take away"' (Novick, 2003) exemplifying a more complex dynamic in the circuits of knowledge circulation. We argue that this approach is required to appreciate how models are constituted through a dialogic process involving both 'exporters' and 'importers.' In this sense, experiences with the promotion of project-led planning and strategic planning in Latin America can be seen as formative to the articulation of the Barcelona model and its subsequent travels.
Environment and Planning C, 2022
This paper interrogates and expands understandings of agency in processes of knowledge circulatio... more This paper interrogates and expands understandings of agency in processes of knowledge circulation by focusing on actors switching their position from the demand-side to the supplyside of policy knowledge. In doing so, we contribute to recent debates about the importance of accounting to other scales beyond the local-global binary that dominates the policy mobilities literature and to the politics of policy translation and dissemination. Emphasis is given to the performative role of domestic actors and their practices in localising mobile policies of urban regeneration in 'gateway cities' while leveraging and recirculating knowledge within their national contexts. Conceptualised as policy brokers and policy entrepreneurs, such actors are attuned to the local dynamics and able to distil context-specific lessons that are sensitive to national regulatory frameworks, funding, and political contingencies. We focus on two urban megaprojects of waterfront regeneration in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro that introduced new practices of land monetisation while making use of inter-referencing, drawing on in-depth interviews with policy actors and archival material. We argue that an attention to 'follow the reformatted model' reveals how policy models mutate as they conform to contextual factors and to particular interests. The analysis of such processes allows us to transcend the local-global dichotomy and to trace multiscalar connections between multiple projects.
International Planning Studies, 2021
On the surface, contemporary urban megaprojects suggest a convergence in form: office towers, hot... more On the surface, contemporary urban megaprojects suggest a convergence in form: office towers, hotels, museums, shopping and renewed public spaces often involving transnational firms and renowned architects. However, framing local policies as instances of a 'serial reproduction' of iconic landscapes obscures more than reveals how circulating planning models are reproduced and institutionalised. To this effect, this paper suggests a complementary approach between the literature of policy mobilities and new institutionalism focusing on how policies are 'arrived at' and the role of ideas in the policy process. An analytical framework is applied to the case study of a large-scale waterfront regeneration programme in Rio de Janeiro to examine the mutual evolvement between ideas, interests and institutions. The paper concludes by stressing the importance of paying attention to how policy knowledge is assembled, institutionalised and interests identified.
Revista ADvir, 2016
A príncipio, a emergência da discussão de legado sugere uma preocupação com o planejamento de equ... more A príncipio, a emergência da discussão de legado sugere uma preocupação com o planejamento de equipamentos após a realização de megaeventos que passa então a ser justificado pela retórica do desenvolvimento urbano e social. É neste contexto que o projeto olímpico de Londres 2012 foi concebido, uma proposta que teve seu êxito atribuído à uma visão de legado para o leste da cidade, uma área urbana carente e identificada como prioritária para requalificação. Este artigo apresenta uma análise da fase preparatória dos Jogos de 2012 através da discussão de metas públicas, arranjos institucionais e os impactos sociais registrados. Embora creditada por ser a primeira cidade sede a planejar seu legado antecipadamente, uma avaliação mais profunda revela incertezas em relação a contribuição e utilização das instalações do Parque Olímpico e que a 'chance em tornar a retórica olímpica em fato' trouxe resultados mais modestos que os inicialmente
estimados.
Urban Studies, 2020
Research on policy mobility has tended to focus on what moves (e.g. policy models, templates) and... more Research on policy mobility has tended to focus on what moves (e.g. policy models, templates) and who moves them (e.g. consultants, international organisations), with less attention paid to the relational politics of grounding dominant ideas in local policymaking. The ‘demand side’ at the end of the mobilisation process (e.g. local authorities and policy actors) is usually depicted as passive or as having stable interests. This assumption is problematic as it can reinforce taken-for-granted power asymmetries in the flow of urban policy ideas, particularly in cases where cities in the Global North are presented as ‘exporting sites’ for a Global South audience of ‘importing sites’. Drawing on the concept of policy ideas as ‘coalition magnets’ from policy studies, this article demonstrates how local policies are relationally produced by cosmopolitan policy actors on the ‘demand side’ who strategically mobilise circulating ideas as a tool for coalition building. We provide a relational comparative study of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro’s policy processes and urban outcomes in mobilising the Barcelona model of urban regeneration and strategic planning, drawing on evidence from interviews, document analysis and the biographies of key policy actors. We demonstrate the strategic importance of mobile policies for emerging political actors who employ them as a ‘coalition magnet’ to build support for their governments.
