This article investigates whether self-organized initiatives are able to undermine the underlying dynamics of spatial fragmentation in Brazilian metropolises by promoting social connections between groups that are extremely diverse. Since self-organized initiatives not only promote spatial connections but also social connections between different groups, the central question here is: To what extent can self-organized initiatives promote social connection in the public spaces of highly fragmented and unequal urban contexts? The analysis was based on data collected from 22 in-depth interviews with members of self-organized initiatives, experts as well as field observations during some actions of the initiatives. The interviews were conducted in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo during two months of fieldwork. The results show that the self-organized initiatives studied were capable to mitigate conflicts and to create social connections. Nevertheless, it is still unclear how strong and long-lasting these social connections are.

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The rapid urban growth of Brazilian cities in the second half of the twentieth century produced an extremely unequal urban fabric with spatial discontinuities and left-over spaces. Spatial fragmentation in Brazilian metropolises is not only related to spatial discontinuities, but also to socioeconomic inequalities. Walls in Brazil are physical and social. This fragmentation undermines the resilience of the urban system, which depends on the cooperation capacity between actors in the face of unexpected changes. Since the physical connection of disconnected spaces does not necessarily create social connections between segregated groups, it is difficult to develop cooperation and thus resilience in fragmented cities. In this context, this thesis presents self-organised initiatives as potential actors to dismantle these invisible walls. Self-organised initiatives promote the creation of social connection between highly diverse groups in public spaces of cities with extreme socioeconomic inequalities, which has a positive impact on the resilience of the urban system. Aiming to establish a solid societal impact, the thesis puts forward recommendations on two fronts: education and practice. The author demonstrates, based on the experience of the massive open online course Rethink the City, the way how doctoral research can be used in open online education. Grounded on the findings in the cases of Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the thesis lays out a set of recommendations on how urban planning can work with self-organised initiatives in a collaborative manner in order to foster social connection in cities with patent socioeconomic inequalities. @en

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are becoming a popular educational tool in different disciplines. Urban planning education is no exception and new MOOCs are being released every year. Despite this, it is still not clear how this new learning experience is being developed, delivered, and impacting upon planning education. This article sheds light on this issue using the case of the Rethink the City MOOC organised by the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of TU Delft. The course received the AESOP Excellence on Teaching award in 2017 and serves as an example of how planning education is facing the change towards online education. The article briefly introduces the course and develops on the challenges and results of it. Based on the course team experience of preparing and delivering the course, the article contributes to the
debate about online education and supports fellow academics involved with the creation of new MOOCs.@en

While Brazilian metropolises are spatially fragmented, at the same time they have abundant bottom-up, spontaneous, self-organised initiatives that usually emerge as a response to weak or negligent public authorities. Both phenomena are influencing Brazilian metropolises, but we do not know how they influence each other. This paper aims to answer the question: To what extent does spatial fragmentation influence self-organised initiatives? The article is based on analysis of data collected in the municipality of São Paulo. It first develops a theoretical reflection on both concepts, fragmentation and self-organisation, followed by an outline of the methods and analysis. The work is based on a series of in-depth interviews and field observations of six self-organised initiatives. The results show that the spatial fragmentation pattern observed in São Paulo is defined by a strongly polarised urban structure that heavily influences the operation of self-organised initiatives. This imposes a limitation on the work area of self-organised initiatives. The study indicates that the relationship between spatial fragmentation and self-organised initiatives, however, is not straightforward. Moreover, spatial fragmentation hinders the expansion of the work of self-organised initiatives.@en

Urban areas have spatial discontinuities, such as disconnected neighbourhoods, brownfield areas and leftover places. They can be captured by the metaphor of urban porosity. This paper aims to highlight the potential social consequences of urban porosity by creating a ‘porosity index’. The authors argue that these areas can provide capacity for flexibility, fluidity and absorption in major cities, but that they can also be a source of fragmentation, disconnection and isolation between different social groups, eroding the adaptive capacity of metropolitan systems. Porosity may thus have both positive and negative influences on the resilience of urban systems. Brazil's rapid process of urbanisation over the last 50 years shows both these sides of porosity, which create treats and threats for its urban systems. This paper develops an analytical framework within which to study how porosity manifests itself in Brazilian metropolises, which helps to identify porosity in the context of urban growth and decline. It uses statistical data from Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics relating to 12 Brazilian metropolises to generate the proposed porosity index. Additionally, the paper discusses the added value of the concept of urban porosity in addressing urban resilience and briefly elucidates the issues and opportunities caused by discontinuities in the urban fabric in Brazil's metropolises@en