{"id":14840,"date":"2014-05-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=14840"},"modified":"2014-06-21T13:37:27","modified_gmt":"2014-06-21T16:37:27","slug":"brazilian-institute-of-architects-calls-for-protection-of-the-favelas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=14840","title":{"rendered":"Brazilian Institute of Architects Calls for Protection of the Favelas"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the original by Andr\u00e9 Balocco and T\u00e1ssia Di Carvalho in Portuguese\u00a0in O Dia click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brazilian Institute of Architects Council Member proposes law against real estate speculation in the 10th \u201cRio Without Borders\u201d debate.<\/h5>\n

Rio\u2013A new law protecting favela residents from real estate speculation<\/a>, such as that currently happening in Vidigal, was the principal\u00a0proposal to come out of the 10th \u201cRio Without Borders\u201d debate, held\u00a0last\u00a0Tuesday April 29\u00a0in Morro da Formiga<\/a>. The debate discussed \u201cLow Income\u00a0Housing and Gentrification\u201d with the idea for such a law put forward by Fl\u00e1vio de Oliveiro Ferreira, a member of the National Council of the Brazilian Institute of Architects (IAB).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the USA and England have specific laws to protect certain areas,\u201d defended Fl\u00e1vio. \u201cIt is important to protect a favela as an area of low income\u00a0housing.\u201d Aside from Fl\u00e1vio, the debate also featured\u00a0Theresa Williamson from the NGO\u00a0Catalytic Communities<\/a>, Jorge Barbosa from the Favelas Observatory<\/a>, Marcelo de Silva, president of the Vidigal Neighbohood\u00a0Association and Cl\u00e1udio Jos\u00e9 from the group TransFormiga.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs every favela has unique characteristics, the ideal would be to divide them in categories. The purchasing\u00a0power of Rocinha<\/a> residents, for example, is greater than that of Mar\u00e9<\/a> residents,\u201d Fl\u00e1vio explained. The city of Boston, USA, was used as an example of a place where different districts receive tailored treatment. \u201cThere, the law is specific to each district.\u201d<\/p>\n

President of the Vidigal Neighborhood\u00a0Association and one of the debaters on the panel, Marcelo da Silva, was pleased with the proposal. According to him, Vidigal<\/a>\u00a0has undergone an accelerated process of de-characterization since the\u00a0Pacifying Police Unit (UPP)<\/a> entered in January 2012. \u201cI can\u2019t stop residents from selling their homes thinking\u00a0that pacification will end in 2016,\u201d he said. \u201cToday, there are parties on the hill that cost up to R$100 [to get in] and cause immense traffic jams. This is not for the residents.\u201d In order to try and put the brakes on the change of profile of the community, a process known as gentrification<\/a>, the community is holding a series of debates<\/a>–the third happened this\u00a0Tuesday. \u201cInformation is power. This we can provide\u00a0so that nobody is sorry later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jorge Barbosa, from the Favelas Observatory, agreed with the idea of specific legislation to protect the favelas. He also revealed that real estate speculation has already hit Complexo da\u00a0Mar\u00e9, despite the favela still not having a UPP\u2013at the moment it is occupied by the army<\/a>. \u201cThe announcement of occupation alone made prices soar,\u201d he said whilst showing the front page of the community newspaper Mar\u00e9 de Not\u00edcias<\/em><\/a>\u00a0reporting that a studio apartment in Nova Holanda<\/a> had risen from R$12,500 (US$5,600) to R$60,000 (US$27,000). \u201cThose who leave the favela give up\u00a0their relationships. And end up\u00a0getting poorer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urban planner proposes colletive management of territory<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another proposal that emerged from the meeting in Formiga came from Theresa Williamson from the NGO Catalytic Communities. She suggested a collective management of favela real estate ownership, or community land trusts<\/a>. If this were in place, when someone wants to leave the favela they would sell the house to the collective who could then resell without speculation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Boston and England, this idea is already a reality,\u201d she explained. According to Theresa, the administration and acceptance of new members would depend on the decisions of a\u00a0council formed of current residents. \u201cThey hold meetings to decide whether a potential resident would fit the community profile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another alternative presented by Theresa was a price range for each\u00a0category; those with a lower income would pay less rent, duties and taxes. She stated that the increase in electricity<\/a>\u00a0and water bills ends up with people being unable to remain in their community. \u201cAnother problem with the change in profile of residents is that those who stay lose their identification with the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theresa declares that gentrification is not a natural evolution in the process of urban housing. \u201cIt starts with speculation and ends with people who don\u2019t want to sell their homes being obliged to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to stop the process, or at least try to control it, she suggests that favela residents become more informed\u00a0about gentrification.<\/p>\n

Theresa even proposes the government create alternatives to provide public housing for people with low income. She concluded \u201cIn New York, new buildings have to designate 20% of apartments as affordable with 10% of housing\u00a0already public. In Singapore, the government currently owns 90% of all housing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the original by Andr\u00e9 Balocco and T\u00e1ssia Di Carvalho in Portuguese\u00a0in O Dia click here. Brazilian Institute of Architects Council Member proposes law against real estate speculation in the 10th \u201cRio Without Borders\u201d debate. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":14842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1267,1288,335,329,1330],"tags":[1261,435,280,65,282,116,37,281,523,15,725,10,12,363],"writer":[1190,1191],"translator":[1192],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gentrificationwatch","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-policies","10":"category-solutions","11":"category-translation","12":"tag-central-rio","13":"tag-community-land-trust","14":"tag-complexo-da-mare","15":"tag-gentrification","16":"tag-housing","17":"tag-morro-da-formiga","18":"tag-north-zone","19":"tag-nova-holanda","20":"tag-observatorio-de-favelas","21":"tag-pacifying-police-unit","22":"tag-policy-recommendation","23":"tag-real-estate-speculation","24":"tag-rocinha","25":"tag-vidigal","26":"writer-andre-balocco","27":"writer-tassia-di-carvalho","28":"translator-ollie-davies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14840"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=14840"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=14840"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=14840"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=14840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}