Brazilian city planners,American city planning? New perspectives on urban planning in Rio de Janeiro, 1930–1945

This article analyses the connections between the ideas and principles of American city planning from 1920 with those articulated by Brazilian city planners in the 1930s and implemented by the administration of the City of Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, notably during the period of the Estado Novo [The New State] from 1937 to 1945. In a period characterized by the centralization of political power and the concentration of decision‐making in the hands of the president and the state, the City of Rio de Janeiro undertook a series of restructuring projects which utilized new forms of administration and organization. This article explores the links between urban planning in Brazil and the USA that were a notable feature of these projects. It examines particular requirements set down in city plans, city planning commissions and funding for urban activities, such as ‘excess condemnation’, by focusing upon articles and books written by four Brazilian engineers and proposals put forward by the American City Planning Institute, detailed in the proceedings of the National Conference on City Planning, in the periodical, City Planning and works by affiliated authors.     

Smarter than Smart: Rio de Janeiro's Flawed Emergence as a Smart City

“Smart cities” grew out of the realization that North American models of suburban development and central business district decline needed to be challenged with new paradigms. This movement began in the 1990s with ideas centered on smart growth and new urbanism. While initially restricted to small, wealthy cities, the ideas that emerged during this period combined with a vertiginous growth in information technologies to create software-driven urban managerial tools for major cities. The increasing “technologization” of urban systems that automatically replicate spatial dynamics has been on the agenda of urban scholars for some time. However, the relatively new paradigms of “whole system” implementation in large urban centers has not been the subject of robust critical engagement. The aim of this paper is to examine critically the implementation and functioning of two “smart cities” systems in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as part of the city's broader preparations for hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.     

A City at Play: Rio de Janeiro on the Eve of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games

What will be the outcome of the large-scale construction programmes and under-delivered promises undertaken in preparation for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games? Ana Luiza Nobre , Associate Professor of Architectural History at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and Head of Research and Education at the Instituto Moreira Salles, gazes into her crystal ball and asks what the ongoing legacy of Rio 2016 might be.     

The long-term effects of housing policy instrumentation: Rio de Janeiro’s case from an actor–network theory perspective

Abstract

This paper explores the long-term effects of Rio de Janeiro’s slum upgrading, a key policy instrument of municipal housing since the 1990s, and an essential reference for housing initiatives worldwide. From a theoretical stance, this paper builds on the Political Sociology of Public Policy Instruments (PPI) and actor–network theory (ANT). The paper argues that Rio’s slum upgrading instrumentation, that is, its constitution and use, has been key to the various housing policy oscillations over the past three decades. It also contends that this instrumentation contributed to the depoliticization of the municipal housing policy through the fostering of a ‘community of practice’ centred on slum upgrading, formed by a wide range of state and non-sate actors, and based on a technical rationality. This community and its practices have weakened the political control over Rio’s housing policy in the past decades.     

Looking Beyond Informality

It is all too easy to be optimistic about the economic and social future of Latin America. Daniela Fabricius , the author of 100% Favela: The Informal Geographies of Rio de Janeiro (forthcoming), calls into question architects working within the realpolitik of a globalised, post-nationalist world. Could an all too ready acceptance of existing conditions and the adoption of informality leave inhabitants short-changed? For to live informally is also to live precariously - no substitute for secure and prosperous living.     

Rethinking the Providence Hill cable car: transit,equity, and urban design in Rio de Janeiro

In July 2014, the oldest slum in Rio de Janeiro, Morro da Providência (“Providence Hill”), received a cable car meant to facilitate up- and downhill commuting for residents of this hilltop community adjacent to downtown. Socioeconomic indicators suggest that this community was an ideal recipient of such a project, which facilitated mobility to center-city transit and potential employment. Yet the resulting impact on the adjacent built environment may have negatively impacted small-business vitality and development opportunities for residents of the community. Using social indicators and urban design analysis, this paper examines the distributional and design implications of these choices and proposes improvements.     