Iberoamericana, 2020
Después de veinticinco años de su realización, los Juegos Olímpicos de Barcelona de 1992 permanec... more Después de veinticinco años de su realización, los Juegos Olímpicos de Barcelona de 1992 permanecen como referencia de política de desarrollo urbano. Esta “estrategia de megaeventos” se yuxtapone a las realizaciones observadas en esta ciudad: la transformación de áreas de actividad económica en declive, la relevancia del espacio público y el city marketing facilitado por el alcance mediático del evento. Este artículo analiza la influencia de la experiencia de Barcelona en la elaboración de las propuestas de candidatura olímpica para la ciudad de Río de Janeiro. La relación entre los actores políticos de las dos ciudades se extiende a lo largo de las tres últimas décadas y nos permite evaluar de qué forma se da la racionalización de las mejores prácticas, la circulación de saberes y las políticas de adaptación de modelos en políticas urbanas.
Rio de Janeiro's Olympic candidature for the 2004 Olympic Games mobilised concepts from the exper... more Rio de Janeiro's Olympic candidature for the 2004 Olympic Games mobilised concepts from the experience of Barcelona with the planning of the mega-event and proposed polemic urban legacies that were radically different from those seen in current plans.
Arquitextos, 2017
A candidatura do Rio de Janeiro aos Jogos Olímpicos de 2004 mobilizou conceitos de planejamento d... more A candidatura do Rio de Janeiro aos Jogos Olímpicos de 2004 mobilizou conceitos de planejamento de Barcelona com o megaevento e propôs legados urbanos polêmicos e radicalmente distintos dos que hoje se apresentam.
Visual Studies, Jan 1, 2012
As the curtains are drawn in London's East End, Brazil and Rio de Janeiro will be under the inter... more As the curtains are drawn in London's East End, Brazil and Rio de Janeiro will be under the international spotlight over the next four years. This paper focuses on the process of Olympic city-making in the West End of Rio de Janeiro, where the planning and construction of facilities and transport network have adversely affected low-income settlements. The planning of the Olympic Park has become the latest episode in a series of attempts to drive out one of the longest established poor settlements in the borough of Barra da Tijuca. Attention is given to the changing discourse justifying the relocation and the context in which residents have resisted eviction. In another case study, the paper considers the construction of Bus Rapid Transit corridors aimed to improve access to the area. In this instance, some communities were not able to avoid eviction, being relocated to the western edges of the city or financially compensated. Analysis of the eviction process is drawn from material collected by visiting the affected communities. The paper concludes by reflecting on the inexorability of Olympic city-making and entitlement to the emerging geographies.
The hosting of mega-events has been actively pursued by some of the world major centres as a way ... more The hosting of mega-events has been actively pursued by some of the world major centres as a way to ‘fast-track’ their urban regeneration agenda and to stand out among the global competition for international capital. The Olympic Games have long been seen as a golden opportunity to achieve this but the fierce competition to host it have made some bidding cities to turn their attentions to other sports competitions such as the Commonwealth Games or the Pan American Games, thus enhancing their status and hosting requirements. The preparation phase during the years running up to a mega-event deals with great levels of planning complexity that are met with equally intense impacts on the host community. This paper examines the nature of the social impacts caused by the hosting of a mega-event drawing examples from the academic literature available in order to produce a typology of impacts. It is expected that the proposed framework can be employed in conjunction with a holistic model of assessment capable to examine the event in a broader process of transformation in local urban governance.
Book Chapters by Gabriel Silvestre
Insurgent Planning Practice, 2024
Transformative planning practices able to confront the reproduction of inequalities in Brazilian ... more Transformative planning practices able to confront the reproduction of inequalities in Brazilian cities have, in recent decades, been characterised by two interrelated processes. On the one hand, the relatively cohesive and enduring broad coalition under the banner of the ‘urban reform agenda’ has since the 1980s been able to shape and influence legislation, policy, and planning education. Moved by the ideal of translating the Right to the City into material changes, there has been an institutionalisation of planning instruments designed to promote social justice, policy innovations and social participation at different government scales. On the other hand, despite a period of intense investment in housing, transport, and large-scale projects during the late 2000s and early 2010s, the countrywide insurgent protests of June 2013 and an increasing number of urban occupations of land and empty buildings have shown that the horizon for more socially just cities is still elusive in Brazil. Experimenting with practices of direct action, deliberation, and tactical engagements with the state, new urban actors are bringing changes to the dynamics of urban politics. This process is analysed through the case of the city of Belo Horizonte, the centre of Brazil’s third largest urban agglomeration, where urban insurgencies have exposed the limits of an institutionalised right to the city, while at same time strategically mobilising acquired rights and channels of participation to push the state to act and fulfil the goals of the urban reform.
