Putting People First in Porto Maravilha
Gamboa | Saúde | Santo Cristo | Morro da Providência
Rio de Janeiro R/UDAT Report
QUALIFICATION The ideas represented in the following report are those of the collective design assistance team and its partner organizations, based on our observations of the community, the insights shared with us about the port area, and the aspirations for it. The process has informed our thoughts and this report represents our best professional recommendations in the public interest. We do not serve a client in this endeavor. The report, and the process that produced it, is a public service to the Rio de Janeiro community.
The ideas represented here represent four intensive days of work and the information available to us at the time of this writing. We do not expect this report to be followed as prescriptive advice. This work represents a beginning – we hope a new beginning – for the area. It should be understood as a tool to build upon and we expect the community will improvise and expand on these ideas and invent new takes on them to make it your own. The report serves as a tool to begin the necessary public work and we expect the ideas to evolve and change as you use it.
Table of Contents INTRODUCTION: THE R/UDAT PROGRAM
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CONTEXT
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-FRAMEWORK
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- PROJECT INTRODUCTION
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DESIGN
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-THE PRAÇA MAUÁ
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-THE RUA SACADURA CABRAL
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-THE INNOVATION DISTRICT
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-THE PROVIDÊNCIA CABLE CAR
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- SANTO CRISTO
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HERITAGE RESOURCES
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ECONOMY
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NEXT STEPS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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APPENDICES
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THE R/UDAT PROGRAM Systems Thinking. Successful community strategies require whole systems analyses and integrated strategies. As a result, each design assistance team includes an interdisciplinary focus and a systems approach to assessment and recommendations, incorporating and examining cross-cutting topics and relationships between issues. In order to accomplish this task, the Center forms teams that combine a range of disciplines and professions in an integrated assessment and design process.
The Regional and Urban Design Assistance Team (R/UDAT) program is a public service of the American Institute of Architects. The Rio R/UDAT represents the 158th R/UDAT project the AIA has held since 1967. The program has served a variety of communities over time, with populations ranging from less than 1,000 people to large jurisdictions of several hundred thousand. Through the program, over 1,000 professionals from more than 30 disciplines have provided millions of dollars in professional pro bono services to communities all over the United States and beyond, engaging tens of thousands of participants in community-driven planning processes. It has made major contributions to unique and authentic places in America, such as the Embarcadero in San Francisco, the Pearl District in Portland and the Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment in New Mexico. The process has also been widely adapted around the world.
“We aren’t going to rebuild our cities from the top down. We must rebuild them from the bottom up.”- David Lewis, FAIA
Community Engagement and Partnership. Community building requires collective public work. Each design assistance project is a public event, an act of democracy. The ‘citizen expert’ is central to the design assistance process. The AIA has a five decade tradition of designing community-driven processes that incorporate dozens of techniques to engage the public in a multi-faceted format and involve the community across sectors. This approach allows the national team to build on the substantial local expertise already present and available within the community and leverage the best existing knowledge available in formulating its recommendations. It also provides a platform for relationship building, partnership, and collaboration for implementation of the plan.
“Consultants work for somebody. R/UDAT works for everybody.” - Chuck Redmon, FAIA
THE DESIGN ASSISTANCE PHILOSOPHY The design assistance philosophy is built around a whole-systems approach to communities. While the normal public decision-making process is conducted within the parameters of representative government, design assistance transcends the political process and expands the public dialogue to include other sectors with the intent of building a platform for cross-sector collaboration, civic leadership, and a new approach to public work. The design assistance process brings together government and civic leaders, the business sector, non-profit leaders and the general public in an integrated, ‘whole-community dialogue’ to build collective action plans for the future. The Design Assistance program operates with four key considerations:
Public Interest. Successful communities work together for the common good, moving beyond narrow agendas to serve the whole. The goal of the design assistance team program is to provide communities with a framework for collective action. Consequently, each project team is constructed with the goal of bringing an objective perspective to the community that transcends the normal politics of community issues. Team members are deliberately selected from geographic regions outside of the host community, and national AIA teams are typically representative of a wide range of community settings. Team members all agree to serve pro bono, and do not engage in business development activity in association with their service. They do not serve a particular client. The team’s role is to listen and observe, and to provide an independent analysis and unencumbered technical advice that serves the public interest.
Context. Every community represents a unique place that is the product its own history, tradition and evolution. There are no one-size-fits-all approaches to community building. Therefore, each project is designed as a customized approach to community assistance which incorporates local realities and the unique challenges and assets of each community. National experts are matched by subject matter expertise and contextual experience to fit each project. Public processes are designed to fit local practices, experiences and culture.
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Context
THE PORTO MARAVILHA R/UDAT
the residents who already call it home with newcomers and visitors attracted to its advantageous location and cultural importance. There are cities all over the world engaged in similar work on former industrial waterfronts, reclaiming their relationship to the water and building new narratives for the future that leverage their important heritage and expand community. However, the port area of Rio maintains a uniquely valuable status when considering both its history and its contemporary life.
This R/UDAT process focused on the port district of Rio de Janeiro (Porto Maravilha) and its surrounding neighborhoods and areas, including Gamboa, Saúde, Santo Cristo, and Morro da Providência. The project area provides a particularly rich urban environment that is emblematic of many critical global dialogues about the future city, and it serves as a significant point of focus that may amplify thoughts about how we collectively address our future urban condition and solve this century’s key challenges. The context for this project is particularly important for the following reasons.
Rio’s Port Area: A Unique Place of Global Significance The port area provides a fitting urban setting for an international exposition on the future of the global city because it is a place of incredible significance. The port area boasts an extraordinary place narrative and collection of historic assets significant not only for the history of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, but in our collective global history. By all accounts, the district is home to an unparalleled wealth of cultural assets that are directly tied to the Carioca identity and central to Afro-Brazilian cultural conception and practice. Without a doubt, this is a place of global significance.
Rio as a World Capital of Architecture In June 2019, Rio de Janeiro earned a prestigious title and became the first city in the world to be designated a World Capital of Architecture by the Union of International Architects and UNESCO. As World Capital of Architecture 2020, Rio de Janeiro will play host to the Union of International Architects’ 27th World Congress of Architects in July 2020. The theme of the event is appropriate for our global urban context: “All worlds. One world only. Architecture 21.” The UIA has declared that the World Capital of Architecture is “intended to become an international forum for debates about pressing global challenges from the perspectives of culture, cultural heritage, urban planning and architecture.”
Rio as a Heritage Hub In preparing for its Olympic future, Rio uncovered its past. The re-discovery of Valongo Wharf marked a signature turning point in reclaiming the historic legacy of place for the local district and the city. UNESCO’s description of the Valongo Wharf archeological site leaves no doubt about its value. As UNESCO declares, “Valongo Wharf is the most important physical evidence associated with the historic arrival of enslaved Africans on the American continent. It is a site of conscience, which illustrates strong and tangible associations to one of the most terrible crimes of humanity, the enslavement of hundreds of thousands of people creating the largest forced migration movement in history.” Up to 900,000 Africans arrived in South America via Valongo, marking it as the largest entry point for slaves into the Americas. The nearby New Blacks Cemetery represents another incredible piece of heritage. It is the place where up to 30,000 enslaved men and women were buried. The New Blacks Cemetery is reportedly the largest slave cemetery in the Americas. In addition, the presence of Pedra da Sul represents a remarkable asset as a literal cornerstone of the country’s society and the birthplace of Brazil’s most famous cultural expression, the samba. It is also the birthplace of Brazilian democracy and the many significant Afro-Brazilian religious and cultural expressions through the development and evolution of Little Africa and the communities that evolved here. While the port area is a hub for many new cultural facilities, these historic treasures represent extraordinary and sacred components of Rio that provide profound representations of place, culture, history and people. In many ways, they provide physical representation to the very soul of Rio and tangible expression of what it means to be Carioca. All of the great celebrated communities of the world provide authentic experiences of cultural value to residents and visitors alike, and these and other historic assets in the port area provide contributing cultural elements that create a unique place of great interest to the community and to the world at large. To walk this area is to interact with and experience the city’s cultural DNA up close and to understand its history and evolution. The opportunity
The UNESCO designation and UIA Congress provide the city with an incredible opportunity to engage with its citizens and the global design community in building upon preceding work and carry forward a 21st century vision of place to the world. As a part of its year-long activities leading up to the Congress, the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB) and Council of Architecture and Urbanism in Brazil (CAU/BR) have partnered with the American Institute of Architects and multiple universities in Brazil and the United States to bring a design assistance team process to Rio. The World Congress of Architecture provides an important moment to assess Rio’s development and its future and take advantage of the many important planning initiatives completed and underway in the port area to build momentum for positive change.
Rio in Global Urban Context Today, the urban experience and its challenges transcend global geographies. Over half the world’s citizens are now residents of urban areas. As Brazil’s second largest city, Rio holds an important global place as one of approximately 50 megacities worldwide and boasts a 2018 population of approximately 13.3 million. Furthermore, with a projected urban population of 14.4 million in 2030, Rio’s status as a global megacity and its growth rate put it at the center of any discussion about our urban future. From within these general outlines of the city of Rio de Janeiro, the port holds a critical place in the future urban growth of the city. The port represents a former industrial waterfront area with the potential to experience transformation into a vibrant urban neighborhood connected to the downtown and water. It has the potential to integrate 6
on urban poverty, security, economic mobility and housing that often dominate considerations of the community. The presence of the community for over 120 years destroys any myths about informal settlements as temporary, something that the field of urban development has come to acknowledge in recent years. In the global context, Morro da Providência is important because it is a mature favela community in a world that may be defined this century by the growth of informal settlements in urban areas. As Rio’s Strategic Plan pointed out, the growth of favelas can be attributed to “a historical absence of policies and financing of low-income housing” and a lack of political will to resolve issues such as “land regularization and social and productive integration from the favela to the city.” These are issues that most major global cities are struggling to deal with and that newly emerging megacities in Africa and Asia will have particular interest in as comparative cases. The need to engage and involve the residents of all neighborhoods more directly in the work of transformation is also a priority consistent with other global cities. Rose Molokoane, the South Africa Coordinator of Slum Dwellers International captured the sentiments of residents of informal settlements regarding sustainable development during the UN HABITAT III process. As she said, “Nothing for us without us….We want to know more about the governance of the cities, because we want to be part of how cities are governed.” This global mantra should be a call to action everywhere, including in Rio. It is clear that the economic and social investment strategies in the area need to match investments in the built environment and need to be integrated more fully into the cultural fabric of the place. To do so, all residents across the neighborhoods must be brought more fully into the process. However, if that is achieved Rio will have created the potential to become a place that is celebrated worldwide. The biggest opportunity facing the area could be the potential to tap into its most vital resource: it’s people. The central goal of the public work moving forward should seek to usher in an urban transformation that integrates the most disadvantaged communities in the city with middle class and wealthy residents, business people and tourists in an integrated, mixed use, vibrant and livable neighborhood that serves all. The entire community should be involved in this endeavor through robust community involvement processes and projects.
to create value by leveraging these treasures to amplify the Carioca identity as new development embraces and complements it is simply incredible. It can provide a clear and inescapable message about who the citizens of Rio are as a people and who the city is as a place. It can also become one of the most significant places for historical and cultural interpretation in the world.
The Port Area’s Role in the Olympic Legacy As one of 29 cities to play host to the Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro belongs to a fraternity of communities who have sought to use the games as a platform for transformational investment through its Olympic Legacy. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) declares that, “Olympic legacy is the result of a vision. It encompasses all the tangible and intangible long-term benefits initiated or accelerated by the hosting of the Olympic Games/sport events for people, cities/territories and the Olympic Movement.” However, the IOC also acknowledges that ”the perception of the legacy of the Olympic Games remains challenging,” and the experience of host cities remains mixed. Brazil offers some important contributions to that learning process through its own experience with Porto Maravilha and its surrounding neighborhoods and industrial areas. The former port zone received a huge sum of resources in the lead up to the Olympics. A total of approximately $6 billion went into the Porto Marivilha plan for an urban transformation. The first revitalization phase focused on modernizing infrastructure such as sewage, drinking-water access, telecommunications and street lighting. The plan included provision for 15,000 new trees to be planted. Social housing and new educational endeavors were planned to re-populate the area and create a complete neighborhood with 24/7 vitality. The Porto Marivilha plan had a stated goal “to increase the current population of 28 thousand residents to 100 thousand in 2020.” Since the economic decline, much of the planned work on housing and new development remains. However, major investments that were made in the area have set the stage to plan for a great future. Other communities have faced similar challenges in pursuing their Olympic Legacy. For instance, a discussion was held earlier this year at an American planning conference that featured several former Olympic cities. Atlanta, the host of the 1996 Olympics, continues to work on its plans for social housing over two decades later. Rio’s experience and continued progress on its Olympic Legacy will have continued importance to global discussions as well. Some of the major infrastructure investments in the port area will continue to influence new development, and the city has an opportunity to guide that new development towards its aspirations for the neighborhood in important ways moving forward.
