urban policy and development - a green plan for fortaleza

Masters in International Development | PSIA Urban Policy & Development in Cities of the Global South

Name : Edwin Johan Santana Gaarder Student number : 100047222

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A PLAN FOR GREEN GROWTH IN FORTALEZA Pathways towards sustainable urban development in the northeastern region of Brazil

Introduction: Fortaleza is the capital of the Brazilian state of Ceará, located in the northeastern region of Brazil, and the most populous city in the state by several orders of magnitude. The population of the municipality of Fortaleza alone is of 2.571.856 inhabitants – as compared to the next largest municipalities, Caucaia (with 349.526), and Juazeiro do Norte (with 249.939). The urban area of Fortaleza, however, has expanded beyond municipal borders to subsume other highly populous municipalities (including Caucaia), reaching a total population of 3.818.380 inhabitants as of 2014 (IPECE, 2014). The population of the metropolitan region of Fortaleza thus represents about 45% of the total population of the state of Ceará and has has been identified as the first “Macro-‐Planning Region” (Macrorregião de Planejamento) in the State Government’s development strategy. As per the 2010 census carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Fortaleza was the fifth most populous capital in Brazil (and the second

most populous in the northeastern region) and the most densely populated city in the country as a whole, with 7.786,52 inhabitants per km2. On a geographical level, Ceará borders four other Brazilian states (Piauí to the west, Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba to the east, and Pernambuco to the south) and is strategically located on the Atlantic coast, with the shortest transit times (by air and by sea) from Brazil to East Coast North America (6 days), West Africa (3 days), Northern Europe (9 days) and the Mediterranean (7 days). The seaports of Mucuripe (in the centre of Fortaleza) and Pecém (ca. 60 km from the city centre) therefore serve as major transit points for traded goods from / to the interior region of the state of Ceará as well as from / to neighbouring states and their industrial centres, including Natal, RN (435km distance) and Teresina, PI (496km).

The urban “Golden Age” of Fortaleza, however, is a recent one, which coincides more or less with the Brazilian economic boom of 1990-‐2010. Prior to this, the state of Ceará had been characterised predominantly by rural-‐agricultural activities (e.g. cattle-‐ranching) and the mass export of low-‐cost labour to the economic centres of the south, particularly Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Low levels of economic development

Source: IPECE 2014

Source: IPECE 2014



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were aggravated by chronic water shortages and drought – a result of the hot, semi-‐arid regional climate – which would frequently devaste local agriculture and act as a “push” factor in outward migration. As can be seen in the accompanying maps, the transformation that has occurred since then has been nothing short of miraculous (IPECE, 2012). In 1991, the average HDI of each of the municipalities in the state of Ceará was less than 0,5 (“very low”), with the exception of Fortaleza, where the average HDI was between 0,5 and 0,6 (“low”). In 2010, by contrast, none of the municipalities remained in the “very low” category. Although some municipalities failed to move beyond the second-‐worst category (“low”), most of the others had moved into the “medium” category, whilst three urban regions (Fortaleza, Sobral and Crato) now have an average HDI between 0,7 and 0,8 (“high”). Over the same period, the urban population of Ceará increased from 4.162.007 to 6.346.557, whilst the rural population decreased from 2.204.640 to 2.105.824, meaning that the urban share of

the population increased from 65% to 75% (IPECE, 2012). The municipality of Fortaleza itself was responsible for 30% of total urbanisation (having grown from 1.768.637 in 1991 to 2.452.185 in 2010) as well as a significant portion of the state’s economic growth. In 2012, for example, the metropolitan region of Fortaleza generated a GDP of R$50.605,704 million, or 65% of the total GDP of Ceará (IPECE, 2012). The urban economy of Fortaleza is also the most diversified, with a strong emphasis on services (78%) and a high concentration of industrial activities – more than half of the state’s industries are located within the borders of the metropolitan region. These developments have transformed the urban economy of Fortaleza into the ninth largest in Brazil and the second largest in the northeastern region.

