Search results

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship of the Rio de Janeiro Tramway, Light and Power Company and the municipal council in the provision of streetcar services in Rio de Janeiro, 1903–1920. Using archival materials collected in Brazil and Canada, it demonstrates that the utilities company lost the contest for control of Rio de Janeiro's mass transit system to the municipal authorities. Although it had the advantages of capital, technology and skill, this Canadian enterprise did not dictate its demands to an acquiescent municipal council. Rather, the municipal council and prefecture managed to extract an expensive streetcar system from the company to service its growing city.

Case studies explore the Million Trees initiative in Los Angeles; the relationship of cap-and-trade policy, public health, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental justice in Southern California; Urbanization, vulnerability and environmental justice in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and São Paulo, and in Antofagasta, Greater Concepción and Valparaiso in Chile; Sociospatial patterns of vulnerability in the American southwest; and Urban flood control and land use planning in Greater Taipei, Taiwan ROC.

An introduction to urban environmental issues around the globe.

The city of Commerce, a largely industrial and Latino city east of Los Angeles, contains a disproportionately high concentration of manufacturers that emit toxic chemicals. The coincidence of a minority population and toxic sites is a classic example of environmental inequity. The authors seek to understand why industry located in this community. A historical investigation of the development of a hazardous community suggests that demographics alone are not responsible for the concentration of manufacturing in Commerce. The zoning decisions of the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission in the 1920s and 1930s set the pattern of industrialization in Commerce.