Olympic Cities City Agendas, Planning, and the World’s Games, 1896 – 2032, 2024
Zona portuária do Rio de Janeiro Múltiplos olhares sobre um espaço em mutação, 2022
Este capítulo examina a passagem da zona portuária de destino de ideias para referencial de Grand... more Este capítulo examina a passagem da zona portuária de destino de ideias para referencial de Grande Projeto Urbano. Em particular, examina-se o período desde a década de 1980, quando se acumularam estudos, propostas e planos, do megalomaníaco ao possível, que sedimentaram conhecimentos sobre programas de requalificação de grande porte. De forma não linear, as propostas feitas por diversos grupos privados, políticos e técnicos, demarcaram uma perspectiva sobre a condição existente da região, seus problemas e abordagens para sua transformação. Uma análise longitudinal permite identificar como questões fundiárias, institucionais e de financiamento foram entendidas e finalmente articuladas no projeto atual. A primeira seção discute o marco teórico sobre Grandes Projetos Urbanos e a perspectiva relacional sobre transformações urbanas, destacando a circulação de modelos e políticas, seus agentes e processos. A seguir é apresentada a análise do recorte histórico entre o final da década de 1970 e 2000 quando diferentes propostas foram apresentadas. A seção seguinte analisa os referenciais utilizados na concepção do projeto Porto Maravilha e sua incipiente constituição como paradigma de requalificação urbana para outras cidades brasileiras. Finalmente, apresenta-se a conclusão com a retomada da discussão teórica inicial e reflexões sobre a trajetória de políticas para a zona portuária do Rio de Janeiro.
Nuevos términos clave para los estudios de movilidad en América Latina, 2023
Aludir a la movilidad de políticas urbanas supone simul-táneamente una cualidad del objeto de est... more Aludir a la movilidad de políticas urbanas supone simul-táneamente una cualidad del objeto de estudio: políticas urbanas que se mueven y una metodología de análisis ligada a cómo analizar tal movimiento (Jajamovich, 2018). Por "política urbana", estamos considerando aquí solo las acciones estatales/gubernamentales que afectan y poten-cialmente transforman el espacio urbano (Marques, 2017) y su materialidad, es decir, las redes de infraestructura, las inauguraciones de carreteras, la construcción y regula-ción de espacios habitables, circulación, transporte y ocio (ver "Infraestructuras y movilidad"). Estas políticas se aso-cian muy a menudo con los gobiernos locales, aunque a veces pueden involucrar acciones de gobiernos provinciales y nacionales, todos inmersos e influenciados por circuitos globales de formulación de políticas (Saraiva, Jajamovich y Silvestre, 2021). En esa dirección la movilidad de políticas urbanas apunta a dar cuenta de su producción tanto territorial como relacional. En ese marco, la entrada sitúa la emergencia de la pers-pectiva de policy mobility, recorre las críticas que esta des-pliega sobre conceptos como el de policy transfer, vinculado a las ciencias políticas, y puntualiza cruces y diferencias con perspectivas como la de circulación, difusión, diseminación y ensamblajes. Asimismo, se recorren las críticas que la perspectiva de policy mobility ha recibido-enfoque presen-tista, escasa o tardía consideración de circuitos sur-sur y sur-norte con mayor foco en lo que circula, y descuido en sus aterrizajes-y se tematizan especialmente las implican-cias de analizar estos procesos y perspectivas en América Latina y desde ella.
Las políticas neoliberales y la ciudad en América Latina : desafíos teóricos y políticos, 2022
Este texto se centra en la difusión de ideas, transferencias y movilidad
de políticas urbanas en ... more Este texto se centra en la difusión de ideas, transferencias y movilidad
de políticas urbanas en América Latina. Por política urbana
estamos considerando aquí sólo las acciones estatales/gubernamentales
que afectan y, potencialmente, transforman el espacio urbano (Marques,
2017) y su materialidad, es decir, las redes de infraestructura, inauguraciones
de carreteras, construcción y regulación de espacios habitables,
circulación, transporte y ocio. Estas políticas se asocian muy a menudo
con los gobiernos locales, aunque a veces pueden involucrar acciones
de gobiernos provinciales y nacionales, todos inmersos e influenciados
por circuitos globales de formulación de políticas.
El trabajo tiene como objetivo explorar la yuxtaposición entre el desarrollo
de las ciudades latinoamericanas y los circuitos internacionales
de ideas urbanas y formulación de políticas desde mediados del siglo
XIX hasta la actualidad. Para ello, nos basamos en las contribuciones
teóricas y metodológicas de la historia trasnacional, la historia del
urbanismo y la planificación urbana y la perspectiva de policy mobility.
Uploads
Papers by Gabriel Silvestre
estimados.