FROM GLOBAL CONTEXT TO LOCAL VISION The preceding global contextual framework begins to define the important role that the port area will play for the city in larger terms that demonstrates it is relatable to urban communities worldwide. What is determined in Rio de Janeiro can have an impact that goes far beyond the city limits.
Existing Opportunities & Challenges in Porto Maravilha Porto Maravilha is undergoing a massive redevelopment. The redevelopment work, begun in 2009, has already been transformational to a large swath of the city, especially in the neighborhoods (Bairros) of Gamboa, Saúde, Santo Cristo, and, to a much lesser extent, the favela of Morro da Providência.
The Community as An Asset The people are the city. In the port area, the evolution of community is an important element that also relates to global discussions about cities and the major urban challenges of this century. The development and evolution of Morro da Providência, the first favela in the city, gives it unique significance beyond the immediate focus
The Institute of Architects of Brazil- Rio de Janeiro (IAB-RJ), with support from the 7
for future private and public-private investment, and developed marquee projects that take their place on the global stage. Redevelopment has created new financial value and new wealth, and is a major contributor to Rio’s tax base. Redevelopment’s benefits to local community economic development and to the local community, however, are far more nuanced and are still a work in progress.
municipality of Rio de Janeiro, invited the American Institute of Architects to hold a Regional/Urban Design Assessment Team to engage Brazilian architects and architectural students and recommend design principles and next steps in this transformation. The Porto Maravilha redevelopment was financed both with substantial public investments, heavily enabled by the sale of entitled air rights, and private investments. It has created new anchors for visitors and for economic investment, planted the seed
The redevelopment has already created strong nodes, including the Museum of Tomorrow (Museu do Amanhã), Rio Art Museum (Museu de Arte do Rio), Aquarium
We need to look at all of Central Rio (Centro) to address Porto Maravilha opportunities. 8
Redevelopment, economic development, and the growth of Rio as a world city can be totally compatible with putting Rio’s residents first, improving economic and social equity, breaking the cycle of life-ruining poverty, and becoming a more sustainable city. Rio de Janeiro was the launching place of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992) and the Rio+20 (2012), which helped build the international framework for sustainable development that meets the needs of residents. It is only fitting that the next phases of redevelopment in Rio build on these principles.
Marine of Rio de Janeiro (AquaRio), and the restoration of the Valongo Wharf, a World Heritage Site of what was once the world’s largest slave landing and trading site. It has also created exciting transportation corridors, including the undergrounding of two miles of highways, the development of the VLT light rail (VLT Carioca), and an urban greenway parallel to the waterfront. While the initial redevelopment plan includes major benefits for new housing and improvements to existing neighborhoods, that work is still in its infancy. Current conditions include considerable voids and dead spots in the urban fabric. With redevelopment successfully creating new jobs but relatively little housing it has exacerbated the gap between jobs and housing.
Key Neighborhood Issues Gamboa, Saúde, Santo Cristo, Morro da Providência, and Porto Maravilha exist in the context of greater Rio de Janeiro, transportation systems and travel patterns, resident, worker, and visitor needs, and geographic features.
Redevelopment has already visibly improved the quality of the waterfront. This includes the highway undergrounding and light rail, other underground infrastructure, above ground street furniture, lighting, trees, plazas, playgrounds, dozens of new and rehabilitated commercial buildings, and various improvements to the attractiveness of the waterfront to local and out-of-town visitors and tourists, investment, and safety.
A few important overall context issues stand out:
Redevelopment has not, to date, dramatically reduced the challenges of wasted human capital, broken lives, and high crime rates in the nearby favelas, which scares away visitors and discourages some investments. The challenge of getting redevelopment to address entrenched and structural poverty, of course, is by no means unique to Rio or Brazil. Whether redevelopment has even made significant progress in those issues, beyond localized safety improvements and visitor attractions directly on the waterfront, is less clear. Social housing efforts (Plano de Habitação de Interesse Social do Porto Marvilha) have been very limited with significant failures. The Providência cable car was built, but then shut down, isolating Providência residents from the family health clinic in the Gamboa Cable Car station. The stated goals in the Urban Operation Porto Maravilha (Operação Urbana Porto Maravilha, 2009) included: •
Promoting fairness in social facilities to promote social interest housing and the needs of residents.
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Generating employment opportunities for residents within the district and surrounding areas.
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Because of a lack of housing near to workplaces, most workers have long commutes, often by car.
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Pedestrian travel faces various geographic, social, security and engineering obstacles.
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In spite of their proximity, the favelas are isolated and access is difficult.
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Rio de Janeiro crime, especially murder, and traffic fatalities, are both exceptionally high, cause premature deaths, and discourage visitors.
Central Rio (Centro) is a daylight city, rich in jobs and economic activity and vibrant during the business day but eerily vacant at nights and weekends. The lack of housing and after-hours activities and the less than ideal walking conditions makes it unsafe, and further inhibits housing and other development that could transform this area and make it attractive to visitors. As a result, much of Central Rio and Saúde are perceived as being distant from each other, reducing the cross pollination that can happen when the destinations are more walkable and Central Rio works want to live and play in Saúde. Pedestrian traffic, footfall, is the lifeblood of retail and restaurants. Building that traffic is an inexpensive community economic development strategy. The most effective way to attract market-rate housing to Central Rio and the Porto Maravilha region, without subsidies and code incentive, is to improve the quality of the area to better attract housing pioneers, who will help change the market. This includes improving the pedestrian connections to and shortening the pedestrian walking time between Central Rio and Saúde and within Porto Maravilha. Some small steps to advance that effort include:
Ensuring transparency in the decision-making process, with fair and equitable representation from civil society.
This is especially relevant because Rio de Janeiro strives to be, and in some ways is, a world class city. World class cities, however, generally have lower crime rates and greater opportunities for upward mobility. 9
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Make lighter, cheaper, quicker interventions. Implement low cost and fast interventions, such as better wayfinding, street painting, and other measures to improve the living environment.
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Adjust traffic signals cycles to shorten pedestrian wait times. Traffic signal timing in much of Central Rio are timed completely around the throughput of cars during the morning and evening rush hour, with extremely long green signal phases.
As a result, pedestrian waits are so long that pedestrians are more likely to make unsafe crossing decisions and to walk significantly shorter distance. (Central Rio traffic signal cycles are often around 2 minutes and 20 seconds, approximately twice the length of very walkable cities, such as many of the signals in Manhattan, New York City.) Even on smaller streets in Saúde (e.g., Rua Sacadura Cabral/Rua Edgard Gordilho), with far less traffic, signal cycles are still 2 minutes long, an eternity for a pedestrian waiting to cross.
The transit system weaves the city together, but leaves gaps for some users. Land uses are heavily segregated, increasing travel costs and leaving many areas inactivated, and unsafe at certain times. 10
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Pay attention to desire lines. Take note of how people want to travel regardless of what the rules are, and adjust the rules to address demand instead of adjusting people to meet the rules. One-way streets, for example, are often designed for greater car passage throughput, but that makes it much harder for local traffic, so bicycles, motorcycles, and street carts often ignore the restrictions. When traffic conditions allow, it may be better to convert streets to two-way streets or add contra-flow bicycle and street cart lanes.
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Track fatal vehicle crashes. Focus particular attention on those that cause pedestrian deaths, and identify repeat locations to consider simple interventions that will reduce the death rate and increase pedestrian comfort levels.
Paint and planter boxes can be used to inexpensively test the opportunity for a sidewalk curb extension that reclaims unneeded street asphalt, expands walking areas, and reduces road crossing distance.
Building a Sustainable Community Rio de Janeiro can build on the success of the Porto Maravilha redevelopment to create a more resilient and sustainable economy, strengthen residents, the city, the state, and the nation. Some of those concepts, developed in far more detail in the report, are: •
Tap the human capital of the favelas. This can meet labor needs, lower transportation costs, and reduce the negative consequences and crime from unfilled potential.
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Encourage new housing for all income levels throughout Porto Maravilha and explore new live/work housing models. These actions fulfill human needs, labor needs, reduces commute resources, and activates streets, making them safer. They will also address Rio de Janeiro’s jobs/housing imbalance, reducing the need for long commutes that consume expensive transportation resources (money and time).
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Use heritage buildings to catalyze human sustainable development, rescuing heritage buildings, animating the urban environment, and stimulating the local economy.
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Develop a heritage trail to unite the city with a shared history for residents and tourists, and in doing so stimulate community economic development.
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Build a more entrepreneurial economy for the 21st Century. Brazil has a dynamic economy but is less entrepreneurial than many of its peers. As a result, it is leaving value creation opportunities on the table.
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Build economic resilience for all populations and for the economy in general.
Sidewalk activations can be tested to make them more attractive and accessible to all. Some such “temporary” projects can be kept in place indefinitely.
Such lighter, quicker, cheaper interventions are activating streets and increasing pedestrian movements all over the world (e.g., Jersey City, Chur, and Denver). 11
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Develop stronger collaborations, partnerships, and stakeholder engagement.
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Celebrate that paint and other simple interventions are cheap to create very low-cost tactical urbanism interventions that can create immediate and visible improvements and build trust.
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Disseminate and advance these recommendations. The Institute of Architects of Brazil- Rio de Janeiro (IAB-RJ), with its members and its partners, should build collaborations to move the plan forward and implement demonstration projects, in advance of the 2020 World Conference of Architects in Rio (UIA 2020).
Design Principles for a Sustainable Porto Maravilha Building both on the Urban Operation Porto Maravilha (Operação Urbana Porto Maravilha) and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the AIA R/ UDAT identified eight design principles that can help strengthen redevelopment benefits and that informed our recommendations. First, Put People First. All public policy actions should always consider people first, not to the exclusion of other goals but as part of any program. A core principle of sustainability is that the poor get their fair share of resources for sustainable development. Social equity should be a lens for evaluating projects and community benefits.
Morro da Providência is adjacent to the port redevelopment, yet it gets almost none of the benefits.
The Put People First social equity design principle includes four critical key concepts: •
Distributional equity: Make sure that the poor get their fair share of the resources. This aspect of equity that gets the most attention, but the other aspects of equity are equally critical.
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Structural equity: Address the cycle of poverty and vulnerability that comes to historically disadvantaged populations and their children. Without addressing structural issues, resources will be wasted and efforts at distributional equity will fall short.
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Procedural equity: Meaningfully engage affected populations in problem identification and decision making. Getting involvement from traditionally underserved and unempowered populations is difficult, and almost always at least partially neglected. Going to those populations, instead of expecting them to come to us, identifying, empowering, and cooperating with leaders that already exist in the community, and rewarding participation are all critical to success.
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Intergenerational equity: Ensure that future generations have opportunities that are not squandered by current generations.
The non-operational cable car to Morro da Providência has made connections much more difficult, especially for those with mobility challenges trying to access health and other services. 12
For example, in spite of its adjacency to the redevelopment, Morro da Providência, the favela that looks down on the redevelopment, has had very little gains from the port redevelopment, either in terms of jobs, job training, economic activity, housing and social services, or direct investment. Technically part of the Gamboa neighborhood, Providência is isolated socially and functionally from Gamboa and other neighborhoods, especially with the aerial cable car out of operation.
highest causes of premature deaths in Brazil. Improving connections should include an effort to reduce traffic fatalities. A focus on connections, for example, can include breathing life back into the aerial cable car that served Morro da Providência and focusing on fixing simple gaps that impede pedestrian travel flow. Third, Be Transformative. Early port redevelopment has been transformative, but relied on massive scale projects and budgets. These steps were critical to begin the redevelopment process. The next step in the redevelopment of Porto Maravilha should not be massive projects but a series of smaller strategically linked projects, filling more of the gaps in the urban fabric and serving more populations.
Second, Focus on Connections. Transportation uses up financial, time, and environmental resources. Connecting nodes is critical. The highway undergrounding and VLT Light Rail are dramatic steps. Smaller scale projects can fill the remaining major gaps. Residential areas, tourist and visitor areas, and job centers tend to be separated from each other, creating more and expensive transportation needs and, in the off-hours, dead spots in the urban fabric. Healthier connections can partially address those dead spots.
The most critical need, the actions that will lead to deep transformation, for Porto Maravilha and Rio de Janeiro, is more housing and a better balance of housing, jobs, and economic activity. Housing will reduce the need for long commutes into Rio de Janeiro, add life on the street that reduces crime, and help break the cycle of poverty and crime for those stuck in sub-standard favela housing, with their accompanying poor sanitation (especially water, sewer, and stormwater). Today, however, only a minuscule percentage of new city and regional housing is being built near the center of the city or in Port Maravilha, where jobs and housing are most imbalanced.
