The Favela problem (II) – two international cases

This is the continuation of an article so refer to the previous one for the basis of the points raised here:

We have discussed some of the main causes of the process of “favelização” or favelisation that is not a common feature to Brasil, but it is quite prevalent here. This second piece analyses two examples of fast urban development that could have a paralell with Brasil, considering the World Cup and Olympics. From now on, excuses from the work force and the ruling class will be hard to swallow.

From my experience abroad I would say that there have been several cases of signficant growth in urban areas under controlled planning that can be demmed succesful. I have selected two well-known international centres that can bring some important lessons to Brasil.

Dubai – fast development in the desert

Dubai has emerged from the desert in less than 20 years. After oil reserves started to deplete, one of the seven emirates that form the United Arab Emirates started an aggressive plan to transform the town in an important international commercial and tourist centre. With significant capital reserves from oil exports, as well as a clear plan to develop the area, private investors and migrant workers were called in to bring the plan into reality.

Main Dubai road before the growth spur! 1990!

Main Dubai road after main constructions finished! 2007

The work force for the construction came mainly from the Indian sub-continent (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) that were paid low salaries (compared to local peers) but were able to provide for their families in their countries of origin given the exchange rates differences. Despite controversies regarding excessive work, bad conditions, and exploitation in some cases, the workers that have built Dubai are usually glad for the opportunity they had.

Affluent Europeans and Asians, as well as regional neighbours, transformed the city into a vibrant town full of  shopping malls, impressive buildings, large avenues, amusement parks, private apartments and residences, hotels, resorts, restaurants and so on. The town is now home for the tallest building ever made by mankind – the Burj Dubai. Plans to move forward on construction and development continue, although intially hit by the economic downturn it has been milder than previously expected.

Hong Kong – far East concrete and jungle

The former British enclave situated south of Mainland China has been an important commercial port since the late 19th Century. Currently, it is one of the most important finance and trade centres in the world, ranked first in the Index of Economic Freedom.  Its geographical position is strategic in the Asia-Pacific region and home to most corporate headquarters in the region. It was a British Crown colony becoming Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China in 1 July 1997, when the United Kingdom transfered it to the People’s Republic of China.

With c. 7 million people in 1.104km2, it presents one of the highest degrees of urbanisation in the world, as well as astonishing density levels. Despite this, restrictions put in place by the government on constructions only 25% of the total landmass is developed and about 40% of the total land mass is reserved to parks and forest reserves. Besides this, the terrain in which Hong Kong is situated is highly mountainous with hills and slopes near main urbanised areas. With these limitations, Hong Kong had to grow vertically not without challenges.

Housing in Hong Kong has always been a challenge due to land restrictions, which has created an infinitude of high-rising buildings in all places, including the hills. This particular feature presents an interesting opportunity for urbanisation of the Favelas in Rio, as with the right planning and action, an area that currently houses 1,000 people in very bad conditions could fit more than 10,000 people in vertical buildings. The pictures below show this at a glance.

Hong Kong affluent area by the hills!

Residential area in Hong Kong

This website shows several examples of residential buildings with its impressive number of units on what is called “Architecture of Density” and you can have a good idea of the surroundings here. Since the town has been around for some time, the new developments need to share space with old, and this is still an issue. However, development in and around those buildings include several facilities such as escalators (another one), public transport, community centres, schools, shops, leisure areas, and so on. Hong Kong presents an interesting example on how to exploit hilly areas for building, and how to maintain a densely populated area within certain order. It must be noted that the investment and capital available for construction is a plus on both Hong Kong and Dubai.

Lessons that can be learned

The most striking lesson from these two examples is that with right action (and the necessary capital) you can transform anything. The effort to raise Dubai almost from scratch shows that a lot can be achieved in a short period of time, whilst Hong Kong shows that natural limitations are not a prohibition for development. Background in Brasil does pose several issues for the urbanisation of favelas and both cases are merely illustrative for what can be done in Brasil.

