{"id":74585,"date":"2023-04-15T11:44:40","date_gmt":"2023-04-15T14:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=74585"},"modified":"2023-05-23T09:23:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T12:23:34","slug":"rio-de-janeiro-mayor-heavily-amends-citys-10-year-master-plan-in-it-final-phase-prompting-intense-criticism-from-civil-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=74585","title":{"rendered":"Rio de Janeiro Mayor Heavily Amends City’s 10-Year Master Plan In Final Phase, Prompting Intense Criticism from Civil Society"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Public<\/a>
Public hearing on Rio’s Master Plan with a Mar\u00e9 resident holding a sign “Mar\u00e9 Wants Housing!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/i><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The revision of a city\u2019s master plan concerns all its inhabitants. As the main urban planning law at the municipal level, Rio de Janeiro’s Master Plan will guide the city\u2019s development for ten years, establishing growth parameters, zoning regulations, land use policy and urban policy goals, as well as the mechanisms to achieve them. Though it can seem like a discussion limited to technical professionals, distant from everyday citizens, a master plan directly affects the lives of all city residents. As such, public participation must be one of the fundamental pillars of the process. When the law is revised every ten years, all of society should be invited to participate and discuss the city’s challenges, interests from different sectors, and solutions for how to improve daily life. A broad spectrum of perspectives and interests should be taken into consideration in the plan\u2019s final framework.<\/p>\n

The revision of Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Master Plan began in 2019 and was interrupted by the pandemic. Though still a fragile time in the health crisis, the executive branch\u2014City Hall\u2014chose to resume discussions in 2021 and formed online working groups with civil society organizations and government professionals to develop proposals for revising the Master Plan. The process was criticized<\/a> for the tight schedule and a limited number of public hearings proposed by City Hall. Minimal space for public participation is not compatible with the development of legislation which will dictate a city\u2019s development standards for ten years. Despite this, the draft bill was hastily finalized by the Municipal Urban Planning Secretariat and sent to the legislative branch\u2014City Council\u2014at the end of 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/a>
Members of the public demonstrate support for the Community Land Trust (CLT) remaining in the Rio de Janeiro Master Plan with signs and banners at the public hearing on April 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once the plan was in the hands of City Council, more space was granted for public participation. During this phase, 26 public hearings<\/a> were held to discuss the Master Plan draft bill in 2022, with 17 held in diverse regions of the city. The document was discussed with different sectors of society, who put forward their positions and defended their interests. There was a greater possibility for people to voice their issues, though there still wasn\u2019t clarity over which demands were listened to and taken into consideration.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, in November 2022, City Hall sent 215 amendments<\/a> to the Master Plan draft bill\u2014the document the City itself had drafted\u2014back to the City Council. The vote on the bill had been scheduled to happen in November, several days after the large number of amendments were abruptly presented, not leaving enough time to discuss them with the public. The rush to approve the bill and lack of clarity over what motivated the amendments caused strong reactions from some sectors of society<\/a>, which demanded more transparency from the executive branch. The generic justification given was that the proposed changes were a mere refining of the text and not substantial alterations. Furthermore, according to City Hall, the changes responded to society\u2019s demands that had emerged from public hearings.<\/p>\n

However, what happened in practice was quite different. According to a survey by IBAM\u2014the agency responsible for advising City Council on its master plan\u201480 of the 215 amendments represent a significant alteration to the bill. Some introduce new urban design parameters, others modify procedures, and some completely erase mechanisms laid out in the bill. Far from merely adjusting the text, the changes were so substantial that the Council scheduled seven new public hearings<\/a> to discuss them with the public. After years of discussing the city\u2019s updated master plan in a process City Hall claims was participatory, we see an attempt to significantly reformulate the bill in the final revision stages, without any transparency or concern with justifying the changes to people who have dedicated their time and effort to collectively build a master plan that responds to the interests of all.<\/p>\n

\"Breakdown<\/a>
Breakdown of City Hall’s amendments: 86 adjustments of the text\/consistency with the law; 49 one-off simple alterations; 80 significant alterations. Source: IBAM presentation at public hearing on April 5, 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Concerning the argument of adapting the document to public demands brought during hearings, there was no indication of which public statements were being addressed and when or by what means they were presented. In fact, it appears that public participation was used as a pretext by which the executive branch introduced changes that serve their interests, under the guise of having listened to the public. A telling example of this is the complete removal of a new legal instrument for guaranteeing housing in the city: the Community Land Trust.<\/p>\n

