A City in an NEE: Rio de Janeiro » Improving Life for the Urban Poor

Planning a better life for the urban poor

In the last lesson you saw that many people in Rio de Janeiro live in favelas with poor housing, little clean water and few services. For years the city mostly ignored these areas. Some governments even tried to knock them down. That did not work, because the people had nowhere else to go.

Later, Rio began to take a different approach. Instead of removing favelas, it planned to improve them. This lesson looks at one example of how urban planning is improving the quality of life for the urban poor: the Favela Bairro Project, with a closer look at Complexo do Alemao.

Key terms:

• Urban planning: deciding how land, buildings, services and transport in a city will be used and improved.
• Quality of life: how good life is for people, including their health, housing, safety, services and chances to earn money.
• Urban poor: people living in towns and cities who have low incomes and often poor housing.
• Favela Bairro: a Rio project to improve favelas. Bairro means neighbourhood in Portuguese.

The Favela Bairro Project

The Favela Bairro Project started in 1994 and was run by Rio's city government. It was paid for partly by a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank, which lends money to countries in Latin America. The name says the aim: to turn favelas into proper neighbourhoods that are part of the city.

The main idea was to improve the favelas where they already were, working with the people who lived there.

The project covered many favelas across the city, so it helped a large number of people. Success varied from place to place.

Complexo do Alemao

Complexo do Alemao is a group of favelas in the north of Rio. It is built on a steep hill and tens of thousands of people live there. For many years it was cut off from the rest of the city. Roads were poor, crime was high and the police rarely went in.

The area was improved as part of a national programme called the Growth Acceleration Programme (PAC), which paid for new infrastructure. The changes included:

• A cable car. It opened in 2011. It has six stations and runs for about 3.5 km. It links the hilltop homes to a train station, so residents can reach jobs and schools in the city more quickly.
• Better sanitation and housing. Sewers and drains were improved and some new homes were built.
• New services. Schools, health clinics and a library and park were built.
• Safer streets. The government set up police units inside the area to reduce crime.

Each change helped a different part of quality of life. Transport gave people access to work, sanitation improved health, schools and clinics improved education and care, and less crime made families feel safer.

Why improve rather than knock down?

Planners learned that moving people out of favelas caused new problems. Families were often sent to estates far from the city, away from their jobs, friends and schools. Many could not afford the travel, so some simply moved back or built new favelas. Improving the favela in place avoids this.

• People keep their homes, neighbours and nearby work.
• It costs less than building thousands of new homes.
• Residents can help to decide what is needed, so the changes fit their lives.

Linking features to quality of life

In an exam you need to say what was done and then explain how it helps. Use this chain: feature, then change, then benefit.

• Sewers and drains lead to less dirty water in the streets, so fewer people get diseases.
• Paved, wider paths lead to emergency vehicles reaching homes, so lives are saved.
• Official addresses and secure rights lead to families feeling secure, so they invest in better homes.
• Nurseries and schools lead to more children learning, so they have better job chances later.
• The cable car leads to shorter journeys, so people can reach work in the city.

How successful has it been?

Planning has made a real difference, but it has not solved every problem.

Exam-style question

Describe how urban planning has improved the quality of life for the urban poor in a named example from a city in an LIC or NEE. [4 marks]