{"id":25086,"date":"2015-10-31T10:52:07","date_gmt":"2015-10-31T13:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=25086"},"modified":"2016-12-11T10:20:27","modified_gmt":"2016-12-11T13:20:27","slug":"living-together-with-the-olympics-the-evolution-of-vila-autodromos-peoples-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=25086","title":{"rendered":"Living Together With the Olympics: The Evolution of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo’s People’s Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Today, October 31, the United Nations invites individuals, communities and countries worldwide to celebrate World Cities Day<\/a>.\u00a0The annual event was developed in 2013 with the aim to \u201cpromote the international community’s interest in global urbanization” and\u00a0highlight the importance of harmony among the city’s spatial, social and environmental aspects and between its\u00a0inhabitants, a harmony that hinges on two key pillars:\u00a0equity and sustainability<\/a><\/span>. This year’s theme is ‘Designed to Live Together.’<\/p>\n

Once Rio de Janeiro\u00a0was awarded\u00a0the 2016 Olympics Games in 2009, urban planning took on a new scale and significance for the city.\u00a0In particular, Barra da Tijuca<\/a> in the West Zone<\/a> was to undergo substantial\u00a0transformation for the 2016 Olympics, including the construction of the Olympic Park<\/a> from scratch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Vision of the Olympic Park as originally submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The winner of the design competition for the Olympic Park and ‘2030 Legacy<\/a>‘ arena was the global infrastructure\u00a0firm, AECOM. Its proposed design was chosen by the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee and the Brazilian Institute of Architects (IAB) with 2016 and 2030 visions:<\/p>\n

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

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

As\u00a0the images above show, AECOM’s plan for the Olympic park left a significant portion of the neighboring community of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a>, labeled in the top left corner,\u00a0in place. In other words, it was a plan for how the Olympic Park and the community would co-exist side by side.<\/p>\n

However, despite the residents’ legal\u00a0titles to the land<\/a>\u00a0(granted by the state government in the 1990s), the preservation of the community\u00a0in the AECOM Olympic Park design (which was selected by the municipal government), and Mayor Eduardo Paes’ own insistence that \u201ca city of the future has to be socially integrated<\/a>,\u201d Vila Aut\u00f3dromo has been targeted aggressively for near\u00a0total removal. Due to evictions thus far, the neighborhood has shrunk by 83%<\/a> in the last two years. Paes has repeatedly claimed that part of the community can remain<\/a>,\u00a0but a recent\u00a0official Rio 2016<\/a> video appears to project the Olympic Park with Vila Aut\u00f3dromo\u00a0completely removed.<\/p>\n

With many families against relocation to isolated\u00a0public housing<\/a> projects, residents came together with allies at two Rio universities to create an alternative vision\u00a0for their community<\/a>, expressed through\u00a0an upgrading plan\u00a0known as the Vila Aut\u00f3dromo People’s Plan<\/a>. The People’s\u00a0Plan<\/a>, first presented to the government\u00a0in mid-2012 and now in its fourth version, affirms the community’s commitments to remaining in place\u00a0and to\u00a0the preservation of the local\u00a0lagoon environment. Moreover, the urbanization plans\u00a0confirm the residents want to, and can, co-exist\u00a0in harmony with the State, the construction of the Olympic Park, and the global community brought by the Olympics.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cDesigning through participative process helps people come together around shared goals and visions, and promotes everyone\u2019s equal access to services, jobs and opportunities.\u201d \u2013 UN<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A scan through the People’s\u00a0Plan reveals that it aligns well with key elements of good design recently identified<\/a> by UN Habitat Executive Director, Dr. Joan Clos:<\/p>\n