Yaara Bou Melhem* took Dateline, Australia’s most respected international current affairs program, to Rio de Janeiro to document the impacts of the city’s preparations for these mega-events on favela residents. The story was broadcast nationwide in Australia on April 8, 2013.
Since winning the bids for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the City of Rio de Janeiro has embarked on a colossal campaign to enhance its international image. However, this has come with a high price tag for those living in Rio’s favelas, particularly their most vulnerable residents who find themselves being forcefully removed from their homes More >
Bairro Carioca,
BRT,
forced evictions,
human rights,
Largo do Tanque,
Mayor Eduardo Paes,
Olympics,
Parque Carioca,
property rights,
Vila Autódromo,
zero participation
“There’s a total lack of transparency on the part of the authorities with Colônia and its residents. We want answers,” asserts Juliana Moura Marques, resident of Colônia Juliano Moreira in Jacarepaguá and member of the community’s E-Colônia movement.
For the last few months, the group has been calling for explanations from the City government over the change in route of the TransOlímpica BRT highway to pass through the neighborhood, abandoned public works and the proposed use of the community’s historic psychiatric hospital for the compulsory treatment of crack addicts. They organized a meeting for this purpose on Friday March 22nd, yet no one from More >
2016,
BRT,
Colônia Juliano Moreira,
compulsory drug treatment,
crack,
forced evictions,
Growth Acceleration Program (PAC),
Morar Carioca,
Olympics,
Pedra Branca State Park,
TransOlímpica,
West Zone,
zero participation
Transcarioca, in blue, will connect Rio's west zone with the international airport
Connecting Barra da Tijuca and the Olympic Park with the International Airport, the Transcarioca highway and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route is the most visible transport infrastructure work the city of Rio is undertaking in preparation for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Officials estimate that the 39km expressway and its 45 bus stations will serve 400,000 passengers per day and cut journey time between Barra and the airport by 60%. However, of the three BRT transport projects under construction – the others being the TransOeste linking far West Zone More >
2016,
Barra da Tijuca,
BRT,
Campinho,
evictee profile,
forced evictions,
gender,
North Zone,
Penha,
psychological terror,
Transcarioca,
Transoeste,
TransOlímpica,
transportation,
West Zone
Original article from BBC-Brasil available here.
For planners, Olympic construction should fit into long-term city plan
Rio’s Mayor, Eduardo Paes, has already said that the 2016 Olympics are a “wonderful excuse” to make necessary urban changes to the city. But, according to two foreign specialists, the mega-events are excessively regulating the urban changes in Rio in a distorted way: instead of having the Olympics and the World Cup help the city create a long term urban plan of, for example, 50 years, the city is altering itself to accommodate these sporting events.
In her book Planning Olympic Legacies, which came out this year, German More >