5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The idea of reducing inequalities and the inclusion of the most vulnerable people in cities has always been associated with urban production and economic growth. It is becoming increasingly clear that countries need to rethink their economic and production policies to try to avoid climate chaos. This process, however, implies severe changes and time-consuming adjustments that will impose sacrifices on the poorest. Urban and housing precariousness are still distinctive in cities in the Global South, which implies the need for a powerful social security structure that allows these populations to survive climate chaos, which implies extreme heat and catastrophes, such as those that occurred in Brazil and India, recently. Taxing the wealth of the richest is one possibility for financing the policies needed to reduce urban precariousness in the Global South. However, public policies and social spending are related to multiple circumstance. In this optic, the research on public finances, funding, social policies, and urban development is relevant to the community, to urban and regional planning and to public administration.

It is important to reflect on the choices of urban development policies, and the use and equalization of public funds for this. What new arrangements, instruments and actors are involved in a context of change of this social and urban reality? What are the possibilities of taxation and collection for sustainable economic development? What public policies should be formulated and how to modulate this implementation prioritizing the reduction of inequalities in a multilevel governance context?