Book Chapters by Gabriel Silvestre
de políticas urbanas en América Latina. Por política urbana
estamos considerando aquí sólo las acciones estatales/gubernamentales
que afectan y, potencialmente, transforman el espacio urbano (Marques,
2017) y su materialidad, es decir, las redes de infraestructura, inauguraciones
de carreteras, construcción y regulación de espacios habitables,
circulación, transporte y ocio. Estas políticas se asocian muy a menudo
con los gobiernos locales, aunque a veces pueden involucrar acciones
de gobiernos provinciales y nacionales, todos inmersos e influenciados
por circuitos globales de formulación de políticas.
El trabajo tiene como objetivo explorar la yuxtaposición entre el desarrollo
de las ciudades latinoamericanas y los circuitos internacionales
de ideas urbanas y formulación de políticas desde mediados del siglo
XIX hasta la actualidad. Para ello, nos basamos en las contribuciones
teóricas y metodológicas de la historia trasnacional, la historia del
urbanismo y la planificación urbana y la perspectiva de policy mobility.
estimados.
de políticas urbanas en América Latina. Por política urbana
estamos considerando aquí sólo las acciones estatales/gubernamentales
que afectan y, potencialmente, transforman el espacio urbano (Marques,
2017) y su materialidad, es decir, las redes de infraestructura, inauguraciones
de carreteras, construcción y regulación de espacios habitables,
circulación, transporte y ocio. Estas políticas se asocian muy a menudo
con los gobiernos locales, aunque a veces pueden involucrar acciones
de gobiernos provinciales y nacionales, todos inmersos e influenciados
por circuitos globales de formulación de políticas.
El trabajo tiene como objetivo explorar la yuxtaposición entre el desarrollo
de las ciudades latinoamericanas y los circuitos internacionales
de ideas urbanas y formulación de políticas desde mediados del siglo
XIX hasta la actualidad. Para ello, nos basamos en las contribuciones
teóricas y metodológicas de la historia trasnacional, la historia del
urbanismo y la planificación urbana y la perspectiva de policy mobility.
The aim of this paper is to contextualise how Rio de Janeiro’s “mega-event strategy” (BURBANK, ANDRANOVICH, HEYING, 2001) was first formulated between 1993 and 1996 with the assistance of foreign consultants. It interrogates the processes through which policy knowledge was mobilised from Barcelona and re-embedded in Rio, paying particular attention to the bid put forward for the 2004 Olympic Games. Although aspects of this relationship has been analysed elsewhere (ARANTES, VAINER and MARICATO., 2000; LIMA JUNIOR, 2010) the role of the Catalan assistance in developing a mega-event strategy for Rio is still understudied. The analysis presented here draws on an ongoing research and data generated through archival research and semi-structured interviews conducted in both cities between December 2011 and September 2012.
The paper is structured in five parts. In the first section the conceptual framework of policy mobility is discussed highlighting key aspects structuring the mobilisation of policy knowledge. The next section provides the background to the case study and examines the motivations of both cities in establishing the relationship followed by an examination of the proposals put forward by the Rio bid for the 2004 Olympic Games. After that the findings of this study are discussed before the concluding remarks.
This paper applies the rubric of 'urban vision' to the action of leaders (re)assembling not only ideas but also coalitions, institutional spaces and instruments in the design of policies of urban development. The enactment of specific ideas is seen but one element of an emerging assemblage whose outcome lies in the conflicting relations of its constitutive parts. While an idea alluding to a specific experience elsewhere may be the most visible aspect, its potential or failure is examined through its interaction with the other assembled elements.
This framework is then applied to analyse the recent history of Rio de Janeiro, where it has been claimed to be undergoing through 'watershed' moment of urban development. It is argued that in recent decades new political leaders articulated visions assembling references from elsewhere as entry points to develop support with varied outcomes. The analysis highlights the relevance of coalitions, institutions and resources to the outcome of 'grounded ideas'.
In order to illustrate the ‘mobilities of Olympic knowledge’ this paper considers the case of the city of Rio de Janeiro, host of the 2016 Olympic Games. The hosting rights awarded to the city in 2009 were the culmination of continuous attempts initiated 15 years beforehand. During the period the city produced three Olympic bids and hosted a regional sport event. The paper examines urban policies and planning proposals put ahead by the Brazilian city over the past two decades in the context of mega-event hosting. It draws data from semi-structured interviews, archival research and secondary resources to illustrate how emergent visions varied considerably to incorporate local agendas, peripatetic expertise and extra-local references. The analysis take particular reference to three political processes: the urban strategic plan elaborated in the mid-nineties; the mega-event strategy which ensued; and the waterfront regeneration project currently undergoing. The analytical framework is informed by a relational perspective of policy mobility and assemblage to conceptualise the production of space beyond that of capital flows, bringing into perspective the role of circulating policy knowledge, translation and territorialisation.