Rio de Janeiro and Brazil’s murder rates get local and international press, yet nationwide, fatality rates from traffic related crashes (especially for motorcycles and pedestrians) are close to the murder rates. Nationwide, both are in the neighborhood of 25 deaths per 100,000, with a long-term trend of traffic deaths trending down and murder rates trending up (Souza et. al. 2018). Both are exceedingly high and the
In a city with isolated uses, live, work, and play are distinct activities in different places. As a city moves towards greater balance of the land use activities, be it in the same building or the same neighborhood, different uses complement each other, building the synergies and interactions that make cities efficient and interesting.
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10-HOUR CITY
24-HOUR CITY
In a city with isolated uses, commute time increases, adding to the public cost of roads and transit, the private financial and time cost of travel, the need for more land for transportation, and the environmental damage from travel.
Adding housing to places where people work dramatically reduces commuter trip, saving on public and private transportation resources, reducing pollution and wasted resources, making streets safer, and creating a more sustainable future.
Fourth, Include Small Gestures. Transformative projects are exciting because they can change the entire paradigm of how an area operates. Hosever, these projects, almost by definition, can take a long time and sometimes wait for resource allocation. Little small gestures, be it tactical urbanism projects that can take place within a few months, or other small interventions can create immediate benefits, build trust and create momentum towards and support for larger projects. Fifth, Serving City Residents’ Needs Serves Tourists and Visitors’ Needs. Projects that serve residents are the most cost-effective way to make Rio a more desirable, connected, and safe place to visit. Whether it is making a street more walkable, improving the job training for those in need, or celebrating local culture, being a world city isn’t only about having the best museums and spectacular buildings but also about being a livable place. Sixth, Activate Streets. Expanding life on the street, filling gaps in the urban fabric, opening and activating facades to enhance foot-traffic, and addressing failed urban spaces expands the opportunity for people to travel on foot, the least resource-intensive way to travel, spend money locally, and make the city a great place. A city, at least a great city, is a continuous organism, not a collection of isolated features.
Paying attention to how people use, or misuse, public areas, desire lines or design paths, can help identify easy interventions that serve community needs. 14
Seventh, Celebrate Heritage. Heritage and cultural resources build an authenticity that residents and visitors alike crave. Community members take pride in their own culture and city cultural resources are often great generators of local employment with larger economic multiplies than many other sectors. Visitors, at least those who have a choice as to what cities they can travel to, want a unique experience and many make their travel decisions based on heritage resources. Heritage resources can connect different parts of the city together with a compelling story. Heritage resources include the Afro-Brazilian resources that the municipality is working on improving and linking, including the Valongo Wharf, heritage buildings that are in varying states of repair and disrepair, and other resources, such as the homes and workplaces of important Brazilians and the art work of current residents, that can bring heritage alive to residents and visitors alike. Finally, Make the Business Case for All of These Actions. Some investments attract international donor community and private investor investments and broaden the resources available to the community. The next step of redevelopment, community economic development, should build on those investments to improve value creation and convert wasted human capital to productive citizens. Such investments provide jobs and resources, which is the best way to reduce crime, and make the city more walkable, which is the best way to reduce traffic deaths. In a city whose biggest challenge to attracting additional visitors is probably its reputation as a high crime city, creating job training, resources, and jobs for those at greatest risk of being into a life of crime is the most cost-effective way to attract additional investors.
In a city with separated uses, there are long periods where there is little street life, dead times when crime is more likely and economic activity is held back.
The costs of inaction, the opportunity costs, are just as critical and just as expensive as that of direct expenditures. These costs should be incorporated into any economic analysis of future investments and policy actions.
In a healthy city, different uses complement each other (housing, jobs, tourism) so that there is always life on the street and eyes on the street, making the street safer and more desirable for all uses. Adding the missing elements will extend the time streets are active. 15
Design
Within this study area, our conceptual planning and design approach focused on three target populations and five principal geographic districts. The three populations we identified were people visiting Rio de Janeiro as tourists, people working within the study area, and permanent residents. Although distinctly different, we acknowledge that these populations have much in common – primarily the need for a well-designed public realm and a beneficial urban environment.
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The Rua Sacadura Cabral, a historic route that traces the line of the City’s original coast and – as it intersects the Avenue Barão de Tefé near Valongo Wharf – creates what we considered a node of primary significance for our work.
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The former industrial zone (what we are referring to as an “innovation district”) between Avenue Venezuela and the waterfront.
The five principal geographic areas we chose to study were:
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An area of the City in Gamboa at the base of the cable car that connects to Morro da Providência.
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A portion of the district of Santo Cristo along the Rua da América.
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The Praça Mauá, the starting-point for many visitors to the City.
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This narrative will describe the improvements to the City we imagine and the benefits we believe these improvements could return to each of the three populations.
The Praça Mauá
The Rua Sacadura Cabral
As a great deal of planning and new construction has recently occurred in the Praça Mauá, our recommendations for this district were minimal: •
The historic importance of the Rua Sacadura Cabral should be evident from the Praça Mauá itself. Significant wayfinding signage and a visitors’ center should draw visitors to this street.
While the Rio Museum of Art, the Museum of the Future, and the Cruise Ship Docks bring tourists into the Praça Mauá, “Heritage Tourism” begins on the Rua Sacadura Cabral. The significance of the many beautiful historic buildings and spaces along this street have the potential to bring tourists into the central part of the study area, provided that buildings and storefronts are well-maintained, tenanted, and active, and the street does not convey the appearance of being an unsafe area.
The feasibility of adaptively reusing the Building Joseph Gire, also known as the “Edificio NOITE”, the first skyscraper in Rio de Janeiro, as a luxury hotel should be studied.
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Opportunities to improve the “reading” of the Rua Sacadura Cabral include: •
Renovations to the buildings in the Praça Manuel Antônio around the statue of Mercedes Baptista. Building on the empty lots across the street from this potentially delightful plaza would further enhance the urban environment.
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Two-and-three-story buildings could be acquired and renovated together as short-term housing for travelers. Family members of people under extended care at the nearby National Hospital would be a market for such residential conversions. Our sketch also shows how contemporary design can be compatible with and integrated into a historic context. When possible, concentrate redevelopment of several adjacent properties so that there is highly visible evidence of reinvestment.
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Providing a point of orientation for people seeking to learn about Rio de Janeiro’s history in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. A new pavilion to orient tourists to the many nearby Afro-Brazilian historic sites including Valongo Wharf and the planned Museu da Historica e da Cultura Afro-Basiliera could be built in the open paved plaza between the Rua Sacadura Cabral and Valongo Wharf. A small multi-level structure (as illustrated on the next page) would serve as a place to gain knowledge and brochures about the nearby sites, sit in the shade and read informational graphics, or move to a higher-level observation deck. An observation deck as pictured would give visitors a clear view into Valongo Wharf as well as a view to the Hanging Gardens and the Morro da Providência.
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The significance of this intersection cannot be overstated. It is one of the most likely nodes of interaction between all three target populations. Very near to both the foot of Providência hill and many potential jobs in the “innovation district”, it could also be a primary destination for heritage tourism. As such, the level of amenity in this plaza and the design quality of the surrounding building stock must be a high priority. The Rua Sacadura Cabral essentially terminates in the Parque cal Assati, where wayfinding signage should direct people to the waterfront. The park itself could be improved, and we speculate that the ornate building currently used as a police station could be repurposed as a hotel.
The Innovation District The former industrial wharf buildings and their sites between the Avenue Venezuela and the water’s edge provide the best opportunity to realize what we understand the City’s goals to be. The sites are large and regularly shaped, the buildings unregulated and largely unused, and the new VLT light rail transit line makes this district very accessible. Although commercial and governmental port operations present significant barriers to general public access to the coast in the study area, we understand Rio’s cultural connection to its urban beaches and shoreline creates its own imperative. Within this district, we propose:
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Making spatial and social connections real. We identify opportunities to create view and access corridors through this district to the sea, and we are proposing business and commercial uses that would serve the needs of all three target populations.
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Making the “24 hour city” real. We are proposing mixed-use development for this district to combines affordable housing, live/work spaces, and “incubator” space for start-up businesses to supplement the restaurants and nightlife that are already emerging. The co-location of residences, businesses, and spaces for social engagement and interaction is what most characterizes a dynamic 21st-century urban environment.
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Demonstrating sustainable design. If truly affordable housing can be created to ease housing pressure on Rio’s neighborhoods, if buildings or structures that already exist can be adaptively reused, and if local businesses can keep capital formation within the community, real triple-bottom-line sustainability can be achieved.
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Demonstrating innovation in housing typology. One of our drawings shows a “micro-hotel” with very small and affordable rooms for people who work in the district but live vary far away. Shipping containers might also be used effectively to meet the need for low cost residential construction.
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Preserving contemporary expressions of culture. Our proposal to preserve the entire façade of the parking garage that has become the iconic “Kobra” mural
demonstrates this idea. While we propose turning the ground level into the City’s largest farmers’ market, the balance of the structure can be adaptively reused for almost infinite programs. The illustration shows modular affordable housing with the implication that live/work, start-up “incubator” spaces, or social service functions could also be present. •
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Additional sites have been identified for the development of mixed-use program, focused on live-work-play spaces that support an “innovation” ecosystem. Providing spaces that support the sharing of resources and skills, entrepreneurs will gain efficiencies and increasing the probabilities of a successful business launch. In turn, this concentration of new goods and services will serve as a draw for other populations and stimulate investment in other projects in the area.
Phase I - Entrepreneurs could be incentivized by the provision of live/work spaces at low-cost while receiving business training and support.
Phase III – Businesses that demonstrate success in Phases I and II could receive incentives for restoring or developing local properties for permanent live/work or office space.
Phase II – Entrepreneurs could have access to spaces for “pop-up” sites for business prototyping – testing products/services, building a customer base, etc.
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Consider converting the historic warehouse that is on axis with the Valongo Wharf into a use that will be open to the public for recreation and community building. This will help enliven this portion of your waterfront and will allow more people to experience these beautiful buildings. Our sketch shows the warehouse becoming a community swim pavilion with adjacent cafes, meeting rooms and social spaces.
founding of Rio and her history. The floating pool is created with an air-filled pontoon so that it can be retracted when the path must be cleared for cruise ships. We have also found that when people have a more direct experience with their waterways/ water ecologies that they develop a stronger connection and passion about the quality and health of these important systems.
Open several bays of the flanking façade with glass roll-up doors to create a visual connection to the Bay and to extend the psychological and visual axis that connects people to the water. Landscape the water’s edge to make it feel more public and welcoming. This study suggests a “floating pool” that extends into the Bay allowing people a clean and safe way to be immersed in the waters that are so embedded in the
Other proposals that increase public access to the waterfront include a pier at the end of R. Souza e Silva that can pivot back to the sea wall when cruise boats dock and a water ferry docking station to the east of Museu du Amanha. This ferry would go to the airport.
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Innovation District Precedents Practice Space- Detroit, MI
Market Hall MVRDV- Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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Reformed autobody shop now home to incubator space.
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Use of private development to create a vibrant public space.
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Offers 4-month residency program for entrepreneurs with support in business and design development.
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24-hour program that includes market by day, restaurants by night, and permanent residents.
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Space includes café, lounge, library, workstations, project rooms, meeting/ presentation space, and a flexible outdoor event space.
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228 apartments, 1,200 parking spaces, 96 food stalls, 20 retail stores/restaurants/ cafes, a supermarket for daily shopping, and a food education center.
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Many incubating business plan to refurbish other vacant properties around Detroit.
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The Providência Cable Car We have previously stated that the needs of tourists and working people in this district cannot be adequately served unless the needs of the residents of the Morro da Providência and Morro do Pinto are served as well. This imperative is at the heart of “social sustainability: – that is – the mandate that all members of a society have equitable access to the benefits of a society. The spatial and topographical constraints and the limitations of the infrastructure of the Morro da Providência were too complex for this team to propose solutions within the boundaries of the hill itself. Alternatively, we propose the City look just outside the neighborhood to provide the following: •
The cable car must be returned to functionality. Virtually all the challenges faced by this community are more easily solved if this means of access is restored.
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Several of the older unused buildings around the base of the cable car in Gamboa should be adaptively reused for the human service or cultural functions that this neighborhood sorely needs. After-school day care, youth activity centers, job and literacy training facilities, or medical clinics could be created here. New low-rise affordable housing within existing building shells should be studied as well. One of the proposals in our illustration shows a multi-use performance space that could also serve as a community meeting facility.
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Renovated or re-built markets around the Church of Santo Cristo dos Milagres.
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A block of existing housing that could be renovated and/or augmented with new infill construction.
