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Latest News
  • [ June 21, 2025 ] ‘We’re Working at the Micro Level Because There Are People Destroying Things on a Macro Scale’: In Rio de Janeiro, ‘Green Roof Favela’ Engages Popular Culture on World Environment Day Civil Society
  • [ June 20, 2025 ] Get to Know ‘Gaia Space’, A Network of Women Fighting for Environmental Justice and Obstetric Dignity in Greater Rio de Janeiro *Highlight
  • [ June 10, 2025 ] Groundbreaking Oral History Project—‘Favela Climate Memory’—Launches Final Exhibition, Fostering Emotional Connection Between Climate, Nature and Community [Video] *Highlight
  • [ June 7, 2025 ] ‘Being a Black Woman Running a Museum Means Facing the Past, Eye to Eye… It’s Reparation in Motion’: Sinara Rúbia’s Full Speech at Brazil’s 1st Seminar on Anti-Racist Museums *Highlight
  • [ June 5, 2025 ] ‘A Museology That Doesn’t Serve Life Serves No Purpose’: ‘Unconventional’ Favela Museums Lead First Seminar of Rio de Janeiro’s Social Museology Network *Highlight
HomeWritersMatthew Richmond

Writer: Matthew Richmond

Matthew Richmond is currently conducting PhD research into neighborhood effects, social networks and the impacts of mega-events on two favelas. Read more on his blog: http://bit.ly/19QIwwz.

#Rio2016

Reflections After a Year of Protest: Rio de Janeiro as ‘Post-Third World City’ or ‘City of Exception’?

By Matthew Richmond • December 24, 2013

After a year of protest it’s time to re-examine what kind of Rio de Janeiro is emerging from the ‘city project.’ The widely (though not universally) held belief that Brazil had entered a new era […]

Favela Culture

Morro do Tuiuti: The Hill that Tells the Story of Rio

By Matthew Richmond • August 15, 2013

Clique aqui para Português If hills could speak, Morro do Tuiuti (Tuiuti Hill) would have a lot to say. It has borne witness to many of Rio de Janeiro’s key physical and social transformations over […]

#GentrificationWatch

Back to the future? Urban Transformation and Public Protest in Rio de Janeiro

By Matthew Richmond • June 19, 2013

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 […]

#Rio2016

Waiting for Santa Claus: Asa Branca and the Contradictions of Rio’s Urban Transformation

By Matthew Richmond • December 21, 2012

Clique aqui para Português December 15th–I had taken just a few steps down Rua Asa Branca when Bezerra’s familiar voice rang out. The Resident Association’s inimitable president was sitting in a barbershop, his face covered […]

RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
A Project of

About

In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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10 Years! Check Out Our Story:

Awards

Special Thanks

Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
World Habitat
Fideicomiso de la Tierra Caño Martín Peña
Pastoral de Favelas
Center for CLT Innovation
Global Land Alliance
Ecocity Builders
Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
SDSU Behner Stiefel Center
The Rio Times
Forum Grita Baixada
Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

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  • Violations
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    • Government Neglect
  • Organizing
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    • Sustainability
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    • Responsible Tourism
  • Content Map
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