This success, however, must not draw attention away from the considerable development needs that continue to be felt by the population of Fortaleza. According to the 2010 Census, the average wage in

Source: IPECE 2014



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Fortaleza (R$1.353 per month) is still considerably lower than in São Paulo (R$2.195 per month) and other major Brazilian capitals (see table). Within Fortaleza, moreoever, there is a serious discrepancy between high-‐income residents of central neighbourhoods like Meireles (R$3.660 per month), and low-‐income residents of (informal) settlements like Pirambú (R$340 per month). As we can see from the accompanying map, these differences in income translate into significant spatial segregation between residents who live near the city centre (green) and the seaside district known as Beira Mar (blue) – where HDI levels are generally high (0.5 and above) – and residents who live in the peripheral areas (yellow, red and orange), where HDI levels

are generally low (0.5 and below). The implications of this classical “centre-‐periphery” urban structure will be discussed in detail in the section on transport below; for now, it is important to note that sustainable urban development policies in Fortaleza must address issues of equity and segregation on a priority basis, in order to ensure that the population as a whole is able to reap the benefits of green growth. If the needs of low-‐income residents in the urban periphery are not taken into account in plans for a sustainable urban future, the city will run the risk of undermining both its environmental objectives and the political consensus that is needed in order to promote economic growth.

Identifying strategic “green” sectors in Fortaleza: The IEA publication, Energy Technology Perspectives 2014, identifies the reductions in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions that must be made by each strategic sector of the global economy in order to limit global temperature increases to 2°C by 2050. These are shown below:

The most significant efforts, according to the IEA, must come from three sectors in particular: power generation, transport and buildings. Industry is spared somewhat, because the ability of its different sub-‐sectors “to incorporate renewable energy sources into their processes varies greatly depending on the nature of the final product and diverse operational limitations; in some cases, only fossil fuels deliver the necessary outcomes” (IEA, 2014, p. 30). In the case of the Fortaleza metropolitan region, moreover, it is important to ensure that industries are able to maintain their

Source: Prefeitura Municipal de Fortaleza, Plano Diretor Cicloviário

Source: Prefeitura de Fortaleza, Desenvolvimento Humano, por Bairro, em Fortaleza

Source: IEA 2014



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competitiveness, given their importance as employers of the largely low-‐skilled work-‐force in the city’s poorer neighbourhoods. Although industry only accounts for 24,5% of the economy of the metropolitan region (and only 18,7% of the municipal economy), its share of the economy in the industrial areas to the south and to the west of Fortaleza is much higher: 39,5% in Caucaia; 48,7% in Eusébio; 45,8% in Horizonte; 46,7% in Maracanaú; and 36,3% in São Gonçalo do Amarante (IPECE, 2014). It is no coincidence that these industrial areas are in close proximity to the low-‐income neighbourhoods that we have already identified (in red and orange), and it is important that these synergetic ties continue to develop in order to encourage increased employment and income in peripheral areas. The rest of this paper, therefore, will focus attention on the environmental sustainability and development potential of the power generation and transport sectors in particular in order to make the case for a green growth strategy for the city of Fortaleza. Although the relative neglect of two key topics (energy efficiency in buildings and industrial uses of energy) will constitute a weakness in this paper’s claims to provide solutions for policy makers in Ceará, it is nevertheless hoped that future research will be able to ‘fill in the gaps’ and stimulate a more holistic discussion of sustainable development options for the city of Fortaleza.

Power Generation: The northeastern region of Brazil – including the state of Ceará – never fit well into the Brazilian national strategy for power generation, which concentrated most of its resources on developing hydropower. Today, Brazil ranks second worldwide in hydropower capacity and generation, with 85.7GW installed capacity and 415TWh generated annually (REN21, 2014), which represents more than 60% of national capacity (see graph below). Ceará’s hot, semi-‐arid climate, however, does not create a propitious environment for hydropower generation (See map: arid

regions are marked in orange and yellow). Until the end of the twentieth century, therefore, 99% of electricity consumption in the state of Ceará was imported from the Xingó hydropower stations, located on the border between Alagoas and Sergipe, about 1000km south of Fortaleza (ENGEMEP, 2010).

