Arrived in Rio last night and had a great conversation with a representative from the Asian Development bank regarding concentration of poverty in general and the Favelas in particular. I understand that some Favelas may have more than 200,000 people. There are literally hundreds of Favelas in the country. The local government cannot properly manage these places.
We discuss 2 central themes on this topic.
1. How can government help to improve the physical design? Should government dismantle and rebuilt new or should it be a more incremental approach based on what is already there.
a. Tear Down and Build New – An Incremental approach to redeveloping such high concentration of poverty is ‘Poverty Continued’. Find a new location, build new units, well designed according to contemporary design ideas on public space with clear visibility. Nothing taller than a fire truck can get to. Nothing taller than a person on the highest level cant shout down to the street (4 – 5) stories. Then relocate people from an existing Favela into the new area and demolish the old Favela. Build a new area on the site of the old Favela and begin the process again. With this approach you would just need one new site. The design of the new Favela is crucial. Switzerland and Holland have excellent models for small space and well designed shared units.
b. Incremental approach – Government should not force relocate people. This destroys community. Where is the new land to be found? If they are going to build new, maybe government should just design the major arteries and infrastructure pathways, then let the people modify the design as they prefer.
2. Is it ethical for the government to have schools in Favelas. What are those children being taugh? How is education delivered? What do the schools look like?
a. Poor people should not be teaching poor children in poor schools. They will inevitably be learning how to be poor. Children from Favelas should be leaving those areas to go to school. Government would be able to better monitor their progress and the children will grow accustomed to the world being larger than the Favela. In America there is now the understanding that a school which has a high teenage dropout rate from year to year, should properly be called a ‘Dropout Factory’.
b. Where is the money coming from? How will they afford new schools? Government should try harder at improving the delivery of education in existing schools. Forcing the middle class to share schools with the Favela class will spark a civil war much like what happened in America in the 1960s.
What are your thoughts
