Combined Urban Operations and the Urban Development

“By capturing part of the economic gains of the real estate market, the Combined Urban Operation brings substantial improvements to society in urban infrastructure”

The Combined Urban Operation, provided for in the City Statute, consists of a set of interventions and measures, coordinated by the Government, with the participation of owners, residents, permanent users and private investors, with the primary objective of promoting, in a given area, structural urban transformations, social improvements and the environmental valuation of the urban environment1.

The initial idea of ​​ concertation that inspired Urban Operations comes from international experiences such as the Zones D’Ampenagement Concerte (ZACs), which emerged in the 1970s in France, whose objectives determined state interference in urban affairs, so as to subject private interests to urbanistic priorities. In Brazil, the implementation of Combined Urban Operations is allowed and encouraged by the City Statute, in several of its provisions, whose main idea involves the adoption of a series of actions aimed at transformation in the urban fabric and in its various aspects (urban, social and environmental).

A whole new urban governance is outlined in specific municipal or inter-federative law2, with detailed objects and purposes, which guarantees stability and legal security necessary to the project.

The idea underlying the Combined Urban Operations is a major advance from the standpoint of urban development, contributing to a better quality of life for all citizens, with a direct impact on the present and future of cities.

In addition to urban-type interventions of an architectural nature, which will be responsible for promoting the urban redevelopment of areas relevant to the municipality, especially its central region, one can also envisage the construction of structures or social interventions aimed at improving urban mobility or in cultural equipment, and even as vectors for the insertion of models of smart cities.

All interventions are funded through the issuance of Additional Building Potential Certificates (CEPACs), acquired by the private sector, which, in exchange for this authorization to construct in potentials above ordinary legislation, reverts in amounts to be expended by the Government in the form of urban works and services

By capturing part of the economic gains provided to the real estate market through the development of a certain region, in reality the Combined Urban Operation brings to society substantial improvements in urban infrastructure, and allows citizens to effectively share the economic gains generated therefrom.

In this way, urbanistic concertation can be understood as a Combined Urban Operation as a sort of win-win arrangement, in which, if well delineated in its principles and purposes, one can gain countless benefits for the public and private sector and in particular the community as a whole.

[1] Article 32 of the City Statute, Federal Law no. 10257, dated July 10, 2001.

[2] Article 34-A of the City Statute, Federal Law no. 10257, dated July 10, 2001.