At the end of the 1990s, four 600kW wind turbines were installed in the port of Mucuripe, in a pioneering project that would

Source: ABEEólica, 2015

TIPOS CLIMÁTICOS

Fonte: Fundação Cearense de Meteorologia e Recursos Hídricos (FUNCEME).

LEGENDA

Sede Municipal

Clima Tropical Quente Semi-Árido

Clima Tropical Quente Semi-Árido Brando

Clima Tropical Quente Subúmido

Clima Tropical Quente Úmido

Clima Tropical Subquente Subúmido

Classes Tipos de clima

Source: IPECE, 2012



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not only supply the port with all of its electricity needs for the next decade, but would also initate a boom in wind power that has continued to this day. Potential wind power capacity of 13,5GW was revealed along 40% of the cearense coast – where wind speeds average a phenomenal 8 m/sec and have an above-‐average capacity factor of 35% (ENGEMEP, 2010). In addition, the offshore potential of Ceará was deemed to extend the future of the sector even further, due to the the shallow depths (av. 8m) that prevail as far as 20 km from the coast (ibid). Together with modest non-‐coastal wind resources, total potential adds up to 26,2GW of capacity, which is more than four times the current installed wind power capacity in the whole of Brazil (ibid). Today, the state of Ceará has the second largest installed capacity in the country, with 44 wind farms adding up to 1,2GW, losing only to its neighbour, Rio Grande do Norte (ABEEólica, 2015; see chart).

In addition to the spectacular growth in the state’s capacity to generate power from wind, Ceará has also added 0,221GW of capacity in the form of coal plants (Pecém I and II) located in the industrial complex near the port of Pecém (Diário do Nordeste, 2014). The result is that the state of Ceará is now able to generate enough electricity to meet the demand of its citizens, which

amounted to 8.924,520GWh in 2011 (IPECE, 2012), of which 5.448,527GWh stemmed from the metropolitan region of Fortaleza. Although it has not been possible to identify the exact proportions of electricity that are generated from renewable and non-‐renewable sources in the state of Ceará, one article suggests that these amount to ca. 24% from wind and 76% from traditional fossil fuels (O Povo, 2014). One suggestion for further research, therefore, would be to investigate the extent to which the high share of electricity generated from fossil fuels is necessary in order to guarantee a stable supply for the city of Fortaleza. Is electricity from renewable sources given priority access to the grid? What is the impact of curtailment on suppliers of electricity from renewable sources? Does the supply of electricity from renewable sources coincide with hours of peak demand?

Apart from the obvious environmental benefits to be gained from a more targeted prioritisation of wind power in the state of Ceará, there are also some significant socioeconomic benefits that could be captured through well-‐designed policies. It has been suggested, for example, that the installation of 50MW of wind power generation capacity in Ceará creates, on average, 800-‐1200 full-‐time jobs during the

Source: ABEEólica, 2015



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construction period (ENGEMEP, 2010). Operations and Maintenance (O&M) activities are said to create one additional job per 0,6MW of installed capacity over the lifetime of the wind farm (ibid). Overall, it has been estimated that 10GW of generation capacity from wind generates 27% more employment than the equivalent capacity added in coal-‐based generation, and 66% more employment than the equivalent capacity added in power generation from natural gas (ibid). Residents of the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, moreover, are well positioned to reap economic benefits from wind power projects in neighbouring states through the provision of transport and logistics services, given that a large proportion of the wind turbines imported into the region pass through the ports of Fortaleza and Pecém. Lastly, it has been observed that the nascent wind turbine manufacturing industry in the region has begun to generate employment and income for the underprivileged residents of the urban periphery of Fortaleza, since several manufacturing plants have chosen to set up in the industrial areas around the city. Wobben Windpower Ltda. and Aeris Energy S/A, for example, are both located in Caucaia.

