Posts tagged public housing
The Memorialization of Public Housing in Post-Olympic Atlanta, USA
May 20th
Last week it was reported that the number of people removed from their homes for the upcoming mega-events in Rio de Janeiro has surpassed 8,000. Thousands more evictions are planned in the run up to the city hosting the Olympics in 2016.
As previously reported on RioOnWatch in an article looking at last year’s London Games, mass displacement of the poor is a trend replicated in every recent Olympic city. Here, anthropologist Tarey Milton looks into the public housing complexes demolished for the 1996 Atlanta Games and discovers that though the communities were literally destroyed, former residents are keeping the memory of their More >
Voices of Vila Autódromo: Barrão, the Fisherman
May 16th
Paolo Roberto Ferreira Mezes, known by all as Barrão, moved to Vila Autódromo sixteen years ago. After learning to fish and dedicating himself to the craft, he brought his wife and two young children to the peaceful, lakeside favela in Rio’s West Zone to turn the craft into a living. He decided to swap his home in Vila Valqueire for his brother’s abandoned waterfront property in Vila Autódromo. That way, Barrão was able to fish from his own backyard. In the years following the move, Barrão and his wife welcomed two more children, and they began fostering a loyal client base More >
“My House” in the Land of the Interest-free Car
Apr 29th
For the original article in Portuguese by Sérgio Magalhães* in O Globo, click here.
Troubled by the quality of construction of projects in the Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV, or My House My Life federal housing program), President Dilma Rousseff declared, “I wasn’t elected to give the people shoddy housing.”
The great demographic expansion and territorial occupation that characterize Brazil today date back to the middle of the last century. The cities bore the weight of the population growth and brought marked improvements in social indicators. In seventy years, the urban population has grown from 12 million to 170 million. And urban homes have More >
Voices of Vila Autódromo: José Arimateia, the Baker
Apr 23rd
In 1986, the newlywed José Arimateia moved to Vila Autódromo to buy his first home and to start a family. He moved from his parents’ house in a neighboring community, Vila Sapê, though he was born in Paraíba. He and his wife, Maria das Dores Catanduba de Andrade, were the first of their families to move to Vila Autódromo, a small favela in Rio’s West Zone, which they chose for its safety and peacefulness. Now, 27 years later, their success and happiness have drawn a dozen family members to move to their beloved community.
When José first moved to Vila Autódromo, he More >
Demolition of Buildings to House Bumba Residents has Begun
Mar 28th
For the original report in Portuguese in O Globo click here.
The buildings were to be inhabited by the 450 families that lost their homes in Niterói’s tragedy of 2010.
Zilda Arns housing complex, built to house people made homeless in landslides in Morro do Bumba, found to have cracks. Photo: Pedro Kirilos / Agência O Globo
This Saturday marked the beginning of the demolition of blocks 3 and 5 of the Zilda Arns buildings I & II. Cracks have been found in the buildings, which compromise the safety of their structures. According to the Caixa Econômica Federal bank, which released R$27 million More >