Santo Cristo Our perspective sketch illustrates the following:
In all of our study area, this neighborhood appears to have the greatest potential for development that would meet the needs of the district’s resident population. A short walk from the cable car base and well-served by vehicular routes and public transportation, the empty sites and abandoned buildings on Rua da América northwest of the Praça Santo Cristo are ripe for redevelopment. In addition, bringing world-class contemporary architecture to this – and other – urban neighborhoods would demonstrate that the transformative power of design excellence should not be restricted to projects like landmark museums and opera houses.
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The recently-opened Ibis hotel.
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Three sites for new mid-rise affordable and mixed-income multifamily housing.
Housing Precedent
David Baker Architects, San Francisco, CA, USA (https://www.dbarchitect. com/projects_featured/2/Affordable.html)
Michael Maltzan, Star Apartments- Los Angeles, CA, USA Model for mixed housing and social support services for at-risk populations (formerly homeless).
Bayview Hill Gardens •
Community garden anchors the project.
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Includes health clinic, wellness program spaces, social services.
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73 units for at-risk families and youth.
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Modular construction for 102 Units.
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Brady Block, Market Street
See also: New Carver Apartments, Crest Apartments
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600 affordable housing units.
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New offices for a local trade union.
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Public realm and streetscape improvements.
Studiomatic •
Micro-units mixed-use project.
Bayview Hill Gardens
Brady Block 31
Studiomatic
Heritage Resources
HERITAGE Porto Maravilha is an area of tremendous heritage potential featuring an array of historic and cultural sites. Some are landmarked at international and national levels, while a large number is protected at state and local levels. These sites fall within protected Historic Districts that encompass most of the Porto Maravilha's footprint. However, many of the waterfront warehouses are not protected or landmarked. The historic period and architectural styles vary within the scope area. Most belong to the style of architecture known as Eclecticism which flourished in Rio de Janeiro between the end of the 19th Century and early 20th Century, in addition to the industrial and warehouses built due to port activities. The cultural value of the site can be appreciated at a material and immaterial level and it represents the cultural wealth and the history of different ethnicities that form Brazilian identity and memory.
The R/UDAT preservation approach to this heritage rich area is two-fold: •
To harness the power of heritage through focused rehabilitation, restoration and adaptive re-use interventions that can serve as catalysts for sustainable economic, architectural, social and urban transformation;
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To weave and reinforce a unified identity narrative through the experience of heritage trails that can provide economic and educational benefits for the local community and visitors alike.
Heritage as a Catalyst for Sustainable Development Through the series of economic incentives and strategies outlined in this report (refer to the “Economy” section begining on page 42 of this report), and partnerships with local institutions, the historic properties can be rehabilitated, restored and adapted to house a number of programmatic functions that can meet the needs of the local residents, future residents, commuters, and visitors from Rio and beyond. The variety of building typologies seen in this area facilitates the use of building to an array of functions that can be accommodated in large, double or triple height open span spaces to more self-contained spaces such as the terrace houses (sobrados). The concept of mixed-use in the site's protected historic and non-historic properties, with a focus on social 33
housing, and its respective supporting programs, is essential to provide an effective and sustainable revitalization of the site, ensuring that the city remains alive and safe, inhabited, enjoyable and inviting at all hours of the day and all days of the week. The focus of the heritage proposals is to complement the substantial large-scale improvements made to Porto Maravilha. Proposals which promote smaller, fine-grained interventions, that by infilling the urban fabric with rehabilitation and adaptive re-use projects of smaller scale and wider social breadth, heritage initiatives will reveal their full potential to reinforce and unify the character of the neighborhood, to support the local economy, to respond to the needs of the local community and to bring to life the interstitial urban spaces between the larger pre-established attractions recently built in the port. Based on the demographic characterization provided to our team in the "Diagnosis" document prepared by the Pereira Passos Institute, review of extensive literature on the site, presentations by local architects and by representatives of the Municipality, and based on direct conversations with local stakeholders of the community of Providência Hill, it became clear to the R/UDAT team that key selected historic buildings of larger footprints would best serve the revitalization efforts and community needs if inhabited by social programmatic functions such as housing and services. This can be achieved through partnerships with pre-existing and long-standing local institutions such as SESC*, SENAC**, SENAI***, SEBRAE**** among others, being further supported by local Brazilian Philanthropic Foundations. * SESC - (Social Service of Commerce) is a Brazilian private institution, maintained by the entrepreneurs in the commerce of goods and services and tourism, acting at national level, whose primary focus is the social well-being of its employees and families, but open to the general public. It acts in the fields of education, health, leisure and social assistance. **SENAC- (National Service of Commercial Learning) Senac is the main agent of professional education focused on the Trade of Goods, Services and Tourism in Brazil. *** SENAI (Social Service of Industries) is a Brazilian state managed network of institutions acting at national level. It was created in 1946 to promote social well-being, cultural development and improvements to the quality of life of the industrial workers, of their families and of the community in which they are inserted. SENAI has 744 operational units in all states of the Union, which offer more than 1,800 courses. SENAI is part of an integrated social action system which was founded by industry and political leaders in the 1950s, under the leadership of Euvaldo Lodi, which includes SESI (Social Service for Industry), and the Instituto Euvaldo Lodi. ****SEBRAE (Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas) is a Brazilian autonomous social institution whose aim is to foster the development of micro and small enterprises, stimulating entrepreneurship in the country.
As an example of this concept, the AIA R/UDAT team selected historic sites of larger footprints in the immediacies of the Samba City cable car stop as heritage revitalization anchors: •
The warehouses currently serving as storage for the archaeological artifacts found in the Valongo Wharf excavation could be re-purposed to house an educational program for children from kindergarten to high-school, a library, and a daycare center. The proximity to both the cable car Samba City station and to the recreational infrastructure built for the Olympic Games, which is intensely used by the community, makes this a prime location to foster the education, recreation and well-being of children in the area, many of which come from under-served areas of town and are currently vulnerable and in great need of guidance, mentoring and support (many times not available at home). Given the current initiatives of the municipality to create the MuHCAB - Museum of Afro-Brazilian Culture and History in the former Docas D. Pedro II building immediately across the Valongo Wharf, it would be appropriate to have the storage and conservation of the archaeological remains removed from the site to the new Museum. This approach of keeping the findings as close as possible to the site where they were collected is in line with international charters of heritage conservation.
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The Trapiche building in Santo Cristo is a structure whose scale and likely wide spans allows for the implementation of a farmers market. The interior of the market could be designed to potentially house fresh produce on the ground floor and food stalls on a new mezzanine level, fulfilling the demand for produce from residents and visitors, and offering jobs to the local community working in the vegetable and food stalls. Perhaps the market can be managed by a Co-Operative of residents. The creation of an anchor activity in this area, in the immediacies of the Santo Cristo Church, is highly recommended in order to increase pedestrian traffic to and through the area reducing the blithe in this part of town. The market could also be a CEASA, a Cooperative or a food Market, or similar to the Mercadão Central in São Paulo, or follow the examples of produce markets seen in the Napa Valley in California.
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The large site in the immediacies of Samba City features a double gabled historic facade that protected within the Historic District. The interiors are largely in a state of ruin. The generous site benefits from the proximity to the VLT lines, making it an ideal location for the implementation of a cultural, educational and recreational center such as a SESC* (which features programs such as theater, auditoriums, workshop spaces, restaurant and café, exhibit and multi-purpose spaces, library and recreational and gym facilities). SESCs are open to the public and tend to bring populations of different social strata together, which is also essential for a healthy and diverse urban environment. SESCs are Brazilian private institutions maintained by entrepreneurs in the commerce of goods, services and tourism, acting at the national level, whose primary focus is the social well-being of its employees and families, but that are open to the general public. It acts in the fields of education, health, leisure and social assistance. 34
Please note that the “selected” sites are merely illustrative. The idea is that these institutions should be located near the (hopefully reactivated) cable car stop, and close to VLT stops, in order to benefit both local residents and commuters. Both of the following case studies are in the city of São Paulo, and are remarkable examples of architecture built for people, fulfilling a social, cultural, educational and recreational purpose. Given the varied array of sports and cultural and recreational activities that take place as SESCs, they have become successful in bringing together different social groups and playing an important role in community building in the community.
SESC Pompéia Culture and Recreational Center (SESC Pompéia) Lina Bo Bardi (1977-86) SESC Pompéia offers a host of services to neighborhoods such as theater, sports courts, pools, restaurants, exhibition and flexible use spaces and bar. Incorporating the typical programmatic functions listed above, the Pompéia unit, built in 1986, consists of a new building addition dedicated to recreational and sports activities and the adaptive reuse of a former metal drum factory to house learning and training workshops, restaurants, kitchens, auditorium, support services and spaces for reading and contemplation.
SESC Cultura and Leisure Center Street 24 de Maio (SESC 24 de Maio) Paulo Mendes da Rocha & MMBB Architects (2017) This is the adaptive reuse project of a former department store into a community sports, recreation and cultural center. As in other SESC units, the program is complex and varied. In order to animate the space, the architect establishes strategic levels for covered plazas and suspended gardens. The swimming pool is on the rooftop, fully benefiting from sun exposure. 35
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As a typology, the series of adjacent historic houses protected in the Historic District lend themselves to an array of uses such as housing, hostels and hotels; service businesses such as stores and restaurants; small local businesses such as butcher's shops, bakeries and bars; commercial office spaces; and small health clinics. Some units could become headquarters to concentrate local NGO's in shared workspace, thereby reducing their operational costs by sharing spaces such as meeting rooms, auditorium and wet areas. Most importantly, if supported by partnerships with institutions such as SENAI*** and SENAC**** (or similar), these historic properties can house institutions that provide much needed trades and professional training. Courses in trades such as masonry and restoration are types of training from which the local community and inhabitants of the surrounding areas can benefit, providing them with jobs and skills that will support the long term maintenance of the heritage assets.
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Aside from creating housing of social interest, some sites could potentially become housing for middle or upper middle class, or hotels. One valuable asset would be the building currently housing the 5th Military Police Battalion which faces Harmonia Square. This site and building could be sold and re-developed to accommodate retail on the ground floor and to house a condominium on the floors above. The revenue obtained from the sale of the property could be potentially used for rental or construction of a modern facility to better support the police efforts. A relevant case study is the Historic Fire Station in the city of Manchester, UK. The Fire Station is a remarkably charming Grade II* listed building in the city of Manchester, UK, built in 1906. The building is used to house fire department activities, apartment housing of different sizes for single and married firemen with their families, a Coroners Court, a bank, and a Police Station with jail. The building is 4-stories tall and its footprint is mostly triangular with a large interior courtyard. After years of neglect by the private owner, and attempts of the City to purchase the property through a compulsory purchase process, plans have been announced in 2018 for the redevelopment of the site as a 91-bed hotel, with bars, restaurants, workspace, and 21 live-work units, with new build extensions also part of the proposals. This adaptive re-use project includes an additional 30,000 sq ft of gross internal floorspace. 36
Sustainable Urban Cultural Tourism
UNIÃO CARIOCA: HERITAGE TRAILS AS A COMPONENT OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN CULTURAL TOURISM
The intent of the trail is to generate investment and regenerate neighborhoods, such as Sacadura Cabral Street, create a sense of pride and belonging for young and old generations through collective memories and sense of place, and strengthen the economy through cultural heritage and local resources.
Connecting Culture through Urban Conservation Rio de Janeiro is rich with culture, diversity, and architectural heritage. From the City’s patterned sidewalk paving to the birthplace of Samba, the Sacadura Cabral to the Portuguese Reading Room, and Carioca and African traditions—Rio is built on the connection of cultures. A heritage trail would establish a physical connection between significant sites throughout several neighborhoods from the port to the park. União Carioca is a tool for community development focused on the importance of cultural infrastructure, commemorative space and contextual heritage in an urban setting with respect to creating shared history.
Design Considerations for the Heritage Trail •
The trail should be a wayfinding mechanism, easily visible with punctuations at each site.
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Description markers such as plaques should be installed at each site location to tell the story of the cultural element, historical event, or heritage component.
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A uniquely paved path should be created to designate the trail.
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Consistent signage should be maintained along the length of the trail.
Leveraging Heritage for Revitalization
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Necessary pedestrian improvements should be made to ensure safe walking.
A project of this type should have an urban plan which capitalizes on the historical and cultural institutions, as well as significant heritage sites for revitalization and economic development. The trail will connect significant cultural facilities and public investment with local historic and cultural sites throughout the urban neighborhoods.
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Guided and/or self-guided tours can be established
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Job training related cultural employment and business should be provided for local community residents.
Tells a Story
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União Carioca represents a unifying trail that brings together Rio’s African, Portuguese, and Carioca heritages. The proposed trail connects 23 cultural and historic sites through the Gamboa, Centro, and Saúde neighborhoods. Each location should tell a unique story of the people of Rio to create a shared history among local people and visitors from around the world.
Create an app for the União Carioca trail. Partner with a local university to develop the program.