Solar Power: an option for the future? Having discussed the current state of the power sector in the state of Ceará and the implications for the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, it will now be useful to look at the one major alternative to wind and fossil fuels that exists in the region, namely solar. There is one commercial solar power plant in Ceará (near the municipality of Tauá) but, with little more than 1MW of capacity, the project can hardly be cited as evidence of widespread use of solar resources. Investment in solar power has been lacking

despite the ideal climactic conditions that exist in the region. With an annual average of 8 hours of sunshine per day and limited seasonal variation in levels of sunshine and the number of daytime hours, the potential for solar power generation in the state of Ceará is among the most promising in the world (ENGEMEP, 2010). The high cost of generating electricity from solar energy has often been cited as a reason not to waste resources on this particular renewable energy technology in Brazil, and it is true that solar power generation is still more costly than onshore wind, which has reached (or will soon achieve) grid parity in most cases. However, the most recent edition of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (2015) – which estimates the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for each major renewable source of energy – shows that the cost of solar power generation has been falling drastically over the last five years and is rapidly approaching the current LCOE from onshore wind (BNEF, 2015; see graph). The case of Andra Pradesh state in India should be particularly instructive for the Government of Ceará, since “licences to build PV capacity [there were won] with bids as low as USD86/MWh, […] nearly 40% below Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s estimate for the average global levelised cost of electricity of PV in the second half of 2014” (ibid., p. 19). The use of solar power in or near the metropolitan region of Fortaleza would also bring about the additional benefit of providing a boost in supply at precisely the time of the midday peak in

Source: ENGEMEP, 2010

Source: BNEF, 2015



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demand, when the sun is strongest and there is a relative increase in the use of ventilation and air-‐conditioning. Another possible long-‐term use for solar energy could emerge if – as will be recommended below – the urban transport system begins to rely more heavily on electric vehicles. The regular supply of solar energy would be available for long periods during the day (on most days of the year) to recharge electric vehicles for use during the morning and evening rush hours.

Although the Government of Ceará currently envisages the expansion of solar power through the installation of large-‐scale solar power plants like the one in Tauá, which is supposed to increase its capacity to 50MW in the coming decade, it will be argued here that a more effective way of rolling out solar technology would be to imitate the decentralised, small-‐scale ‘rooftop’ model that has been developed in Germany. The ‘rooftop’ model mobilises investments from the consumers of electricity themselves, who are encouraged to purchase and install solar panels on the rooftops of their buildings in order to avoid electricity bills in the future. The major challenge inherent in the ‘rooftop’ model is that of ensuring access to finance for the aforementioned consumers, who may view the investment as too costly, either because of high interest rates on loans used to purchase the panels, or because of the opportunity cost of not investing their own savings in another, more rewarding asset. In both cases, governments should be able to reduce the cost of finance for consumers through subsidies or guarantees. As long as monthly repayments of the loan are equal to or lower than the electricity bill would have been under the traditional model, and the panels generate enough electricity to meet the demand of the consumer, it is assumed that the investment will occur. Another innovative element in ‘rooftop’ schemes is to make feed-‐in-‐tariffs available to all investors in solar power generation, including households. This means that any electricity generated by a rooftop solar panel in excess of the consumption of the building is ‘sold’

back into the grid at a previously specified rate. Feed-‐in-‐tariffs can thus be used to incentivise both the initial investment and reduced energy consumption by the user, for whom energy savings are directly translated into cash at the end of the month.

In the case of Fortaleza, a few additional factors must be considered in the possible design of such a scheme. Firstly, there are the equity considerations that must remain central to the administration’s urban planning at all times. Would it make more sense to provide subsidies and feed-‐in-‐tariffs for high-‐income households, who are more likely to invest in solar panels given their higher levels of disposable income? One could argue that the overall financial commitment of the public sector would be lower, since there would be fewer constraints on high-‐income households to shift towards renewable energy. On the other hand, one could also argue that public resources in Fortaleza should, in this case, be used to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ by subsidising electricity from renewable sources for low-‐income households. Any decisions in this regard should be based on further research on the compatibility between the environmental objectives of a ‘rooftop’ solar energy policy the redistributive social policies that are still desperately needed in Fortaleza. Another factor to be considered is the need to build up critical mass in the provision and distribution of solar panels, so that the objectives of such a ‘rooftop’ policy are not undermined by retail bottlenecks. It would be difficult to imagine a local solar panel industry emerging in Fortaleza, given the overwhelming dominance of Chinese suppliers in international markets and the need to keep down costs, but it would nevertheless be necessary to develop strategically placed businesses and skilled labour to import, distribute, install and maintain the solar infrastructure. Lastly, an in-‐depth analysis of available rooftop space and the energy needs of individual buildings needs to happen before such a policy is introduced. Given the high density of the city



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and the overwhelming prevalence of skyscrapers, it is assumed that the ratio of rooftop surface area to the the number of inhabitants in a building may not be sufficiently large to justify investments in solar panels in some neighbourhoods. It is hoped that this paper could act as a stimulus for further research into these areas.

