Wealth Divided Rio

https://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/FFEEA688-00DD-43FD-8DFA-167E7C60EA5E/0/F3DevelopmentinRio.pdf

I wanted to do some brief research into the inequality in Rio as it is one of the first places that spring to mind for me regarding inequality. And especially due to the 2016 Olympics this has been more exposed and more exacerbated.

During the 20th Century many people from the rural parts of Brazil moved to Rio and other Brazilian cities to find better lives and jobs. Due to the high volume of people that moved into the cities there weren't enough jobs so many people ended up building there on housing on unused land on hills and in ravines so they could survive. Now these Favela's (settlements) make up large portions of the Rio population (one third). Although conditions are not as bad as they used to be about one half have outdoor toilets, there is no septic system, and only some houses can get clean water. 

The poorer people who live here often work for the richer people, to the rich the Favelas can be seen as a positive because they provide cheap labor for their business and for expansion of the city and economy.

As new neighbourhoods are built in Rio, favelas are also built close by to service the richer area; maids, construction work etc, all things that are required for the wealthier neighbourhood but are done by the poorer people. So it makes sense that these favelas are built so close to the richer areas, but it provides for stark contrast.

http://thegroundtruthproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sao-Paulo-Tuca-Viera-1.jpg

The image above is actually in Sao Paulo but provides some of the best juxtaposition between the two classes.

When Rio held the Olympics in 2016 many of the unplanned favelas were partly demolished to make way for new infrastructure. People who live the fevalas were simply forced out by barricades of police while they were demolished. I was looking at this article here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-favela-next-to-rios-new-olympic-park-that-fought-to-survive-and-lost/2016/08/01/fc8496ce-55c2-11e6-b652-315ae5d4d4dd_story.html?utm_term=.e9cda8866e21

Much of the recovered land was to become high end condos. One of the most hard hitting lines.


“This is a city being made for the elite, and it seems the social sanitizing has no end,”


“These are exclusion games,” Sandra de Souza, 48, another Vila Autodromo resident with a new bungalow, said of the Olympic extravaganza due to open Friday. “It is an event by the rich for the rich.”