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Partner with local organizations to assist in the development of the program, particularly those focused on cultural and heritage elements
Creating Pride through Heritage The creation of a heritage trail for Rio captures an opportunity to share the culture and history of Rio with visitors and local people. A shared sense of place rooted in culture has the potential to catalyze a strong positive identity for the city and its people.
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União Carioca
1. Museu do Amanhã 2. Museu de Arte do Rio 3. Boulevard Luis Paulo Conde 4. Aqua Rio 5. Cidade do Samba 6. Praça Santo Cristo 7. Instituto de Pesquisa e Memória Pretos Novos 8. Rua Sacadura Cabral 9. Cais do Valongo UNESCO World Heritage Site 10. Casa do Machado de Assis 11. Casa da Tia Ciata 12. Jardim Suspenso do Valongo
13. Observatório do Valongo UFRJ
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união carioca sem escala
Áreas Culturales Reabilitação / Restauração de Locais Históricos
Example Cultural Site Location: Samba City The paved trail guides visitors and residents to a painted medallion at the junction of one of the Samba City entrances. The Samba City location along the União Carioca trail tells the story of the history of Samba music, dance, and Carnival through brightly colored murals painted on the large buildings. The story on the plaques shares the important heritage of Samba and its meaning to the people of Rio.
Short-Term Implementation – Complete by July 2020 •
Use paint to designate the trail until funding is in place for permanent paving. Utilize local artists to create a unique pattern for wayfinding.
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Engage local artist to create signs for each site location.
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Engage local businesses in promoting the trail.
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Partner with local organizations to assist in the development of the program particularly those focused on cultural and heritage elements.
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Guided and/or self-guided tours can be established.
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Provide job training for local people related cultural employment and business.
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Create an app for the União Carioca trail. Partner with a local university to develop the program.
HERITAGE TRAIL CASE STUDIES Creating Pride through Heritage: Morning Heritage Walk, Ahmedabad, India Ahmedabad City’s Morning Heritage Walk is a trail which connects 22 historic sites through the Old City. The Walk showcases the diversity of the City and is India’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 2-kilometer walk is designed to make people aware of the heart of the city. Domestic and foreign visitors travel the Old City for cultural immersion. The Walk brings people closer to the local heritage and culture; and local communities take pride in their lifestyle, rituals and heritage. Respect for diversity has grown with the installation of the Morning Heritage Walk. The landmark sites tell the stories of significant historical figures and time periods. The Heritage Walk is a tool to promote sustainable tourism. Heritage tourism is important for socioeconomic reasons and relevance in the context of India. Tourism is beneficial to the City and region as it provides employment for local people helping to raise their standard of living. 39
Telling the Story: Freedom Trail Boston, Massachusetts USA
Leveraging Heritage for Revitalization: Indianapolis Cultural Trail Indianapolis, Indiana
Boston’s Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red-brick path through the City’s historic neighborhoods that tells the story of the American Revolution. The walking trail links 16 historic sites and is lined with local businesses that represent the flavor of Boston. Each site held events significant to the American Revolution before and during the war. The stories of Paul Revere’s ride and the reading of the Declaration of Independence from the Old State House are memorialized as part of the Freedom Trail.
The Indianapolis Cultural Trail was created to capitalize on cultural institutions within historically significant neighborhoods unique to the city's heritage for economic development and revitalization. The 8.1 mile multi-use trail connects 6 Cultural Districts within the City’s downtown. The $63 million Cultural Trail was created through a public-private partnership between the city of Indianapolis and Central Indiana Community Foundation, which raised $27.5 million in private and philanthropic support for the Trail’s construction.
By the mid-twentieth century these well-preserved buildings were dwarfed among the skyscrapers, major highways, and modern architecture that came to dominate Boston's skyline. As home to these places of national importance, a group of Bostonians came together to make these sites more accessible to both residents and visitors alike.
Over $1 billion in economic impact was generated within 0.5 miles of the trail. A number of special programs were developed to help activate the Cultural Trail in food tours and bicycle tours. It highlights 70 public art works adjacent to the path. Within a six year period, property values within 500 feet of the trail increased 148%. The Trail has also increased revenue and customer traffic for many businesses. Additionally, the following benefits were identified:
The Trail is preserved through varied tourist services and activities, educational programs, and marketing and public relations efforts. The Freedom Trail is a signature Boston experience with over 4 million annual visitors responsible for generating over $1 billion in annual economic impact, and helps create jobs in hospitality, tourism, and education fields.
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Users feel safe on the trail.
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Businesses located on the trail have hired additional employees within the first year due to increases in customers.
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Property values have increased along and near the trail.
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Users reported spending and economic impact tied to trail usage.
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Trail users contributed millions of dollars in local spending.
Connecting Culture through Urban Conservation: Macau Heritage Trail Macau, China The City of Macau’s historic streets, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings, at the historic center of Macao provides a unique demonstration of the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from both East and West. The central core of historical buildings are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The City, once a colony of Portugal, was a port of strategic importance. The group of 22 buildings and public spaces of the Heritage Trail visually connect the port city which opened trade between China and the western world. The 2 mile trail reinforces the connection between the historic center and the seascape. Macao’s unique multicultural identity can be read in the dynamic presence of Western and Chinese architectural heritage standing side by side in the city and in individual building designs, adapting Chinese design features in western style buildings. The urban fabric is typical of European port settlements with public squares blending into meandering streets. The city form of Macau, its people and their customs were influenced by a blending of cultures which permeated religion, medicine, cuisine, and language. Macau’s Heritage Trail has helped to conserve the historic urban fabric as new development continues within the center city.
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Economy
BECOMING AN EXEMPLARY 21ST CENTURY CITY Rio aspires to be a leading city in 21st century, attracting interest on the world stage. The team found that the city has many substantial assets and attributes on which to build a spectacular modern city. Rio has world-renowned natural features that define it, including the relationship between the sea and mountains, internationally famous beaches, its native forest, and other incredible landscape features. Rio can boast numerous historic buildings and landscapes recognized for their World Heritage significance. It has a uniquely special mix of cultural contributions that have produced incredible forms of expression such as Samba and Bossa Nova. It also has the largest and most defining Carnaval in the world. The city is home to well-regarded universities, museums and centers of art and culture as well. Rio de Janeiro has demonstrated that when it wills it, resources are found to pursue incredible new ventures. Some recent examples include the Olympics, the World Cup, the redevelopment of Porto Maravilha, and the robust mass transit system. However, like all large cities, Rio faces significant challenges, including the following: •
A growing equity gap between rich and poor.
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Large populations living in favelas that lack basic services (infrastructure, utilities, transportation systems, accessible child care, etc.).
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A crime rate that negatively impacts quality of life for locals and keeps many tourists from visiting.
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Corruption in the public and private sectors that impede progressive project implementation.
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Many older as well as newer buildings that are unsafe and vacant.
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The R/UDAT team worked with a number of Brazilian architects and students and conducted some community outreach that informed a resulting vision for redevelopment of the port properties and the neighborhood areas. It seeks to enhance the quality of life for residents of all incomes. It provides for: •
More sustainable housing opportunities – both market rate and affordable.
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Affordable places for start-up and existing small businesses.
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Adaptively reused buildings as well as new facilities for community services.
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Enhanced connectivity to the newly revitalized waterfront and between the area’s many assets and attributes (the decayed parts of the center and poor areas in the hillsides).
Rio established the Urban Development Company of the Port Region (CDURP)– a public private partnership to oversee and enable revitalization of Port-owned properties. This area constitutes what would be the largest urban revitalization project in Brazil. CDURP looks to cities like Chicago as world class models and has been given authority and incentives designed to attract capable developers/construction firms that include the buying and selling of air rights as well as the ability to exempt affordable housing units from property tax and various building requirements such as on-site parking. While CDURP has control of essential assets (land and a few incentives), these alone are insufficient to achieve aspirations for its properties and, more importantly, to meet the needs and honor previously promised commitments to the neighborhoods (including the Morro da Providência Favela). To succeed on its own properties and to extend quality revitalization to its adjacent neighborhoods, CDURP needs to collaborate with public, private and community partners to expand the number and potency of incentives and the geography these serve. We recognize this will be difficult
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work but the achievable outcomes, even with partial successes, will bring CDURP and Rio greater recognition as a model 21st century city while simultaneously improving the quality of life for residents and the economic resilience of the entire area. Chicago and many other North American cities (such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Minneapolis, Portland, Austin, Boston, Baltimore and San Juan) have policies, programs and incentives that Rio can learn from. Those that are found useful and adaptable should be tried to test their effectiveness. The desired outcome is to enhance Rio’s capacity to achieve affordable housing, economic equity, inclusivity, sustainability, cultural heritage, preservation and other transformative goals that benefit residents and businesses which then highlight Rio’s ascent to 21st Century urban leadership. We have been made aware that banks in Brazil are more risk averse than in the United States, and that private financing for redevelopment comes with much higher interest rates. We believe that adapting some of the incentives identified below can help mitigate these obstacles.
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Linkage Fees: this rapidly expanding resource involves charging developer (in some cities only housing but in others, all types of development) a fee based on square feet (or meters) of projects developed. That fee goes into a fund which is then used to help pay mostly for affordable housing since that is impacted by nearly all development, but is also at times used to help pay to reduce costs for rehabs or historic buildings.
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Philanthropy: Wealthy families/individuals as well as businesses will often set up foundations or trusts that can develop buildings or land, as well as provide grants to cultural, medical, historic, affordable housing services or their capital need. The George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa recently competed a $350M waterfront park for the community, and the Bullitt Family Foundation in Seattle constructed a carbon neutral building that’s currently the most energy efficient in the world to house sustainable businesses.
The following list captures public incentives and private resources that can be used individually or more often and effectively by bundling those that are complimentary together to help achieve more demanding redevelopment initiatives. •
Tax Increment Financing: this powerful incentive allows the normal property taxes paid by all new taxable development in a designated redevelopment or renewal district to stay within that area. The funds can then be used to help pay for needed infrastructure improvements, provide grants or low interest loans for affordable housing, adaptive reuse or preservation of existing buildings, business incubation spaces, façade improvements for commercial uses, and other capital investments designated within a plan for the district. Using Linkage Fees for affordable housing.
Using tax increment financing for district wide redevelopment.
Employing philanthropy to build the world’s most energy efficient and sustainable office building. 45
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Low income housing tax credits: These tax credits provide income tax deductions for wealthy individuals as well as business institutions that choose to invest in multi-family affordable rental housing. The invested money is equity in the affordable housing project that does not have to be repaid but does require meeting sustainability and safety standards. Historic Tax Credits: Like Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits are federally established to allow well off individuals, businesses, and banks to receive income tax reductions for a period of time (usually 15 years)if they invest funds to preserve or rehab historic buildings. Historic buildings can receive up to 20% of their qualified improvement costs as a grant that does not have to be repaid. This effectively reduces the cost burden of helping to save historic buildings. Additionally, some states provide their own historic tax credits (ranging from 10% to 20%), thereby expanding the amount of grant money in a project. This incentive can be bundled with the low interest loans that can be secured via tax increment financing to help make saving historic buildings much more viable.
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Community Land Trusts (CLTs): CLTs are land that is owned by a community (land can be purchased or donated) to help keep the costs of building ownership and rents for housing and commercial uses lower. New development on CLTs does not have to include a land acquisition cost. Among the most ambitious CLTs is San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Fideicomiso de la Tierra informal community.
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Naming Rights and Sponsorships: Private companies, institutions and wealthy individuals will pay to have their names on buildings, rooms within buildings, on mass transit vehicles and station areas. These can be used to help pay for construction costs as well as in some cases (usually sponsorships) cover operating expenses of cultural and sporting facilities, community centers, educational facilities, open spaces and others.
San Juan’s CLT.
Historic tax credits for warehouse adaptive re-use.
Using naming rights to fund a portion of a rail station. 46
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Mass Transit Agency Funds: Federal, State and City-based mass transit funds can sometimes be used to acquire additional land to support transit-oriented development (TODs) which helps their ridership numbers and revenues. Enhanced revenues can then help subsidize operational costs for economically disadvantaged populations, students, and others.
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University and Hospital partnerships: Many universities and hospitals recognize the significance to the communities of which they are a part and have elected to help them with various physical improvements, housing, economic development, and job creation. Private universities such as the University of Pennsylvania have committed to increase their purchasing of more goods and services from local businesses particularly those owned by minorities and women. It also funds rehab of older buildings in the area for workforce housing. Public universities like Minnesota committed 10% of all base contracts for goods and services to local minorities and women. Hospitals like Henry Ford in Michigan have committed to first source local hiring.
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Longer Term (2-5 years)
Impact Investment: This refers to groups of well-off investors who are committed to making impacts in support of sustainable, social, equitable and other causes. They will help fund projects and programs most often through low interest loans that are sometimes forgivable if expectations are exceeded.
