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This paper explores the configuration of families between humans and companion animals, focusing on the shifting domestic dynamics and the rise of pet families in urban milieus. These configurations represent characteristic ways of living in the context of youth middleclass sectors in the 21st century. At a methodology level, we conducted a survey, 27 in-depth interviews, and a review of 3,000 profiles on social networks and dating apps of youth users from Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Over the past decades, family subjectivation devices have undergone a global transformation. While these changes coexist with classical arrangements, especially in large cities, there is an increasing prevalence of affective bonds, forms of cohabitation, economic agreements, vital commitments, and even decisions regarding having or not having children that overflow the historical meanings of the family. Therefore, the construction of analyses such as "ways of living together" seeks to decenter the family configuration as the sole matrix of analysis by linking these practices with broader transformations that can be contemplated within the realm of "the common." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, seismic vulnerability studies in residential Historic Districts have increasingly resorted to simplified assessment methods, which, very often, are grounded on idealized models obtained from the analysis of the most recurring material and geometrical features in a specific area. This paper aims to discuss the procedure to get residential building models appropriate for simplified seismic vulnerability studies at Historic Downtown of Mexico City (HDMC). The models are built based on a comprehensive analysis from post-seismic reports, web-based inspections (i.e. 3D buildings in Google Earth and Street View 2017 panoramic), and existing literature in broad research domains – from history to urbanism, architecture, and conservation studies. From that analysis, it was obtained a set of building models organized into nine material classes (i.e. M1-M9), and four geometric categories (i.e. A, B, C, and D), whose matrix combination enables a final classification of 36 typologies. The neighbourhood of La Merced was selected as a pilot study area to obtain a typological matrix suitable to be applied to other areas of the HDMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking for transportation is a common and accessible means of achieving recommended physical activity levels, while providing important social and environmental co-benefits. Even though walking in rapidly growing urban areas has become especially challenging given the increasing dependence on motorised transportation, walking remains a major mode of transportation in Latin American cities. In this paper we aimed to quantify self-reported walking for transportation in Mexico City, Bogota, Santiago de Chile, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires, by identifying both walking trips that are conducted entirely on foot and walking events involved in trips mainly conducted on other means of transportation (e.g. private vehicle, public transit) among individuals ≥5-years old. We show how walking-only trips account for approximately 30% trips in the analysed cities, and we evidence how the pedestrian dimension of mobility is largely underestimated if walking that is incidental to other transportation modes is not accounted for: when considering all walking events, we observed an increase between 73% and 217% in daily walking time. As a result, we estimated that between 19% and 25% of residents in these cities meet the WHO physical activity guidelines solely from walking for transportation. The results of the study also suggest that the promotion of public transportation in large Latin American cities can especially help certain population groups achieve the daily recommended levels of physical activity, while among low-income groups accessibility and safety seem to be the key challenges to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]