The Community Land Trust (CLT)<\/a> is a model of collective land management characterized by separating land ownership (collective) and building ownership (individual). The arrangement allows a balance between individual and collective interests and ensures the model\u2019s central objectives: guaranteeing communities can remain where they are, maintaining affordable housing, and promoting resident-led development. With over 50 years of success and applications in over a dozen countries<\/a>, the CLT is widely recognized as a powerful tool for fulfilling the right to affordable housing. In 2017 it was included in the New Urban Agenda<\/a> (item 107)\u2014a UN document which establishes global guidelines for good urban governance\u2014as a sustainable and inclusive housing model that should be encouraged by signatory states, including Brazil.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/a>
Aerial photo of the Fideicomiso de la Tierra Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a, CLT implemented in a group of informal settlements in Puerto Rico and winner of the World Habitat Award<\/a> in 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CLT was widely discussed during the revision of Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Master Plan, both in the working groups organized by the executive branch and later in City Council hearings. The diverse responses from across civil society were positive, recognizing the importance of including this innovative mechanism in the master plan<\/a>, due to a progressive movement pushing for new approaches to the challenges of housing in the city. It would align with the moves of other cities which have been discussing the model, such as the neighboring municipality of S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti which recently approved the CLT in its Master Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the course of numerous public hearings, a range of sectors of society supported the approval of the Community Land Trust as a recommended instrument in the master plan, with no opposition. Including the CLT as a tool within the city\u2019s urban policy toolkit is a social demand. This was made explicit in an open letter to elected officials<\/a> in support of the instrument\u2019s adoption signed by 49 civil society organizations historically involved in the fight for the right to housing and the city. There was a broad mobilization by society to defend maintaining the CLT in the new master plan<\/a> at a recent public hearing on April 5<\/a>. Over 100 residents and community leaders filled<\/a> the City Council chambers to demand mechanisms<\/a> which protect communities from eviction and gentrification.<\/p>\n

\"Residents<\/a>
Residents and community leaders fill the City Council chambers at the public hearing on April 5 to demand mechanisms that protect communities from gentrification.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jurema<\/a>
Jurema da Silva, resident of the Shangri-l\u00e1 Cooperative, defends the inclusion of the CLT in the Master Plan holding a sign “Community Resists! CLT! Now!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, City Hall, led by Mayor Eduardo Paes, continues to maintain the position of excluding this innovative provision for ensuring affordable housing for low-income families in the city, without presenting any justification. On reading amendment #182<\/a>, which removed the Community Land Trust from Rio’s Master Plan, the justification given was the need to \u201crefine the text.” This is far from a legitimate explanation for such a significant change to the plan and shows the City\u2019s disregard for people\u2019s pleas. The total lack of transparency from the City regarding its over 200 introduced amendments goes in opposition to the principle of public participation as a pillar of urban policy, as stipulated in the Brazilian Constitution and the City Statute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The CLT\u2019s removal is far from the only significant change to the Master Plan. Among other new proposals by the executive branch, there is a drastic change to the Outorga Onerosa do Direito de Construir<\/em> (OODC), in English known as “onerous grants and the transfer of the right to construct<\/a>,” an instrument with the potential to significantly increase the City\u2019s revenues by way of an offset charge for real estate ventures. It works by establishing a basic coefficient for the use of land, within which new ventures can build without additional cost. Any building which exceeds this coefficient must request a concession from City Hall by paying financial compensation. Previously considered an instrument for general application in the city, the amendments create various exceptions for its application, totally reversing its central logic. Furthermore, they impose a waiver of the charge in the first five years of the bill\u2019s term, leaving an uncertain situation and limiting the instrument\u2019s revenue potential by exclusively serving the demands of the real estate sector\u2014those that would be mainly impacted by the charge. The main demand from civil society presented at the hearings about the instrument concerned allocating the funds collected to social housing and urban development. This is not addressed in the amendment, showing yet another serious disregard for the public\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/a>
People waiting at the Council’s gates to enter what should be a public hearing. Many couldn’t get in even though there was space in the galleries, contradicting the principle of public participation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Given these and other structural changes to the Rio de Janeiro Master Plan draft bill sent without any participation or justifications, it is clear that City Hall\u2019s positioning threatens effective democratic processes. Social participation is not merely a formal detail, an inconvenience that government can simulate and cross off a list. It is a constitutional requirement and collective right. Much more than listening to people\u2019s demands, the authorities need to take them on or at least give a transparent response as to why they are denied. Otherwise, Rio will continue to produce a centralized urban policy that is far from meeting the needs of its citizens. This seems to be what some wish for in the Rio de Janeiro Master Plan.<\/p>\n

Watch Tarcyla Fidalgo’s talk on the CLT at the Master Plan Public Hearing on April 5 (in Portuguese) here<\/a>:<\/h3>\n