Cultivating the Field in the Global Hinterland: Community Building for Mass Housing in the Amazon Region

The large-scale residential settlements that have sprung up over the last decade to house migrants flocking to join Brazil's burgeoning rural industries are in urgent need of retrofitting with infrastructure and community facilities if they are to become sustainable. To this end, international urban design practice the BAÚ Collaborative has initiated the ‘Eden’ project – a participatory design process that involves state authorities, local NGOs, residents and social workers. Rainer Hehl , a cofounder of BAÚ, outlines the problem, the project, and its test-site: the mining town of Parauapebas.     

Metropol Parasol,Seville

In central Seville, a huge fungus-like form floats over the Plaza de la Encarnación. Jürgen Mayer H describes how his Metropol Parasol has revitalised a historic square, providing new amenities such as a museum, market space and viewing platform, while also imbuing it with a formal identity that triggers informal activities and events.     

Rethinking Minha Casa,Minha Vida: The Resurgence of Public Space

Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV – My House, My Life) is a federal programme started in 2009 that provides low-interest finance to construction companies in an attempt to plug the housing crisis and roll out millions of homes for low-income families across Brazil. Architect Nanda Eskes of Atelier 77 and photographer André Vieira look at the impact that this fast-track, hands-off approach has had on the overall quality of housing provision and the urban environment; they also highlight some innovative initiatives that have been conceived to ameliorate its impact.     

Design and evaluation of hydraulic baffled-channel PAC contactor for taste and odor removal from drinking water supplies

Based on the concept of hydraulic flocculator, a baffled-channel powdered activated carbon (PAC) contactor, placed before the rapid-mixing basin, was designed and evaluated for removal of taste and odor (T&O) in drinking water. PAC adsorption kinetic tests for raw water samples were conducted for selection of design parameters related to contact time and degree of mixing. Within the tested range of velocity gradient (G) from 18 to 83s(-1), mixing had a relatively minor effect on the adsorption kinetics of the PAC. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the pilot-scale horizontally and vertically baffled-channel PAC contactor were investigated by tracer tests. It was found that the plug flow fractions of vertically baffled-channel PAC contactor (vBPC) were higher than those of the horizontally baffled-channel PAC contactor (hBPC) for the same bend width or bend height. However, the hBPC seems to be more appropriate than the vBPC in terms of construction and maintenance. The geosmin and MIB removal rate increased with the number of baffles, PAC dose and contact time increased regardless of bend width in the pilot-scale hBPC. The pair of full-scale hBPCs at Pohang water treatment plant, having a design capacity of 6.5x10(4)m(3)/d with 20min of hydraulic retention time with a safety factor of 2, was designed based on lab- and pilot-scale experimental results. Under a velocity gradient of 20s(-1), the number of baffles to be installed was calculated to be 20 with a space of about 2m between each baffle, resulting in a hydraulic head loss through the contactor of about 0.056m. The successful application of hBPC for T&O removal from drinking water supplies should provide momentum for developing more effective treatment methods.     

Civic Building: Forte,Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz Arquitetos (FGMF), São Paulo

São Paulo-based practice Forte, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz (FGMF) places particular importance on developing relationships between architecture, its environment and the user. This is apparent in its two projects featured here: the FDE Public School at Várzea Paulista, for which the firm created concrete brise-soleils ; and the Edifício Projeto Viver, a community building at Morumbi, which it retained as a gateway for the favela it serves. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Failing the Informal City: How Rio de Janeiro's Mega Sporting Events Derailed the Legacy of Favela-Bairro

The eviction of thousands of inhabitants from informal settlements has been a regressive feature in the lead up to Rio 2016. Writer and curator Justin McGuirk describes why, on the eve of the Olympic Games, the government reverted to favela removals after the enlightened era of the Favela-Bairro in the 1990s, which saw informal communities upgraded and integrated into the formal city.     

Maps to Hack,Synchronise and Decipher: Unseen Cartographies of Rio

As a young architect in the 1990s, Gabriel Duarte , now an architecture professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, worked on the Favela-Bairro initiative. Here he describes how that experience of mapping and designing informal settlements proved formative, informing the New Cartographies research project that his practice, CAMPO, has undertaken to informally map Rio's physical and social transformations in the run up to 2016.     