Power Sector – Conclusion. Electricity generation has not historically been a major source of GHG emissions in Brazil, given the country’s strong reliance on renewable resources like hydropower (see chart). In the case of Ceará, the shift from electricity imports (from the Xingó hydropower plant in Alagoas/Sergipe) to domestic wind power generation has increased the state’s energy self-‐sufficiency and provided socioeconomic benefits for the population of Fortaleza. However, the state’s development strategy has also led to an increase in the use of fossil fuels (notably through the inauguration of

two coal-‐fired plants in Pecém). It has been argued here that further research needs to be carried out in order to limit future growth in the use of fossil fuels, in particular through analysis of options to expand power generation from renewable sources like wind and solar. Industry has, to a large extent, been exempt from this discussion on the grounds that it is an essential motor of development in the region and needs to remain competitive. However, future initiatives should seek to improve industrial processes at the same time as the labour force moves into higher value-‐added activities in the services sector, in order to promote environmental objectives and adapt to the development needs of the city. This discussion will now turn to transport, which is the second major challenge for the sustainable development of the city.

Transport: The typical commute for residents of Fortaleza is a classical one, which takes the commuter from one of the peripheral urban areas to the south, east and west of the city towards a short stretch of coast in the north of the city. This stretch of coast is delimited by the port of Mucuripe on one side – located on a promontory at the northeastern tip of Fortaleza, beyond which the coast veers southwards – and what is known to locals as the Centro or ‘city centre’ on the other, which is 6-‐8 km to the

Brazilian energy-‐related C02 emissions by sector: SDSN & IDDRI 2014

Porto%de%Mucuripe%Centro%

Beira%Mar%

Source: adapted from the FIFA 2014 World Cup brochure for the host city of Fortaleza



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west of the port. When analysed more closely, the observer will notice that there are in fact two ‘poles of attraction’ in Fortaleza. One is the Centro, which was the original economic centre of the city and where one can find most of its historical landmarks, including the Teatro José de Alencar, the Cathedral of Fortaleza, the traditional marketplace and the old fort. The other pole of attraction, known to locals as the Beira Mar, was developed from the 1950s onwards by high-‐income residents and business elites, who collectively chose to relocate both their homes and their workplaces to Aldeota and Meireles. This neighbourhood now contains a number of luxury apartment blocks, hotels, modern office complexes and an extensive leisure area along the beach, which features sports facilities (football, volleyball, roller-‐skating), bars, restaurants, food kiosks, live music and other tourist attractions. These facilities and others – such as the hospitals, shopping centres, bus terminals, museums, libraries, schools and universities located in and around ‘central’ neighbourhoods – generate an immense amount of traffic in Fortaleza throughout the day, increasing the congestion and levels of pollution experienced by urban residents. Although the municipal and state governments have repeatedly tried to tackle this problem over the course of past mandates, the current design of the urban transport system in Fortaleza is very hard to reform, and residents are convinced that transport

problems have, if anything, been getting worse over the past decades. The analysis that follows will attempt to provide ideas on these problems might be solved, moving beyond the preferred approach of past governments – namely to ‘correct’ the system at the margins – in order to propose genuinely innovative and transformative solutions that are adapted to the reality of Fortaleza and the options currently available to policy makers.