In the case of Rio de Janeiro, a lot could be achieved in the Favelas by the hills that not only are irregular but also threatened the ecossystem. With the will from government, private investors, and most important, the residents, these areas could be completely remodelled into vertical buildings enabling a better balance with nature and practical living. For this to happen, it is necessary, however, much more interest by the public.

Our next article in the series will raise possible localised solutions.

The Favela problem (I) – what is the root cause?

This is the first article of a series discussing the issue of Favelas.

Housing is one of the main problems that Brasil face today. The obvious signal of this trend is the proliferation of favelas across all major city centres. Problems and difficulties are the norm in these places where law and progress have yet to find its way.  This small article is an attempt to shed some light on this topic that is usually treated with bemusement by foreigners (be it artists, politicians, writers, and general population) or apathy by Brasilians.

We suggest that you read this article or watch this video, produced by an Australian broadcaster for a broader perspective on the issue.

Favela Wars – Brazil

Documentary on Brazilian Favelas

June 2003
The violence spilling out of Brazil’s slums or ‘favelas’ has made the country’s two major cities more dangerous than most war zones. Children in Rio de Janeiro are eight times more likely to die violently than those in the West Bank. (…)

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

The situation hasn’t changed much since then. And more recently, conflicts between the state police and drug dealers have caused panic in Rio de Janeiro, when a police helicopter was shot down and conflict erupted between police and criminals. But rather than discuss occurrences that are common in favelas, we want to bring up the causes, issues and possible solutions for the problem.

After some research on the favelas, we have pinned down the major causes for the emergence and proliferation of favelas in Brasil. Although these are inter-connected, this helps understand the issue a bit better. As causes of the “favelização” or “favelization we can mention:

* Unequal economic growth – Brasil has grown at around 3.5% per year over the last 10 years. This rate is not only low, compared to countries such as China, but is also unevenly distributed across the different income classes. Brasil ranks high among the countries with the most unequal income distribution as measured by equality indexes such as the Gini coefficient. The problem can be attributed to several factors such as poor economic policy, historical inflation, corruption, but its most important result is the lack of opportunities for the poor to overcome its social limitations.

* Very High Birth Rates - the poor have more children than the rich on a ratio of 3.8 to 1. This issue can’t be blamed solely on the government and its impact on the family structure is very significant. As main causes to these high rates we can mention a poor sexual education from families, schools and religious intitutions, as well as the lack of effective birth control methods, which are translated into an ingrained sexual promiscuity (not an exclusivity of the poor, but certainly more harmful) that create bigger (and unstructured) families with all the consequences for children formation and development.

* Low quality public education - the State has failed to deliver quality education. Public schools are poorly equipped, teachers are badly paid and show little interest to teach, and students do not see the value of education that is SO obvious. With a low quality education, chances that a child raised in a favela will become a doctor, a lawyer or a successful entepreneur are minimal, and is likely to become movie stories. Added to this it must be mentioned the lack of parental guidance and interest in education, since most parents are functional lliterates. The results are catastrophic.

* Uncontrolled urbanisation – between 1970 ans 2000 the population living in cities has grown from 56% to 81%. Mass migration to city centres has spurred the growth of favelas in all cities. This new contigent of people added a new extract of poorly educated people to the work force, as well as several other problems as highlighted above. Government and society have not managed to give the proper value to rural workers that have been forced out of their properties due to the lack of a viable model to face the challenges of a globalised agriculture focused on productivity and technology.

Other issues that contribute to the problem of Favelas are:

+ Rampant Corruption - corruption on social programmes is extremely harmful and spread across all levels of government. From the police to high ranks of government, the problem affects those that need it most. For the politician or public worker the issue usually comes as a quid pro quo for their said services, as in several cases, salaries to certain positions are not leveled to responsibilities. But what most fail to see is that the problems that the corrupts most fear (namely violence and crime) are fuelled by their actions of taking out from social programmes to put in their pockets.

