Socio-economic Vulnerability

CASE STUDY: Nova Baixada. Rio de Janerio, Brazil CASE STUDY: Favela Bairro Program. Rio de Janerio, Brazil

Another prominent favela in Rio de Janeiro is Nova Baixada. This informal area is at the edge of the metropolitan area, and is not well-connected to the city center. Moreover, existing municipal services are limited as the government has prioritized sanitation and social services above all others. One intervention sought to connect Nova Baixada to existing service infrastructure in the surrounding area instead of the central system (Magalhães, 2012). Although this plan sought to connect nearby informal areas in order to make best use of money and services, it did not work very well. Instead, some of the more urbanized areas around Nova Baixada had higher-quality services, with pockets of other peripheral areas with much poorer quality. This experiment mostly failed because the lack of a connection to the central system meant that the informal areas were dependent on each other alone without any backup (Magalhães, 2012). As a result, access to municipal services increased, but other problems remained the same. The City of Rio de Janeiro has come up with many different policies in order to ensure that residents of favelas have access to municipal services. One of the best-known programs, Favela Bairro, has sought to provide a large investment in public infrastructure, public spaces, services and community facilities in order to improve quality of life in the favelas (Fernandes, 2011). However, this program had mixed results. The program won acclaim for its widescale improvement, but only yielded 2,333 land titles, and only 145 families fully completed the registration process for their land (Fernandes 2012). Although this plan sought to connect nearby informal areas in order to make best use of money and services, it did not work very well. Instead, some of the more urbanized areas around Nova Baixada had higherquality services, with pockets of other peripheral areas with much poorer quality. This experiment mostly failed because the lack of a connection to the central system meant that the informal areas were dependent on each other alone without any backup (Magalhães 2012). As a result, while access to municipal services increased, but other problems the remained the same.

municipal government has decided to upgrade and formalize sites rather than promote slum clearance. Informal settlement upgrading and legalization strategies are usually more humanitarian, yet are also very expensive. The municipal government must invest in formalizing these settlements by constructing the necessary infrastructure and providing the residents with services.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC VULNERABILITY

Where a person lives is a major indicator of his or her socio-economic status. Indeed, in informal areas, this is even more apparent as residents may choose to occupy land based on income, wealth, or other economic conditions (Piedade Morais and Olivieira Cruz, 2009). In Brazil, the wealthier the person, the more likely that a person lives and participates in the formal economy. Although the Federal Constitution of Brazil and other laws, such as the City Statute of 2001, seek to reduce the socio-economic vulnerability of favela and otherwise informal residents, governments need assistance from social movements, NGOs, and the private sector to create true change that will bring tangible benefits.