Posts tagged upgrading
“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 >
A History of Favela Upgrades Part III: Morar Carioca in Vision and Practice (2008 – Present)
Apr 2nd
This is Part 3 of a three-part series on the History of Favela Upgrades in Rio. Click for Part 1 and Part 2.
The cable car in Complexo de Alemão, opened in 2011, was funded through the federal Growth Acceleration Program (PAC).
In Rio, the end of the 2000s brought a trickle of funding to a few delayed upgrading projects from the Favela-Bairro program and its spinoffs, the Bairrinho and Grandes Favelas programs. During this time the federal Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) began to install public works in favelas as well. These tended to be attention-grabbing projects and those visible from the edges of communities such as the cable car in Complexo More >
Barreira do Vasco Seeks Sanitation Improvements from Morar Carioca
Jan 7th
Residents of São Cristóvão’s First Favela, Barreira do Vasco, seek community oversight, sanitation and electricity improvements–and no evictions–as one of the first favelas to benefit from the Morar Carioca favela upgrading program.
Located next to soccor team Vasco de Gama’s stadium, from which the community takes its name, Barreira do Vasco was the first favela in historic neighborhood São Cristóvão and is one of the first favelas in the city to receive Morar Carioca, Rio’s new favela upgrading program.
Home to over 20,000 residents and an estimated 100 businesses, Barreira do Vasco is a vibrant, low-lying community in the heart of São More >
A History of Favela Upgrades Part II: Introducing Favela-Bairro (1988-2008)
Nov 26th
If you see paved streets in a favela, such as these in Acari, they may well have been installed by the Favela-Bairro upgrading program.
This is Part 2 of a three-part series on the History of Favela Upgrades in Rio. Click for Part 1 and Part 3.
Walk into a favela in Rio today and you may see railings and poured concrete staircases amid the more organic alleyways and not-quite-symmetrical homes. Unless there are workers scrambling around—or taking a coffee break—in blue jumpsuits and hard hats, these infrastructure features were likely installed by the Favela-Bairro (Favela-to-Neighborhood) upgrading program of 1994 to 2008.
Before Favela-Bairro, infrastructure upgrades in Rio More >
Curicica Weighs in on Morar Carioca Roles and Obligations
Oct 10th
The Quadra de Samba was occupied by a Globo film crew for the night, so Curicica-area residents and Morar Carioca staffers gathered outside a local restaurant.
Last Monday night in Curicica, Jacarepaguá, in Rio’s West Zone, Carlos Brandão held up three blue circles cut from construction paper. “City government,” he announced to the thirty people seated encircling him on a restaurant patio.
One woman said tentatively, “Medium?”
“No, big, big!” chimed in several others.
“Let’s talk about it,” said Brandão. “You all indeed pay part of the budget for the city government.” Although they did not discuss the specifics, Curicica favela residents pay various More >