The most common and traditional form of transport in Fortaleza – as in much of Brazil – is the personal vehicle, a category that includes cars, motorbikes, scooters and pick-‐up trucks. Vehicle registration figures show that, in the municipality of Fortaleza alone, there were 776.416 personal vehicles in use in 2012, as compared to the 9.400 buses and microbuses that were available in that year (IPECE 2012). This translates into about one personal vehicle for every two inhabitants in 2012, whereas there was only one bus/microbus for every two hundred inhabitants in the same year. Given that the metro system had not yet begun to function in 2012, these figures show that there has been an evident imbalance between private and public transport in the city for a long time. As can be seen from the table below, the imbalances were equally glaring in the other municipalities of the metropolitan region of Fortaleza – like Caucaia and Pacatuba – which are relatively further away from the ‘city centre’, and where the

Automóvel Caminhonete Camioneta Motocicleta Motoneta Caminhão Ônibus Microônibus Reboque Semi-reboque Outros

Aquiraz 13.247 5.452 753 336 5.523 113 522 85 139 159 48 117

Cascavel 12.028 5.357 728 220 4.445 513 436 103 51 123 13 39

Caucaia 57.311 26.673 2.979 1.354 22.560 409 1.484 338 226 626 193 469

Chorozinho 3.842 1.669 220 67 1.520 70 126 38 14 33 43 42

Eusébio 14.510 6.251 1.377 491 4.087 73 1.073 57 58 223 298 522

Fortaleza 842.870 479.208 56.355 28.055 206.996 5.802 20.466 6.140 3.260 13.072 5.358 18.158

Guaiúba 2.645 777 127 39 1.533 31 78 9 26 18 0 7

Horizonte 12.925 4.346 592 287 6.394 530 389 76 90 91 16 114

Itaitinga 6.264 2.204 264 118 2.899 132 348 24 55 63 69 88

Maracanaú 45.336 21.293 2.183 981 17.013 346 1.489 325 212 605 385 504

Maranguape 16.365 6.289 879 334 7.557 124 548 210 111 182 37 94

Pacajus 15.797 6.277 779 280 6.209 1.011 613 177 87 239 34 91

Pacatuba 8.751 3.791 324 158 3.962 56 187 19 73 116 17 48

Pindoretama 3.130 1.196 242 58 1.344 45 149 12 22 44 3 15

São Gonçalo do Amarante8.787 3.131 438 206 3.973 252 306 149 71 118 42 101

RMF 1.063.808 573.914 68.240 32.984 296.015 9.507 28.214 7.762 4.495 15.712 6.556 20.409

Municípios

Frota de veículos

2012

TotalTipo

Source: IPECE 2012



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purchasing power of residents is much lower, suggesting that the urban transport system is yet another factor underlying the city’s inequality problem. The solutions that were proposed and partially enacted in the run-‐up to the 2014 World Cup, however, have not been sufficient to avoid the negative repercussions of Fortaleza’s inefficient transport system on the environment or on the socioeconomic and personal well-‐being of urban residents. The exclusive bus lanes that were created along the city’s busiest roads, for example, may have shortened travel times for bus users, but they have significantly worsened traffic conditions for those who continue to use cars and other personal vehicles. A similar claim could be made with regards to the cycle lanes that have been introduced on the narrow roads in central areas of the city, which have reduced the space available to motorists without necessarily improving conditions for cyclists, who are not protected by any physical barriers between themselves and the cars that frequently encroach upon their traffic space. The major overhaul of traffic flows on the Avenida Dom Luis and the Avenida Santos Dumont – which were transformed into a massive, five-‐lane, one-‐way system – may have marginally improved average car speeds, but it has also had several negative repercussions on pedestrian welfare and may have actually increased total emissions from private vehicles, given the additional distance that must be covered to get from one side of the one-‐way system to the other. As a result of this overhaul, the Praça Portugal – a large,

green space at the south-‐west corner of the one-‐way system – will have to be reformed or demolished in order to fully rationalise traffic flows. This has provoked a significant amount of collective action by members of civil society and residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods, who appreciate the aesthetic and historical value of the green square and its monument in honour of the city’s Portuguese community. Although the square has not yet been reformed or demolished, lack of foresight and planning have already generated ‘sunk costs’ and reduced the options available to the administration.

