Rio Government Unveils Reurbanisation Plan After Demolishing Most of Favela

03/09/2016 - 10h35

The day on which one of the last houses in the Vila Autódromo slum was demolished, the city government of Rio de Janeiro announced the long promised and much delayed reurbanisation plan for the area, which is located along the road to the Olympic Park, in Barra da Tijuca, in the west of Rio.

The project consists of a paved road, with 30 houses, pavements and sanitation all due to be built, as well as two schools and leisure areas. Rio mayor Eduardo Paes says that this will all be ready by the Olympics, which are due to occur in August. However, no contract has been signed and no date has been set for the beginning of construction work.

The project announced by the government will reurbanise part of the slum, but not all of it. There are still two houses, home to seven families, in the project's remit, while 18 houses in the favela fall outside this area and will remain standing.

The government began the demolition of the slum in 2013, when it was home to 824 families. The government announced that 275 families would have to be relocated, either for being on the banks of the Jacarepaguá Lagoon or for being in the way of the access route to the Olympic Park - the area which is now due to be reurbanised.

In response, the community created its own reurbanisation project, with the help of planners from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the Fluminense Federal University (UFF). The project won the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award - but was ignored by the Rio government.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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