PAC和PAM复合混凝剂处理垃圾渗滤液的研究

通过投加混凝剂聚合氯化铝(PAC)和助凝剂聚丙烯酰胺(PAM)对垃圾渗滤液进行混凝沉淀处理,根据单因素和正交试验确定其最佳工艺条件.结果表明,混凝的最佳条件:PAC投加量为750 mg/L、PAM投加量为15 mg/L、快速(150 r/min)搅拌1 min、中速(45 r/min)搅拌6min、慢速(35 r/min)搅拌7 min、在快速混合之后投加助凝剂.在该处理条件下,系统对垃圾渗滤液中COD和浊度的去除率达到最大,分别为27.45%和65.80%.     

Ville-Port,Saint-Nazaire The Historic Periphery

The harbour town of Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic coast of Brittany in northern France remains divided both by its memories and its built environment. Manuel de Solá-Morales describes how his Ville-Port project seeks to address the structural, visual and mnemonic divisions that have grown up over time between a working port and seaside resort. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Curitiba Revisited: Five Decades of Transformation

Heralded worldwide as an exemplar of sustainable development, Curitiba now has a history of over half a century of enlightened urban planning. Curitiba born Maria do Rocio Rosário , who is the Head of the São Paulo-based Urban Development Strategies (UDS), reflects on whether Curitiba has actually delivered on its ambitious ideals and where the future challenges might lie for metropolitan integration.     

Optioneering: A New Basis for Engagement Between Architects and Their Collaborators

Conventionally, architects are somewhat tardy when inviting engineers to join their projects. By only introducing consulting engineers to participate in the later stages of the design process, engineers are commonly assigned a fixing role. This provides little opportunity for creative engineering solutions at the generative stage. Optioneering, a new business management model, however, offers the possibility of a new collaborative method for interaction between designers and their partners. Dominik Holzer and Steven Downing describe how a research project between the Spatial Information Research Laboratory (SIAL) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and the engineering firm Arup investigated the capability of this new form of collaboration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Housing Market Dynamics of Two Budapest Neighbourhoods

This study deals with residential location modelling of Budapest, Hungary, using a neural network approach known as the self-organising map (SOM). After identifying various urban elements, the analysis focuses on the dynamics of two selected inner-city neighbourhoods: the middle parts of the districts VIII (Józsefváros) and IX (Ferencváros) respectively. These adjacent, but different, areas in the south-eastern part of the inner city have both received attention as subjects for substantial rehabilitation in recent decades. When the differentiation of micro-locations in the targeted areas was modelled using the SOM over a period of six yearly cross-sections, notable dynamics could be identified in terms of both actual changes in the fundamental quality, and expected house price escalations that are not related to fundamentals. In particular, the evidence reveals how housing market development is related to most localised processes of social and physical upgrading occurring in an urban setting.     

Bogotá and Medellín: Architecture and Politics

In the last 15 years, Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia's two largest cities, have undergone urban renaissances. These are a direct result of a political will to tackle the social, economic and physical segregation caused by the large-scale urban migrations of the 1970s and 1980s, which resulted in informal developments that were often isolated from central urban areas with no infrastructure. Lorenzo Castro and Alejandro Echeverri describe the shared experiences and distinct approaches of each city. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of PAC addition on sludge properties in an MBR treating high strength wastewater

This paper examines the sludge characteristics in a submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) operated on a high strength wastewater from an alcohol distillery. Two membrane bioreactors, each with a 30 μm mesh filter, were investigated with and without addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC). Experiments were conducted with varying organic loading rates ranging from 3.4 to 6.9 kgCOD m⁻³ day⁻¹ and the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR), sludge volume index (SVI), mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), particle size and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were monitored over a 180 day period. Respirometric experiments did not show enhancement in microbial activity with PAC supplementation. Addition of PAC decreased the SVI thereby perceptibly improving sludge dewaterability. The sludge particle size, which increased with time, appeared to be independent of PAC addition but was influenced by the aeration intensity. PAC also did not affect the sludge EPS concentration; however, the EPS composition, in terms of protein/carbohydrate (polysaccharide) ratio was altered resulting in a high P/C ratio. FTIR analysis of the sludge samples indicated that the functional groups associated with the sludge polysaccharides appear to be involved in its interaction with PAC.