The one major mistake committed by the designers of urban transport policy in Fortaleza, it is argued, was their failure to incentivise commuters to shift from one mode of transport (personal vehicles) to another (public transport and/or bicycles). Further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis, but it is believed that such a shift will not occur for as long as travel conditions in alternative modes continue to be perceived as unfavourable by the vast majority of the population. Once again, it is crucial to take into account the hot semi-‐arid climactic conditions of Fortaleza. Buses in the city are not air-‐conditioned and, during rush hour, are typically packed full of people. Unless the supply and quality of public transport is increased and vehicles fitted with air-‐conditioning systems, many travelers will continue to prefer spending more time in their cars, despite the negative fallout on economic productivity and the environment. Bicycles, moreover, will never

Praça Portugal by Edson Camara (2011)



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be a regular option for commuters who do not have access to shower facilities in the workplace, for reasons of personal hygiene and comfort. Innovative solutions will therefore need to be found in order to adapt public transport modes to the specific climactic conditions of the city, as well as the preferences of its residents.

To be fair, the municipal and state government – in collaboration with the federal government and the national development bank (BNDES) – have already begun to address some of these issues through the largest urban transport project in the history of Ceará: the Fortaleza urban railway system, commonly known as Metrofor. Once the first stage of construction has been completed, this system will consist of four lines: the Linha Oeste (green), the Linha Sul (red), the Linha Leste (yellow) and Mucuripe-‐Parangaba (purple). To their credit, policy makers have prioritised the lines that connect the so-‐called bairros populares (popular neighbourhoods) with the Centro, where most of the lower and middle classes live and work, either as small business owners or as employees. The first line to be delivered, therefore, was the Linha Oeste, which connects Caucaia, Antonio Bezerra, Conjunto

Ceará and the Centro, all of which are considered bairros populares. The second line to be completed was the Linha Sul, which links the municipalities of Pacatuba and Maracanaú, Parangaba (another lower-‐middle-‐class neighbourhood in Fortaleza) and the Centro. In contrast with the Linha Oeste, this second line has suffered from numerous setbacks, recurrent technical difficulties and a very irregular service. The problems have been so severe that many passengers are considering switching back to buses for their daily commute, according to the Diário do Nordeste (2015). Although travel times from Pacatuba are half an hour shorter by metro than by bus, the unpredictability of the railway service has caused repeated delays and may be affecting the relationship between workers and employers, or between business owners and their clients. It is also important to note that construction works on the third line – which links Parangaba, the Rodoviária (long-‐distance bus terminal) and the port of Mucuripe – have been paralysed for almost a year due to the withdrawal of the concessionaire, which was facing financial difficulties. The Ministry of Infrastructure of the State of Ceará (SEINFRA) has hitherto been unable to find a replacement. Lastly, it

should be mentioned that construction of the Linha Leste – which in some senses could be seens as the last piece of the puzzle, crossing the central region and connecting it with the other lines – has not yet commenced. One can imagine, therefore, that the difficulties faced by the other lines could affect the public tendering process and make it harder and more expensive to find a concessionaire for the fourth and final line of the Metrofor system.

Without functional lines to the north, east and south, Metrofor will continue to be a fragmented and inefficient addition to the public transport system. As things stand, the Linha Oeste and the Linha Sul are

Source: www.metrofor.ce.gov.br



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bringing commuters into the city from the south and from the west, but given the lack of public transport options within the central areas, the metro lines cannot be said to have contributed to alleviating traffic in the Centro and the Beira Mar. Nor are they providing the viable alternative to personal vehicles and overcrowded buses that could encourage ‘green’ behavioural change amongst commuters. The transformational and sustainable urban transport system that Fortaleza requires should not have been introduced piecemeal, and valuable further research needs to be carried out in order to discover the precise reasons that lie behind the aforementioned failures in the delivery of the Metrofor. Within the limited scope of this paper, it should be enough to hint at some of the possible reasons behind the Metrofor fiasco, including: governance issues; the questionable contribution of the 2014 FIFA World Cup (or the distractions and reshuffling of priorities caused by the mega-‐event) and the famous custo Brasil (or ‘Brazil cost’), a result of the country’s complex web of bureaucracy, labyrinthine legislation and patronage networks. It is hoped that something can still be done to salvage the metro system, which looks as beautiful as ever, on paper, and which still holds significant potential to reduce traffic and increase environmental quality and the sustainability of the urban lifestyle in Fortaleza.

