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Santa Marta Favela Gentrification

By: Christina and Madi

Terms

Gentrification - the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low income families and small businesses.

Favela - a shanty town in or near a city, specific to Brazil; slum area.

Background Information● Favelas represent 3.5% of the lands area. ● A pedestrian and bicycle-based transportation

culture ● Proximity to jobs● Mixed-use architecture that can be adapted to

residents' needs.● Strong community bonds.● Rate of expansion of favelas is 7.5%, while the city’s

is 2.5%. ● Rio de Janeiro’s 1992 Plano Diretor, that first stated

outright in Articles 148 and 151 a goal to “integrate the favelas into the formal city” and “preserve their local character.”

● 50% of favela residents have an indoor toilet. The sewage goes into an open drain, causing a health hazard.

● Rubbish is incinerated or piles of waste is left in the street, commonly contaminating the hills' water supply, if they're lucky enough to have one.

Education

• If you live in a favela, you cannot attend a city's school unless you have a job with a wealthy resident who's address you can use.

• 20% have less than 4 years study. • 1% has greater than 15 years.• Many migrated from rural areas = more

often than not, are illiterate and restricted to poor paying, manual labour.

Favela Gentrification

● Government is forcing people to leave their homes to not hurt the country's imageo FIFA and the Olympics.o Santa Marta is close to a very touristy place → residence.

● Benefits from gradual demarginalization( which means bringing something back into the mainstream)

● Loss of affordable housing and giving people the right to choose where to liveo this is relating to what happened in Seattle

Santa Marta Favela ● Located in Botafogos and Laranjeira’s ● A home to 8,000 residents ● 4 kindergartens- which creates an advantage for Santa

Marta. ● One of the most developed favelas in Brazil● One of the safer favelas ● From 1983 to 2008- Brazilian government invested R$ 123

million in programs to benefit the favela● Lots of tourism which gives Santa Marta more money than

most other Favelas● From 1999-2008 the general area of favelas grew by 7%. ● Black market generates $3 billion real dollars each year ● Tram Line

The Police Pacification Unit (UPP) ● First UPP in Santa marta was in 2008● Streets were filled with crime● Because of UPP

o drug seizures increased by 100%o arrests have increased by 3 %o robberies decreased by 44 %o 60 % of residents say that safety has increased o 90 % want police to stay in favelas o disparities in residence

Favela Painting • Haas & Hahn company goes

around brightening up the Favela, to make it more attractive.

• Created social change• More jobs * decreases gentrification• Less crime.• Increased communal pride.

Disparity in Santa Marta

• Apartment in Santa Marta favela costs R$ 50,000 which is about $25,000 US dollars.

• Apartment on main road by Santa Marta costs R$ 500,000 which is $250,000 US dollars.

• Favelas where pacification programs have brought down drug and gang violence have seen rent increases of up to 200 percent.

• The average house price in Rio has increased by 165% over the past three years, according to the UN.

Disparities… Michael Jackson Attracts a lot of

tourist to the favela. Getting it a lot more attention and funding from the government.

Other Favelas…

● Rocinha is Brazil's biggest slum, with 70,000+ residents. Rocinha has a new library equipped with books, DVDs and plasma screens, a half-completed eco-park, a tennis court and a concrete bridge to the sports centre.

● Nothing has been done about the stinking open sewers that run through the densely packed community and overflow every time there's heavy rain.

Is Gentrification Reducing Disparities?NO

● Middle income residents move in, long-time favela dwellers are being pushed to more peripheral regions of the city or become homeless. ● High rates of homeownership in favelas can

reduce displacement, but some renters are being forced to relocate as they are priced out.

● A lot of the houses are unstable and so the government can declare it unsafe. This means that they can evict the inhabitants and take the land as their own, to be sold to real estate brokers.

Is Gentrification Reducing Disparities?YES

• People are investing. Locals can rent their rooms out for more than three times as much as they could three years ago.

• Some people are selling their homes in the favelas and buying big properties back in the north-east, where they originally emigrated from.