How can Rio utilize some of these incentives to achieve objectives that benefit residents and businesses in the area while simultaneously advancing Rio’s status as an exemplary 21st century city? We realize that redevelopment will be phased in but strongly suggest the need to find viable near-term actions that are vital to building trust among partners who will need to collaborate over the longer haul to achieve more demanding endeavors.
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Initiate community discussions with favela residents about interest in and willingness to explore the potential benefits and risks of creating a Community Land Trust that would own the hill land but not the individual buildings. If interest is positive, begin setting up its operating structure and roles, and initiate the process to transfer land from the Federal government to the favela.
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If there is willingness to establish a TIF district that incorporates both the port lands and the favela, secure appropriate enabling legislation to set one up, identify an existing, or if needed create a new public agency to run the TIF programs. Create agreements with governmental jurisdictions about what percentage (all is best, but most may be sufficient) of their incremental new taxes will available for the TIF and for what time period (preferably long enough to issue TIF backed bonds). Draft a plan with the community indicating what kinds of projects could receive funds and annually review priorities.
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If there is a willingness at the Federal and/or State level to craft a historic tax credit program, identify which agency would oversee this and establish a streamlined process to secure them for eligible projects.
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If there is willingness to establish linkage fees after engaging the private development community and getting their preliminary approval, identify which types of projects will pay them, how much of the city is subject to them, what kinds of projects they can be used for, what the fees would be for various kinds of projects, and which agency would administer the program. Get the final buy off from the private development community and required jurisdictional approvals. Start collecting fees and creating streamlined process for assisting eligible projects.
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We also recommend the creation of a place in which the poor residents can find amenities, sports activities, educational activities, library (like SESC or SESI) or Compaz (Recife) or Libraries (Bogotá).
Near Term (6 – 12 Months): In the near term, the Team suggests the following actions: •
Make commitments to help favela residents by re-starting operations of the aerial cable car (ACC). This can be funded by using small increases in light rail or other mass transit fees that are then dedicated to ACC operations. Station upkeep can be further supported by private sponsorships and advertising in the cars and/or at the stations.
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Initiate discussions with area universities and hospitals about 1) their willingness/ ability to contract with private developers to secure units for students and/or staff in new or rehabbed housing projects, and 2) their willingness to buy a good percent of their supplies and services from local firms.
Explore with public partners (that may include city, state and/or federal officials), which additional incentive programs might be possible to establish. Among the most beneficial initially, we believe, are Tax Increment financing, historic tax credits, and linkage fees, as these have the potential to bring in considerable funding (through grant and low interest rate loans) and can be used on some of the highest priority projects (affordable housing, infrastructure improvements, adaptive re-uses, heritage building, incubation spaces). The TIF district needs to include all of the port properties as these will be primary generators of the tax increment. In addition, it is critical to include the favela so that its residents and small business ventures can benefit from these resources.
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Next Steps
NEXT STEPS Implementing Putting People First in Porto Maravilha will require active partnerships and collaborations with the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, the Urban Development Company for the Port of Rio De Janeiro (CDURP - Companhia de Desenvolvimento Urbano da Região do Porto do Rio de Janeiro), architects and designers, builders, investors, local institutions, foundations and philanthropists, port authorities, and other stakeholders. It is critical that the process engage diverse stakeholders, most importantly community representatives and leaders from Morro da Providência. We recommend that as an immediate first step the Institute of Architects of BrazilRio de Janeiro (IAB-RJ) should work with collaborators to implement some very light, cheap, and quick demonstration projects in advance of the 2020 World Conference of Architects in Rio (UIA 2020). For example, some communities and some organizations develop a portable intervention kit that they can move from place to place for new demonstration projects and others use local materials, most often paint, and volunteers to build demonstrations. This project can lead to improvements in the built environment and help advance the mission, and recognition, of the IAB-RJ.
A portable tactical kit can be used to develop easy demonstration parklets, street demonstration projects and other lighter, quicker, cheaper interventions, and engage diverse stakeholders in the process. Formal storage containers are done by cities in Brazil and elsewhere. Simple bicycle deployments by smaller volunteers.
The appendices of this report detail processes that can be used by IAB-RJ and others to continue community and stakeholder engagement for Porto Maravilha and other projects.
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Acknowledgements
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Key Partner Institutions
The project team would like to extend its gratitude to the many partner institutions and participating organizations and individuals who contributed so much to the ideas and insights reflected in this report. We would like to thank the municipality of Rio and its leaders for their support to hold such a process. We would like to thank the Urban Development Company of the Port Region (CDURP) for hosting our Stakeholder sessions, as well as all of the presenters who provided the project team members with critical data and information about the area. We would like to thank the IAB-RJ for hosting the studio design sessions and final presentation to the community. Most importantly, we would like to extend our gratitude to the citizens of Rio who shared their perspectives and insights with the team about the future of the port area. We are profoundly grateful to community leader Paulo Andrade, who opened his home to our team and led them through a consideration of Morro de Providência and how this initiative could best serve residents of the community.
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The School of Architecture and Urbanism at the Fluminense Federal University (EAU-UFF)
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The School of Architecture and the Florida Center for Community and Research at the University of South Florida (USF)
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Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB)
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Council of Architecture and Urbanism in Brazil (CAU/BR)
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The Center for Communities by Design at the American Institute of Architects (AIA)
Additional student volunteers joined the team representing the following universities:
Background: An International Urban Design Collaboration The American Institute of Architects’ Center for Communities by Design has had a relationship with the Institute of Architects of Brazil and the Brazilian Architecture and Urbanism Council for several years. In 2014, a Communities by Design delegation visited Porto Alegre during Design Week to conduct a training workshop on the design assistance process with local Brazilian professionals and participate in a range of programs associated with Design Week. In 2016, an AIA delegation visited Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to conduct public forums with peers from IAB and CAU and participate in professional exchanges around community work. Following Rio’s designation by UNESCO as the first World Capitol of Architecture and the host of the Union of International Architects’ World Congress of Architects in 2020, a collaboration began to pilot a joint design assistance project in Rio de Janeiro. The port zone was selected as an appropriate area to focus the project around and AIA staff visited in December 2018 to begin planning the project with the Project Steering Committee.
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Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO)
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University of Santa Úrsula
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Veiga de Almeida University
The project was organized and held from September 26-30, 2019. Following the outcomes of public tours and a series of meetings and presentations with key stakeholders and community representatives, a weekend studio workshop was organized by Brazilian and American professionals with support from university students to produce a series of design recommendations, captured in this report.
One of the core aspirations of project leaders was to create an educational component to the project by seeking university partners in both Brazil and the United States to involve students from both nations in the process. In 2019, a partnership was formed between the University of South Florida and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro to join the collaboration between the three design institutes. As a result, professionals from the United States and Brazil and students representing at least 8 nationalities have collaborated on this project.
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PROJECT STEERING COMMITTEE
BRAZILIAN STUDENT TEAM
Institute of Architects of Brazil, RJ Department (IAB/RJ)
Federal Fluminense University:
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Fernanda Quintanilha Bezerra
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Gabriella Bicalho Marques
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Bernardo Tesch Beninca
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Marina Pires Fernandes
Pedro da Luz Moreira, President
Council of Architecture and Urbanism in Brazil (CAU/BR) •
Luciano Guimaraes, President
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Fernando Márcio de Oliveira, Coordinator of Committee on International Relations
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Eduardo Pasquinelli, Member of Committee on International Relations
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Carlos Fernando de Andrade, Federal Council of the state of Rio de Janeiro
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Federal University of Rio de Janeiro: •
Isadora Gonçalves Mendes
Fernando Diniz Moreira, Former Coordinator of Committee on International Relations
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Marcos Antonio Studt Roxo
Ana Laterza, International Relations Analyst
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro: •
Council of Architecture and Urbanism in Rio de Janeiro (CAU/RJ
Frederico Basso Montanari
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Jeferson Salazar, President
University of Santa Úrsula:
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Lucas Franco, Vice-President
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Patricia Cavalcante Cordeiro, Chief of Staff
Veiga de Almeida University: •
Federal Fluminense University •
The AIA Design Assistance Team
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Andrea Queiroz Rego, Director
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Zeca Brandão, Professor
United States Consulate General Team The US Consulate has provided critical support to these initiatives since their inception in 2014, providing staff support and background information, key partnership connections, translation and logistical support to these efforts. •
Patrick Levy
• Sherisse Steward
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Marianne Drain
• Ana Câmera
Thais Nunes de Brito
AMERICAN DESIGN TEAM
Pedro da Luz Moreira, Professor
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Tarcisio Ferreia De Albuquerque
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Debora Barros AIA, LEED AP BD+C, New York, NY
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Mike Davis, FAIA, Boston, MA
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Cheryl Morgan, FAIA, Birmingham, AL
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Caroline Shannon, AIA, Boston, MA
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Wayne Feiden, FAICP, Northampton, MA
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Abe Farkas, Portland, OR
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Taryn Sabia, Assoc. AIA, University of South Florida Team Lead, Tampa, FL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA TEAM
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS STAFF
The School of Architecture and the Florida Center for Community and Research at the University of South Florida (USF) were led by American team member Professor Taryn Sabia, Assoc. AIA. In preparation for the project, the USF team conducted multiple workshops and developed initial geospatial analysis as well as provided design support and content development for every section of the final report.
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Erin Simmons
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Joel Mills
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Maggie Winter
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Antonio Martinez
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Wenya Li
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Gengby Alice
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Anastasiia Hunda
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Fangzi Zhang
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Siyang Lin
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William Cook
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Mitali Naik
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Alejandro Aguirre
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Fangfei Zuo
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Eric Loechelt
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Justin Elcock
The Brazilian and American professionals and students represent different backgrounds and cultures, and may speak different languages, but all were unified in the language of design and the urban language of successful places. We are thankful to the many individuals and institutions who contributed to the ideas represented in this report.
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Appendices
APPENDIX I: THE DESIGN ASSISTANCE TEAM PROCESS
preparations begin for the team visit, including initial steps that will facilitate eventual implementation of an action plan.
Communities across the country are constantly changing as they face challenges that include the loss of major employers, gridlock, unfocused suburban growth, crime, loss of open space, regional conflict, unaffordable housing, abandoned mills and industrial plants, environmental problems, vacant storefronts, and loss of identity. A DAT can help a community respond to these kinds of issues by developing a vision for a better future and an implementation strategy that will produce results. The DAT process is tailored to the specific needs of each community, making it effective in scales as small as villages or neighborhoods and as large as metropolitan regions. Because civic engagement is one of the foundational tenets of the DAT program, communities that prioritize resident and stakeholder participation will ultimately wield a tool that mobilizes local support and fosters new levels of cooperation.
Phase 3: Team Visit The AIA selects a multidisciplinary team of six to eight professionals who visit the community for 3-4 intense, productive days. After viewing the study area and the surrounding community and listening to the concerns and ideas of residents, interested groups, and community leaders, the team prepares a summary presentation of its findings that is presented in a public meeting on the last day. A final online report is also completed and provided to the community.
Phase 4: Implementation Immediately following the team’s presentation of their recommendations, the community should begin implementation by analyzing the team recommendations, identifying priorities, preparing an action plan, and undertaking immediate objectives. An implementation committee should be formed at this time. The membership of the implementation committee should reflect constituencies affected by potential changes in the community, the commitment of individuals and groups they represent to the effort, and the need for certain skills during this phase. The committee should remain nonpolitical and broadly representative of the community. Continuity provided by including original steering committee members is valuable, but new members can make important contributions.
What is the structure of the DAT process? The DAT process is flexible, but typically has four parts or phases, some of which may overlap.
Phase 1: Getting Started and Applying A local leader or citizen calls the AIA and asks for help and information, initiating a conversation between the AIA and local leaders. AIA staff will work with the community from project conceptualization to a formal application for AIA assistance. The community forms a steering committee that represents a cross-section of residents, local government agencies, businesses, institutions, and community groups. This committee gathers community support and prepares an application. Upon review and approval of the application, the AIA makes a formal commitment to the community.
DAT Participants
Phase 2: Getting Organized AIA staff and a team representative meet with the steering committee on a project preliminary visit. This visit introduces the team to the community and its concerns and sparks broader community interest and participation in the process. At this time,
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Local steering committee: Committee of community members formed to manage the community obligations of the DAT. This committee must include members of the diverse stakeholder groups.
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Community Members: The success of the DAT is dependent upon the involvement of an inclusive and wide-ranging spectrum of community members and residents in order to ensure decision-making that has broad public support
that are certain of early success and support the long-range goals, with particular emphasis on projects that are likely to energize the community and expand the number of people who will help implement the overall plan.
and ownership and that is representative of the community as a whole. A DAT will only be as successful as the intensity of participation by citizens and residents. Projects that lack engagement with members of the community could ultimately face damaged credibility and diminished results. •
AIA Center for Communities by Design: AIA staff will guide the AIA’s participation in the DAT process from the pre-application through implementation phases.
