In Search Of the Ideal City. The Favela-Bairro Program Experience in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

  • Victor Silva (Foredragsholder)

Aktivitet: Foredrag og mundtlige bidragForedrag og præsentationer i privat eller offentlig virksomhed

Beskrivelse

The socio-economic and environmental inequalities in Brazil are well publicized facts and one can state that spatial segregation has been a defining factor in its urbanization. Brazilian cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, are increasingly characterized by the presence of very wealthy neighborhoods provided with top quality services next to poor communities with extremely limited infrastructure.

During the last two decades Brazilian municipalities have launched several policies and urban interventions in an attempt to minimize urban inequalities. In this context, the Favela-Bairro Programme, lauched by Rio de Janeiro Municipality in the 1990 decade, is one of the most successful urban upgrading and poor alleviation projects developed in Brazil.

To date Favela-Bairro is the largest-scale squatter settlement upgrading programme implemented in Latin America. It aims to comprehensively upgrade squatter settlements - known as favela in Brazil - and to bridging the gap between favelas and formal city.

Favela-Bairro is a ground-breaking project in the Brazilian context, teaching important lessons and pointing to new directions for Brazilian planners, such as (i) favela upgrading instead of resettlement, (ii) approaching public space as a place for social integration and interaction, (iii) participatory process and (iiii) redirection of public investments leading to minimization of social inequalities and spctial segregation.

Favela-Bairro relies on the role that public space can play in bringing people together, emphasizing how important those are for social integration. Urban design has played an important role in the social changes occurring in the Brazilian metropolises. Quality of public spaces and services are critical issues for ameliorating the gap between rich and poor.

This paper focuses on the role of Favela-Bairro in the current urban development process in Rio de Janeiro. The main question we are interested in is: in the contemporary scenario of social polarization, spatial segregation, environmental injustice and lack of good governance, what lessons can be learned from the Favela-Bairro experience?

Periode14 okt. 2008
BegivenhedstitelIdeal City Conference
BegivenhedstypeKonference
PlaceringAmsterdam, HollandVis på kort