+ Drug trade and abuse – drug use is not an exclusivity of Brasil, in fact the country ranks low amongst the biggest consumers of drugs, but the problem is that the drug industry, differently than most rich countries, is very unstructured. It is probably easier to find drugs in a town of the United States or Europe, than in most places in Brasil. However, the lack of control, preparation and structure – this from a pure business aspect – generates a constant bickering between dealers to deliver the goods to the market (that will always exist!) causing an alarmant violence that spills out to the general population. Lack of law enforcement, the geography of favelas and the protection of the community make it the main business running in favelas with all the consequences to the population.

+ Crime and violence – poverty and crime are inherently correlated. If you exclude the drug trade, most prevalent crimes in Brasil are kidnappings, thefts, robberies and murders – this one still highly correlated with drug trade. Lack of opportunities for the young, as well as poor education, and some of the issues mentioned above can be counted as causes, but even in the richest countries of the world there will be crime. To this extent, the world and Brasil will only understand the root causes of crime when it understands the psychological and sociological aspects associated with it – that’s my opinion at least. The lack of an effective social structure in favelas, as well as poverty, make it a breading ground for criminals.

A problem that has its roots since the formation of Brasil some 500 years ago can’t be solved in a blink of an eye, nor it can be mitigated by local initiatives that when much can put some make-up in the actual problem. What Brasil really needs is a change of mentality from all extracts of society, but particularly the poor people and the ruling class. The former needs to assume its role as the engine of progress while the latter needs to assume its responsibility of igniting this progress. It is a win-win situation that has not happened yet due to the lack of a common cause. But 2009 has seen a unique set of events that can create an unparalell opportunity to solve hard-pressed issues of long. The choice of Brasil as the 2014 FIFA World Cup host, and Rio de Janeiro as the 2016 Summer Olympics host have created a common cause that should be the foundation of a complete change in Brasil.

Our following article will discuss Practical Solutions and Local Actions that may mitigate the problem in the years to come.

Demystifying Brasil

About 9 years ago, I made my first international trip – in fact I spent 6 months learning English and studying at a university in the United States. Besides the obvious cultural and personal experience, one thing that really caught my attention was the poor understanding that people had about Brasil.

As years went on, I really took interest for the international aspect and lived 5 more years abroad, this time in London, England. Its central location and other advantages such as a strong currency (at least by then), great flight destinations and good business connections, made it possible for me to visit other 30 countries or so. The impression that people knew very little about Brasil became a certainty.

In general, when you talk about Brasil, people will remember three things:

* Football – people may remember football players that even a hardcore fan may have forgotten – not that this is my case, I mean, I don’t remember the full Brasilian line up in Germany 2006. But I remember one guy talking to me in Turkey speaking of certain players that I could hardly remember.  I was grinning and nodding as a way to hide my embarassment.

* Carnival / Samba - the words Brasil in certain parts of the world will strike a very odd reaction as people will remember scenes of Carnival and people dancing Samba (or we would say sambando). Some would actually start dancing in front of you in a way that a real sambista would have frowned upon. But indeed, music (and not only Samba) is an important aspect of our culture.

* Beach / Women - with tropical temperatures and a inherently mixed race, Brasilian women are a nature’s gift – no discussions about it. Unexpectedly some people think that topless is a common feature of our beaches, but it is not a understatement to say that our beaches are the best in the world. Have a look here and here and here.

Obviously, Brasil is much more than that, although this is quite a nice set of qualities for any country in the world. It is definetely better than to be known as the biggest exporter of phosphorus in the world. But this hides a lot of truth and misundertandings that we will try to evidence.

As World Cup 2014 and Rio 2016 near, interest in Brasil will certainly peak and that’s why I decided to start this, so we can discuss real issues that Brasil is facing prior to these events. In particular, we will discuss the social problems that also make the news abroad (crime, violence, slums, poverty, etc) trying to bring the international experience to solve some of these problems. Our focus will be on solutions to old problems, but also a bit of praise for some of our inherent qualities.

We expect that you contribute to this!

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