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DAT team members: A group of multidisciplinary professionals selected to assist a community during the DAT process. All team members, including the team leader, volunteer their time and professional expertise.
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After discussing the report, the implementation committee defines the community’s goals and priorities over the next three to five years and identifies objectives that will help achieve them. There are many ways to accomplish this, but whatever the process, the implementation committee must remain open and responsive to community feedback. A good action plan will include benchmarks and triggers for action - ways to measure progress and successes that will allow the community to celebrate its achievements. Benchmarks will vary with the community’s objectives but might include enactment of regulatory changes; completion of buildings, parks, or infrastructure improvements; and statistical measurements, such as a 25 percent increase in tourist traffic or a donorparticipation target in a community-projects fund.
Implementation committee: Committee of community members formed to manage the implementation of the DAT recommendations. Some or all of these individuals may have served on the steering committee as well.
Next Steps & Implementation
The implementation committee should solicit endorsement of the action plan by political leadership, including follow-up with newly elected officials. Future political candidates should understand the plan and the grassroots process behind its development.
After soliciting broad community participation in the development of goals and objectives, the implementation committee should produce a document that will become the community’s action plan. The outline for this document will vary, but it should include a clear description of the community’s vision for its future; a statement of long-range goals; a list of objectives to be achieved over the next three to five years, including identification of kickoff projects that can be completed in the next 12 months; a summary of actions needed to achieve the objectives; and a funding strategy identifying sources of funding. The action plan should include a map of the community that shows where funds will be spent and where projects will be completed. This map will be the basis for describing the overall community strategy.
The implementation committee should develop a public relations strategy that uses events, mailings, and the media to maintain the visibility of the DAT process and encourage continuing participation. Distribution of the action plan is crucial but establishing an ongoing presence in the community is an equally important effort. The implementation committee might sponsor events like public information meetings, workshops, or leadership retreats. There is also value in joining with other community groups to sponsor events like local heritage-day celebrations and festivals.
The success of the action plan depends on people seeing results quickly - the momentum that builds with short-term achievement can sustain a community for years to come. Communities should identify a few achievable, high-visibility projects
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DAT Success Stories Over the 50-year history of the design assistance program, a clear pattern has emerged with how communities achieve implementation success. There are some common elements present in the success stories we see in community processes: •
Place-based approach
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Public Shared Vision
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Civic Leadership & Shared Governance
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Innovative Partnerships and Financing
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Grassroots Activism
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Supportive Regulatory Framework
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Integrative Approach
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Importance Placed on the Public Realm
The “snowball effect” is the way one community described the process dynamic that successful momentum creates for transformative change over time. San Angelo, Texas, on the 20th anniversary of its design assistance process, wrote an open letter to the team that had assisted their community. As they noted, “When I tell my younger friends about the part you played in revitalizing our city, they think it's an urban fairy tale: "Once upon a time, a group of architects, planners and urban design experts from around the nation volunteered to travel to San Angelo and work day and night to find ways to change the future of the city…Many San Angeloans worked many years to transform the Historic City Center. But you affirmed our ideas, planted seeds and sketched a possible map for our future. And you gave us hope. Back in 1992, your ideas seemed like dreams. Now we are living those dreams.” Lee Pfluger, who served as the chair of the local steering committee for the process, described the conditions then: "Back in 1991 you could have shot a cannon in downtown San Angelo on a Saturday night and not hit a soul — it was that dead — not a car in sight. The effort started with Celebration Bridge (with funds raised from the community) and the revitalization of the Paseo de Santa Angela as public space, and each success stimulated new interest in downtown. [...] All the vacant buildings that were underutilized in 1991 have all enhanced their utilization to a higher use." Portland, Oregon has had a similar experience over time. As they reported, “Ever squinted your eyes and tried to imagine something that’s only in your head? That’s how it was for those of us who looked over the rail yards and abandoned warehouses of inner northwest Portland some 20 years ago. Rundown and dilapidated, it was a sight that even the best of us squinters had trouble overcoming. And yet, slowly, a largely forgotten part of Portland’s past became an urban icon of living unlike anything the country had ever seen: A unique blend of verve and vibrancy, with more than a passing 57
nod to Portland’s uncommon brand of originality. Today, the Pearl District has earned a worldwide reputation for urban renaissance.” The Pearl District is recognized as one of the hippest neighborhoods in America today, and its unique urban fabric and character has served as a template for similar strategies in London and other major cities around the world.
In Santa Fe, a conventional development slated for a former rail yard was rejected by the community in favor of a bold experiment that achieved an authentic community place celebrated by locals and recognized as a national model for placemaking. As one local leader noted, “It was an experiment in deep democracy which resulted in the Community Plan, approved by the City Council in 1997 as a conceptual Master Plan.” The plan was then developed through an innovative partnership that produced a uniquely local district celebrated by citizens. As a local account notes, “The Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment is a testament to the power of community involvement in the realization of great civic spaces. When the 40-acre rail yard was threatened by private development in the early 1990s, the city mobilized to purchase and protect the historic site for a local vision. With involvement from over 6,000 community members, a master plan was developed and implemented over the next decade through a unique partnership between a non-profit community corporation and the Trust for Public Land. Today, Santa Fe enjoys a vibrant, multi-use civic space that preserves the industrial heritage of the rail line while strengthening the city’s future. The historic rail depot now serves as the northern terminus of New Mexico’s commuter rail, and the Railyard’s cultural and commercial amenities draw new visitors every year.” Locals in Santa Fe now refer to the area as the community’s “family room,” as opposed to the central square downtown (the “living room”), a place where local residents gather to experience community. It is a remarkable achievement. As local architect Gayla Bechtol reflects, “People see it as a real community space. I’m most proud of the democracy that happened. Helping someone have a voice who otherwise wouldn’t have a voice in the process, was to me the most gratifying part. The greatest lesson is that we can work together.”
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Port Angeles, Washington hosted a process to catalyze urban regeneration efforts in its downtown in 2009. At the time, it faced rampant vacancy and declining retail, and a long-standing and beloved department store had closed as a result. Some of the immediate outcomes there included an implementation committee and a public workshop to prioritize the first actions for implementation. The process generated great excitement, and over the first 3 months, dozens of citizen volunteers joined an effort to signal commitment to change. With donated supplies, they re-painted 43 buildings in their downtown, providing an instant sign of visual momentum. This effort led to a façade improvement program, which sparked additional private investment in new businesses. The community designed and completed construction on the first phase of a new waterfront development within just 5 years, and that effort attracted considerable private investment, sparking a transformative wave of change in the downtown. As the Community Development Director reported, “A primary outcome has been that the process awakened community pride and inspired a“together we can”attitude. Today the inspiration remains and the elements and recommendations of the program continue to be the driver for publicly endorsed capital projects and investments in our community. More importantly this sustainable approach has tapped into the core values and priorities of our citizens to ensure a better and more balanced future for our City.”
APPENDIX II: THE IMPERATIVE OF MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
appropriately. Brazil has a history of leadership in public engagement from which to draw upon as well. Participatory Budgeting processes, which began in Porto Alegre decades ago, have been copied by cities in dozens of countries around the world today – including the United States. These examples that follow are offered for illustrative purposes because in every successful case of urban regeneration in the United States there have been robust community engagement processes undergirding everything. The outcomes realized from these processes are the outcomes everyone in Rio wants for the port: results.
This community is special. It is not only special to the residents who call it home – it is an extraordinary place that should demand attention on the global stage. It is a place of critical importance to our understanding of the history and culture of place and the evolution of our urban environment. It is a place where the past and future converge in a profoundly powerful manner – but sometimes in conflict. These elements must be successfully integrated in order to amplify Rio’s Carioca identity both locally and globally. It is possible, but it is not inevitable. Extraordinary places require extraordinary partnership and participation of the entire community. While this process has involved many institutional partnerships, it has only set the stage for what must happen moving forward: a robust civic engagement process involving every sector of the community in working toward a common future.
Detroit, Michigan
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody. - Jane Jacobs Viva Carioca! An Urban Movement for the Future of Rio It is often said that Carioca is not only a cultural identity for the citizens of Rio but “is a state of spirit within every person born in Rio de Janeiro.” The time has come to draw upon that civic spirit and build a common platform for participation by all sectors of the community. The time has come to mobilize your most important resource: people. The opportunity to build broad civic leadership for the necessary investments in people and place and sustain that energy over time represents a game-changing strategy for the port area. Rio is not dissimilar from other global cities in that it has had a mixed experience with public processes. One can find both stories of successful community engagement and instances where the community was not consulted at all. It is important for the future of the port area that the lessons from past experiences be applied and a sustained effort be initiated to involve the community from the beginning in this public work. There are many opportunities within this report to consider that move beyond simple talk about plans to public participation in actual projects relating to activation of the area, amplification of neighborhood pride and identity and cultural expression to name a few. Cities around the world are realizing that community participation is not only necessary, but is critical to the success of urban regeneration processes. Rio has the opportunity to apply lessons from its own experience and others to craft a public process that provides sustained energy toward regeneration of this area.
Detroit represents an effective illustration of the importance of civic leadership. In 2008, the local realities in the city were stark. The city had experienced a 24% loss in population over the previous decade, as well as a 20% increase in vacant and abandoned property. Half of local children lived in poverty, and half of the adults were not literate. The unemployment rate in Detroit was estimated at 50 percent. The city had approximately 90,000 abandoned buildings, and experienced 90,000 reported fires. Decades of public mismanagement and de-population eventually led the city to the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went to jail on corruption charges. In 2010, newly elected Mayor Dave Bing initiated the Detroit Works Long Term Planning Project, later called Detroit Future City, with leaders from the civic sector. The goal was to build a strategy to address vacancy, abandoned buildings, and population loss. In his first public address to the city the Mayor declared, “we have an opportunity to reinvent Detroit like never before… Any plan will involve direct participation from our community because that's where our real strength is—in the commitment and connection Detroiters share with our city and each other. Every Detroiter has a voice and a role in this process.”The Kresge Foundation provided critical resources for the process and brought in key technical expertise, paying for city staff that the public sector could not otherwise afford. The Detroit Collaborative Design Center, a non-profit organization, provided crucial process leadership. The scale of civic participation in the Detroit Works process was unprecedented. The project conducted hundreds of meetings, had 30,000 conversations, connected with people over 163,000 times, and incorporated more than 70,000 surveyed responses and comments from participants. As the final plan noted, “One of the key characteristics of this process, in contrast to typical urban redevelopment plans of the past, is the unprecedented level of meaningful community engagement that was built into the process.” Dan Pitera, the Center’s Executive Director, captured the values that undergird successful public participation. “People are our greatest asset,” said Pitera. “And it’s the people who will define the vision of the project. We didn’t come in with an idea of what the end result would look like. The vision is being created by the Detroit community, through the process of engagement.” The process unlocked a wave of civic and public-private partnerships across the city. Billionaire and Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert invested over a billion dollars in downtown Detroit, purchasing more than 60 properties and moving over 12,000
The team has included below a few examples from the United States urban experience, but local leaders can find numerous international examples to draw from in fashioning your own unique application that captures the values and vision of the people of Rio 59
community and even start going to meetings.” The Seattle model has been exported all over the world. A book called “Neighbor Power” describes the effort more fully.
employees into the downtown area. Approximately 6,500 of them were new hires. In 2009, there were 48 unoccupied large buildings downtown. In a few years, more than 31 of those buildings were occupied, and many others were under renovation. In 2016, the estimated number of people working downtown was over 100,000, an increase of over 22,000 people from 2010. Quicken Loans partnered with Home Depot and the Detroit Land Bank Authority on an effort to renovate as many as 65 abandoned homes in four Detroit neighborhoods to help stabilize home prices across the city. In 2008, Detroit had the highest murder rate in the nation and was declared the most dangerous city in America. In 2014, homicides declined to their lowest level since 1967, and robberies and carjacking dropped by 34 percent. The comeback is not only underway, it is building momentum. When you speak to citizens of Detroit, they all speak of being part of a cause that is larger themselves. They speak of contributing to the revitalization of an entire city. It is personal for every single citizen and everyone feels that they are a part of the effort.
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. presents a case that demonstrates how democratic urbanism can be introduced to change civic culture and lead transformation efforts that overcome past failures and create new narratives of community. During the 1980s and 1990s, the citizens of the District of Columbia experienced their own version of ‘capital punishment’. The city remained the nation’s only jurisdiction that does not have voting representation in Congress. The situation was compounded by years of neglect and corruption at the local level that left the city crippled and inept. In 1991, the city’s mayor, Marion Barry, was incarcerated on drug charges. In 1995, a severe fiscal crisis resulted in a Congressionally-appointed Financial Control Board that ran the city finances until 2001. The mayor was involved in further scandals, eventually leading to his decision not to run for re-election. He was succeeded by Anthony Williams, the former Chief Financial Officer of the Control Board.
