In recent months, the internet has been flooded with videos of the Middle East's new futuristic wonder: Neom, or The Line, a planned city commissioned by the Saudi Arabian government to rival its neighbors, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. As Henry Grabar writes, the city is a collection of buzzwords like "smart city," "net-zero carbon," and "15-minute city." In a world where images go viral faster than cities can actually be built, these concepts serve as powerful marketing tools. Yet, so far, no explanation has been offered as to how they will actually be implemented.

Celso Carvalho's article, recently published in Carta Capital magazine, offers important reflections on the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program, as well as the need to promote changes to its strategy. Carvalho points to the high cost of urban land as an obstacle to providing Social Interest Housing (HIS) in the most valuable neighborhoods of Brazilian cities—the so-called "land knot" (nó da terra). In short, Carvalho argues that the new MCMV should:

The release of the first data from the 2022 Census caught many by surprise. According to the IBGE, Brazil now has around 203 million inhabitants, a figure below the Institute's projection of 215 million. Another striking data point was the growth of midsize cities (100,000 to 499,000 inhabitants), which gained 8.3 million residents. Given that the country's population grew by 12 million since the 2010 Census, these cities account for more than two-thirds of that increase. 

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The city of Vienna has a highly praised housing policy. While it certainly has many merits, it is not necessarily perfect. In fact, Vienna's housing policy has taken a different path than other European cities, sparking interest among those who study the subject. In this episode of the Housing Voice podcast, produced by UCLA, Justin Kadi presents several features that make the Austrian capital a unique case. The episode also provides a series of academic articles for anyone wishing to delve deeper into the subject.

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