2016
Back to the future? Urban Transformation and Public Protest in Rio de Janeiro
Jun 19th
Rio de Janeiro has arrived. Or at least that’s what the city’s authorities, and most of the international publicity the ‘Marvelous City’ has received in recent years, would have us believe. After decades of economic malaise and social distress Rio’s fortunes appeared to turn in the middle of the last decade. A national economic upturn and the discovery of large offshore oil deposits fuelled steady growth in the city’s dominant business and service sectors. As a result large parts of the population saw their incomes rise and many, including those living in the city’s favelas, were lifted out of poverty. More >
Most Deprived Areas of the City Have Lower Quality Public Spaces
Jun 10th
One of the most important requirements for the development of an active lifestyle is access to suitable sites for physical activity. Therefore, it is to be expected that the city of Rio de Janeiro, host of the next Olympic and Paralympic Games, presents appropriate infrastructure that can encourage the adoption and maintenance of the habit of exercising. However, this was not exactly what Prof. MSc. Marcelo C. Vieira, from the Rio de Janeiro State Institute of Cardiology, found when visiting 38 public places in 26 neighborhoods across the city, as part of his postgraduate research on Healthy and Sustainable Spaces More >
The Port’s Discontents
May 27th
For the original article by Claudia Atunes in Portuguese published in Piauí click here (subscribers only).
An account of the residents’ movement in Rio de Janeiro’s first favela in an era of sporting mega-events and political fragmentation.At Cantinho dos Servidores, a restaurant and bar with blue tiled walls and bare wooden tables, you can share a generous plate of food and still expect to pay just R$6 (US$3). It’s on Sacadura Cabral Street, a road that traces the shoreline that existed little more than a century ago, until construction on the Port of Rio de Janeiro in the Guanabara Bay would permanently More >
World Cup/Olympics Popular Committee Releases New Mega-Events and Human Rights Violations Dossier
May 23rd
“Of course we’re talking about much more than a sporting event,” stated Orlando Santos Junior. “We are talking about a city project, a project of urban re-structuring which deserves to be discussed by society, by all of us.” He argued that the series of interventions taking place in preparation for next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympics reflect a broader vision of Rio de Janeiro—one that expels the poor to the periphery of city.
Orlando, a professor at Rio de Janeiro Federal University’s (UFRJ) Urban and Regional Planning Research Institute (IPPUR), and researcher at the Observatório das Metrópoles (Metropolises Observatory), More >
Rio Academia Discusses Influence of UPP Pacification on Favela Youth
May 22nd
Last Friday morning, May 17, nearly 100 students, researchers and scholars gathered at the State University of Rio de Janeiro’s (UERJ) Social and Policy Studies Institute (IESP) in Botafogo to discuss the Pacifying Police Units (UPP), youth and sociability in Rio’s favelas. The PRONEX-Juventude seminar was a product of UERJ’s Nucleus of Excellence for the Study of Youth which studies the multidimensionality of youth and social inequality, particularly in relation to the State and inclusive citizenship. For the May 17 seminar, coordinator Adalberto Cardoso brought together 12 Brazilian and international panelists associated with various public universities across Rio de Janeiro, including UERJ, Fluminense Federal University (UFF), More >
