Rio de Janeiro- LEDC

International Baccalaureate Geography

Rio de Janeiro

Describe your initial impression of the urban morphology of the city based on the images.
Identify some of the functions (past and present) of the city.

Identify and describe the dynamics (past and present) and their effects (how each dynamic has impacted the morphology of the city).

Urban expansion/ Rapid urbanization

Infilling of the bay in the early 20th century

Made it possible to expand Rio de Janeiro, but just limited, since the ground was not stable enough after a specific depth of the sea

Hills around Rio limited the area Rio could expand into (past and present issue – continuously)

Hills are levelled down to be able to keep expanding

Population of city increases rapidly
New migrants to Rio de Janeiro from rural areas

Can’t afford housing

Forced to build shanty towns

Do not have legal papers for the land they live on
Overcrowded settlements
No sanitation, water, electricity

Diseases and pests spread easily

Urban renewal

1902 – 1906: radical urban transformation

Destruction of the last parts of its original colonial urban design
Inspired by Paris after WW2

Impressive urban squares
Grand avenues

Government built very few alternative social housing schemes

People could not afford to live in this area anymore, even though they had to stay close to their work

Homeless built their own houses in the surrounding areas, just as deserted hills

Shantytowns are created

Urban Intervention (around 1900-1910)

Opening of the Central Avenue

Thousands of colonial buildings were demolished in order to open out the Central Avenue

Supposed to be South Americas most impressive urban highway

Caused a lot of air pollution

One of the greatest mistakes in Rio’s urban planning history

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Impressive urban squares
Grand avenues

Government built very few alternative social housing schemes

People could not afford to live in this area anymore, even though they had to stay close to their work

Homeless built their own houses in the surrounding areas, just as deserted hills

Shantytowns are created

Urban Intervention (around 1900-1910)

Opening of the Central Avenue

Thousands of colonial buildings were demolished in order to open out the Central Avenue

Supposed to be South Americas most impressive urban highway

Caused a lot of air pollution

One of the greatest mistakes in Rio’s urban planning history

Identify and describe a minimum of two conflicts and management issues for each city.

Automobile industry in the 1960’s

Roads were not big enough to provide enough space for cars to drive and park – due to colonialism and geographical location the streets where built too narrow

Roads were originally made only for pedestrians

Traffic became chaotic – huge and frequent traffic jams – cars parked on the sidewalks
Bigger roads were created without regard for the preservation of historical architecture

A lot of old, colonial buildings were demolished – Rio lost a lot of his ‘charm’

By the 1970’s most of the second empire and art nouveau styles of architecture were destroyed

City had to be adapted to car traffic

Main focus of urban planning changed

Urban infrastructure

Tunnels
Overpasses
Bridges
Ground level and elevated highways

Doxiadis and Associates

New plan for the city focused on urban infrastructure

New high-speed traffic circulation network for the city

Walking around or spending time outside became unpleasant for pedestrians since most streets, sidewalks and places were used by cars

Social life had dramatically changed

People chose enclosed and private places to socialise

Increased the gap between rich and poor

Street violence increased

When lost its status as the capital of Brail to Brasilia Lucio Costa developed a plan to show that Rio also had achieved absolute modernity

Lucio Costas master plan - Redesign of a whole district in Rio to provide a perfect urban environment for modern living

Breakdown of the traditional urban patterns

Urban nuclei with residential towers connected by narrow streets and small squares surrounded by shops, huge green areas without any precise proposed activities separated the nuclei, minimum distance between the two nuclei was 1 km – massive freeway system was designed to link them

Goal: provide a comfortable and socially integrated urban space

Outcome tragic – boundary walls surround the urban areas and ‘public’ spaces

Most segregated urban space in the city

Early CBD

Caused demolition of old, lower income housing to make way for skyscrapers

The poor were forced out and formed squatter villages away from the city (suburbs?)

Suburbs

Not as in most MEDC’s – suburbs rich people – inner city poorer people

In Rio: Poor were forced out of the city and formed suburbs
Wealthy people lived in densely populated and high rise areas

Shantytowns

Rapid growth in population

Diseases
Unemployed people
No sewage provision

Authorities in Rio de Janeiro set up a self-help scheme

Local authorities provide local residents with materials needs to construct permanent accommodation

Blocks
Cement

Money can be saved on their basic needs

Electricity
Water

How has the government respond to the issues? Summarize their strategies.

Rio de Janeiro’s strategic planning wasn’t just a governmental plan, a lot of support of private sectors

Not always in the favour of the citizens

Agache Plan

General intention

to beautify Rio – especially the central area
organise the city according to specific activities

Designed Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon similar to European Garden Cities

Attract Rios upper class

Designed other districts less radical

Social housing schemes
Improvement of basic infrastructure and provision of a good public transporting system

Plan had neither time nor financial resources to complete the plan

For the first time in Rios urban planning history the city council seemed to admit that it was losing control over Rio’s urban growth

Augusto Ivan – 1979

Broad preservation project for central Rio

Change in Rio’s urban planning
Plan to reconstruct public spaces

Redesign of Rio’s main roads and their surrounding squares

Improvement of urban standards
Goal: To restore the social life of Rio de Janeiro and give back its cultural role that was built up over centuries

Closing of some streets, avenues and freeways during Sunday and bank holidays

Alternative public spaces all over the city

Running, biking, socialising

Rio Coast Line Project (Projeto Rio Orla) – 1992/1993

Reinforce the importance of Rio’s beaches

Redesign of sidewalks, new standardised kiosks, bicycle paths

Lighting system

Make it less dangerous to go out in the night

Made evening activities popular

Evaluate the success of each strategy.

1960s to late 1970s

Plans were made without an accurate sense of social, economic or political feasibility

Little practical use

Failure

Agache Plan

Plan had neither time nor financial resources to complete the plan

For the first time in Rios urban planning history the city council seemed to admit that it was losing control over Rio’s urban growth

Augusto Ivan – 1979

Restored parts of Rios social life form the past
Simple and possible plan

Reason why it worked well

Instead of closing streets, more parks and playgrounds could have been built for little kids

Plain streets aren’t as attractive as parks/playgrounds

Rio Coast Line Project (Projeto Rio Orla) – 1992/1993

Beach promenades

Socialisation of the city
Tourist attraction

Lightning system

Less dangerous to walk/spend time outside

Tourist attraction
People spend more time outside

More shops/restaurants bars open

Also good for tourism