To conclude this section – which has focussed mostly on urban mobility rather than on ‘green’ transport solutions, due in part to the past and present nature of the policy making process in Fortaleza – some recommendations will be made regarding possible ‘green’ pathways to sustainable urban growth in the future. One easy solution to the problem of congestion and inefficient use of personal vehicles in the city centre would be to introduce a ‘congestion charge’, based on the London or Singapore models. In addition to acting as a disincentive for the use of personal vehicles in the most congested areas of the city, such a policy could also help to raise the funds

that are needed to improve the quality and supply of public transport, particularly in the city centre. Depending on the amount of funds that are raised, improvements could range from retro-‐fitting buses with air-‐conditioning systems, to establishing electric car-‐share schemes (like the autolib’ scheme in Paris). Although the latter might only be a realistic objective in the long term, it is known that electric car-‐schemes are a good way of rolling out electrified transport systems as a whole, given the scale of public investment needed to establish critical mass in such systems (IEA, 2014). In other words, electrification could be made to ‘piggy-‐back’ on public efforts to improve public transport, in such a way as to “join the useful and the agreeable” (to use a Portuguese phrase: juntando o útil ao agradável). As mentioned earlier, there could be additional synergies between the electrification of transport and the mass installation of solar panels in the city. Although Brazil performs quite well in terms of transport-‐related GHG emissions – given the 25% mandatory ethanol content in regular gasoline and the gradual, widespread introduction of flexi-‐fuel vehicles that can run on 100% ethanol – there is nevertheless scope to improve this performance even further through electrification, which does not have the undesirable side effects of ethanol and biodiesel (e.g. land use change/ deforestation; SDSN & IDDRI, 2014). The current mandate for trucks and buses, for example, is only 7% biodiesel to diesel, meaning that public transport could be an ideal place to start the electrification process. Lastly, insofar as bicycles are concerned, one idea for the Beira Mar region would be to sign PPP agreements with the kiosks that are spaced out at regular intervals along the beach. These kiosks already run shower services for their clients, but the water is often source from sea and the showers are open to view. Connecting these kiosks to the public water system and building high-‐quality, closed showers and changing rooms could be a cost-‐effective way of providing shower services to cyclists on their way to work in the office blocks of the Beira Mar.



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Conclusion: Fortaleza is emerging from a period of unprecedented growth, and it is in the privileged position of being able to build on a relatively green trajectory so far, partly due to national policies and investments in renewable technologies, partly as a result of its own natural endowments. In this paper, it has been suggested that a plan for green growth in Fortaleza should seek to increase wind power generation in the state of Ceará, as well as exploring options for rolling out solar technologies at a more significant scale, perhaps by encouraging household investment into ‘rooftop’ panels. Industry, however, should be spared excessive environmental constraints in the initial stages of a green growth plan, given its role in providing employment and increased living standards for low-‐income urban residents. In the transport sector, this paper has highlighted the need to reduce the use of personal vehicles in order to ease congestion, reduce GHG emissions and improve the well-‐being of urban residents. The transport policies that were introduced in the run-‐up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup have been criticised for aggravating traffic congestion without encouraging behavioural changes and a shift towards alternative modes of transport. Incompetence in the management of the new metro system has been exposed, as well as the risks that this poses to the future of the urban railway transport in Fortaleza. A number of ‘corrective’ and innovative policy options have been suggested, including some that are viable in the short term, like the congestion charge, and others which will require significant forward planning, like the electrification of transport. It is hoped that this paper can serve as a basis for further research into the feasibility and desireability of the recommended policy options, in order to correct some of the mistakes that have been made in the past and to work towards a sustainable urban future. As a former resident of Fortaleza with strong familial ties to the region, the author hopes above all to stimulate dialogue and cooperation among stakeholders, with a view to improving the future of the city and its residents.



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urban policy and development - a green plan for fortaleza

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