Seattle, Washington Seattle, Washington provides another important case concerning how today’s leaders view democratic approaches. During the 1990s, Seattle became a hotbed of civic activity through its Department of Neighborhoods, which helped facilitate planning processes involving over 30,000 residents and nourished over 400 community-driven projects each year with a Neighborhood Matching Fund. Neighborhood residents provided 50 percent of the funding as well as volunteer time for each project. During its history, the Neighborhood Matching Fund has awarded more than $49 million to more than 4,000 projects throughout Seattle, generated an additional $72 million in private investment. More importantly, the program engaged more than 86,000 volunteers who donated over 574,000 hours to the improvement of neighborhoods. One study reported that 43 percent of the city’s adults volunteered regularly in the community and 62 percent participated in at least one neighborhood group as a result of these efforts.
In the early 2000s, Washington, DC began a similar renaissance when Mayor Anthony Williams expanded urban democracy through the “Neighborhood Action” program. After decades of mismanagement and a severe decline in civic faith in government, Mayor Williams attempted a radical reform of government services and accountability. He supported the development of a transformative strategy to reengage the public in the governance process and demonstrate municipal government’s intent to be guided by public will. The District created a system of 37 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs). The ANCs were developed to advise and collaborate with government on policies and programs that affect neighborhoods, including those that involve traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation, trash collection, and the District's annual budget. The city explained the development of this system of ANCs as follows:
Jim Diers, the Department of Neighborhoods’ former director, cast the effort as a way for the city to unlock citizens’ aspirations for their own neighborhoods. “The program was a way to meet the neighborhoods half way on projects that were priorities for neighborhoods, but not necessarily priorities for the city of Seattle.” Behind the matching fund idea lie community ideals about working together. “What the matching fund is really about, though, is getting people involved and creating a stronger sense of community. There are thousands of people who want to get involved in their communities. However, they don’t want to make the commitment of joining an organization or going to meetings. They would rather roll up their sleeves and make a short-term commitment to a project. These projects enable people to contribute whatever their skills are- as an architect or an artist, people of all ages, and people of different abilities. We believe that everybody has assets to contribute to their communities. Through working on a project, people develop relationships and see what can be accomplished by working together. They get involved in the life of the
“The intent of the legislation that created ANCs was to ensure the DC government had input from an advisory board made up of residents of the neighborhoods directly affected by government action. The ANCs present their positions and recommendations on issues to various District government agencies, the Executive Branch, and the DC Council.” Secondly, the mayor sought assistance from AmericaSpeaks, a national non-profit organization, to develop an innovative program called Neighborhood Action. It consisted of a two-year management cycle that integrated strategic planning, budgeting, performance contracts and a public score card. The centerpiece of this initiative was a series of bi-annual Citizen Summits that drew 3,000 residents to review strategic plans for the city in a New England-style town hall meeting. Strategic Neighborhood Action Plans (SNAPs) were created by citizens across the city, and annual citizen summits drew thousands of participants to set citywide priorities. After 60
incorporating summit feedback and action items from Strategic Neighborhood Action Plans (SNAPS), the citywide plan was revised and then shared again. Additional input was used to finalize the plan, which then became the basis for the city budget and performance contracts with city leaders. A public scorecard system was developed to hold government accountable for implementation of the plan.
goods have to come from small, local businesses, and that 25 per cent of the retail establishments must be owned by local businesses. As City Councilman Charles Allen stated, “I’m very proud of the work of The Wharf and its partners to not only meet, but to far exceed, the goals for connecting District residents with good jobs, business opportunities, and affordable housing. The success of this effort demonstrates what’s possible when the local business community, nonprofit organizations, and the District government work to bring talented workers together with new opportunities. It’s the right way to grow a stronger District economy for all.”
During the first six years of the initiative, Neighborhood Action held three Citizen Summits involving thousands and one Youth Summit involving 1,400 youth. In addition, follow-up meetings and forums and ongoing neighborhood-based planning processes involved hundreds of local residents across the city. During this period, Neighborhood Action engaged more than 12,000 people in setting the city’s priorities. As Mayor Williams said, “It’s an inspiration to see so many District residents come together working towards a common goal.” The process fundamentally altered the relationship between local government and residents, and leveraged new civic energies through a network of unofficial processes in neighborhoods across the city.
The Wharf builds upon the success of the nearby Yards project, which has incorporated public access to the waterfront, mixed use development, and important public space while achieving sustainability goals for the neighborhood. As one local blog noted, “The Wharf and The Yards could become examples for waterfront redevelopment that take into account and perfectly match residential, business, and ecologic concerns while also paying attention to the historic roots of the neighborhood.” The nearby 11th Street Bridge project is setting even more ambitious transformational goals. Its planning process has already involved over 200 meetings. It includes an Equity Task Force built into its strategy. It is setting a new precedent for future development in the area, encapsulated in the following exploration: “Why shouldn’t we as a community have an economic and housing preservation plan every time there is a development, and do it simultaneously to make sure that the development doesn’t push people out?”
The results are unmistakable. Between 2000 and 2015, the city’s population grew by approximately 100,000 people, reversing the downward trend in population that had occurred for 50 years. Democratic urbanism took hold in neighborhood revitalization efforts that are transforming the city. The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative is a good example of this dynamic. It was conceived as a 30-year, $10 billion collaboration involving DC & 19 regional and federal agency partners as a part of an Olympic Bid. The Olympic bid failed, but the plans lived on. Today, one finds several transformative projects that have emerged from this effort. Southwest Washington was once home to a working class African-American community, but in the 1950s it became the first major urban renewal project in America and 99 percent of the existing urban fabric was demolished, displacing over 23,000 residents in a top-down, undemocratic act. Today, The Wharf, a $2 billion mixed-use project has completed its first phase. The New York Times describes it as the “most ambitious plan to date to correct what is now regarded as an egregious error imposed on the city by people then thought to be visionary planners. When completed, the project will encompass 3.2 million square feet on 25 acres of land. It will also use 50 acres of water, with three new public piers. There will be a 6,000-seat concert hall, several hotels and office buildings, rental apartments, condos, restaurants and shops, public plazas and parks.” The developer describes it as a “magnificent opportunity to undo the urban renewal legacy of the past and recreate the Southwest Waterfront as a great world-class destination.”
Philadelphia
The project is carrying forward some of the ideals embedded in the planning process. “The Wharf is setting a new standard of community participation in real estate development in the District of Columbia. This includes building relationships with government agencies and community stakeholders, innovative local hiring initiatives, and financial support.” By 2016, the project had procured approximately $134 million in goods and services from DC Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) firms. Over 200 local residents had been hired in the construction process. The project is providing much-needed affordable housing as well. The Wharf includes a 30 per cent requirement for affordable housing, a requirement that 35 per cent of all retail
Conclusion
In 2007, the University of Pennsylvania's Project on Civic Engagement launched Great Expectations: Citizen Voices on Philadelphia's Future, a series of public forums and events to identify key issues to address to become "the next great city" leading up to the city’s mayoral election. The process involved thousands of citizens and culminated in the declaration of a citizen-generated “Agenda for the Next Great City” that was quickly adopted by Mayor Michael Nutter. The city has experienced numerous successes in the resulting years. One of those successes concerns their industrial waterfront, which languished for years after a public corporation created to implement a major vision for it proved inept. Today, a new entity has been created and is moving forward on ambitious plans for the waterfront, with much of the momentum emerging from large public processes and small-scale activation of areas of the waterfront through the use of seasonal pop-up parks and placemaking efforts that are temporary and serve to bring people to the area and stimulate interest.
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These narratives reinforce the idea that investments in civic capacity and engagement pay huge dividends for democracy and help cities achieve success over the long-term. It is our hope that they may inspire new efforts to engage the entire community of Rio de Janeiro in the public dialogue and public work of the future port area.
APPENDIX III: STUDENT ANALYSIS & MAPPING
The Programing & Review analysis is broken down into four different layers: Density, Scale, Programing, and Review. The density layer shows the varied amounts of density from the denser old coast to the more spare industrial areas on the new coast. The scale layer showing the different scale and heights throughout the project area. The programming layer show the different building zones within the neighborhoods. Lastly overlaying the large graphic is a reviews quotes of different areas around Santo Cristo and Gamboa, from online reviews and from talking to locals on site.
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Rio de Janeiro’s history is inherently tied to its coastline, from the early slave economy to large-scale fill and modernization projects. Building fabric, density, and scale reflect the growth of the coast over time. As the City begins to revision its next steps, history becomes unearthed. Its history is its future.
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The map of cultural analysis focuses on local culture. There are four layers of culture: popular reviews, heritage, samba schools, and connection. The popular review layer shows some online reviews of some popular places. The heritage layer shows what heritages in this area and their respective locations. The map of samba mainly shows that the root of samba in this area. And the connection map tells about how these points connect with each others. At the same time, it also shows about services range of samba schools.
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This map is intended to illustrate the public transportation conditions, the convenience of public transport for local residents and topography of this area. In planning urban public transport, a concept often mentioned is transit-oriented development (TOD). It is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. The densest areas of a TOD are normally located within a radius of 1/4 mile around the central transit stop, as this is considered to be an appropriate scale for pedestrians, thus solving the last mile problem. On the map, a quarter of a mile of the bus stop still has a large radiation area, covering a vast area of residential areas. However, the irregularity of terrain and residential roads makes the radiation area of 1/4 mile impossible to reflect the actual situation. Therefore, the solid line around the bus stop shows the actual walking distance of 1/4 miles. In addition, in order to reflect the actual distance and the actual time required for residents to reach the bus stop, the map also shows the actual time and walking distance needed to walk from the top of favela to the bus stops with a straight line distance of about 1/4 miles.
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Access and Paths to Semente Makerspace This map mainly addressed the possible paths to the Semente Makerspace and highlighted the inaccessible place for the public. The Semente Makerspace is a workshop for the community, people could pay here to take several lessons such as cooking class, making jewelry, also making furniture by themselves. We think that is very interesting for the neighborhood, therefore, we found the possible paths for people to access there. Also, there are some private properties and government facilities which are inaccessible for the public, for example, the army base, legal medical institute, medical department and some private enterprises.
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Access to Waterfront and Channel This mapping demonstrates the access to the waterfront and channel among Caju, Sao Cristovao and Santo Cristo community. The gray pattern represents the path people can get and the blank parcel means people are not allowed to go, such as the military base and industrial area near shoreline. The blue pattern portrays the existing spots for people to get through, these nodes could be potential active places attracting individuals to recreate. Most of those spots are pedestrian bridges above the channel, some venders gather together there to serve passengers. It really helps this parcel get more active and alive.
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Food Access in the Neighborhood Caju and Sao Cristovao are regions in Rio de Janeiro that aren’t in their best shape. With the intension of improving the two communities, a brief search was done to learn about different possible activities in the neighborhoods. In this map the activities that were sought were possible food destination, from grocery stores to express ready to go meals.
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The lighter orange color shows the snack shops where a meal can’t be obtained, but a drink or a snack to hold one over can be found there.
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The middle dim orange demonstrates where grocery stores can be found, for a homemade meal.
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The darker orange provides the locations restaurants nearby, either express or dine in.
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Each of this destination are within 15 minutes walking distance. Making it easy with to reach these points on by walking.
This map depicts the basic quarter mile walkability radius as the begin to create a network of pedestrian movement within the neighborhood of centro. The primary function of this map is to show how the main roads, Ave. Pres. Vargas and Ave. Rio Branco, are barriers that inhibit pedestrian activity between certain areas. Ave. Pres. Vargas was constructed in the 1930s and required the demolition of an entire city blocks width along its route. This not only created a physical barrier and disconnected two historic neighborhoods, but it also displaced a large amount of people. It is generally thought that the people who were displaced by the construction moved to the favela Morro da Providencia due to lack of other options. This graphic serves to one of the main issues that must be addressed in order to reconnect and revitalize the area of Centro and Saude north of Ave. Vargas.
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This graphic shows a unique characteristic of public space in the city of Rio. While pedestrian traffic is extremely common, the majority of the places where pedestrian activities take place are informal. This map focuses on the area East of Campo de Santana and uses different linetypes to show streets that have been converted into pedestrian only streets during the day and the streets that still maintain vehicle traffic. It is important to note that these are informal in nature. The reason that cars do not use these streets is because the locals have activated it and filled it with shops, booths and food vendor carts. As seen in the images on the left side of the graphic, pedestrian has also taken over the pathways built for the light rail system and use it as a circulation space.
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The purpose of this graphic is to create a basic representation and understanding of how the people of Rio have activated the streets and the space between buildings. The quarter-mile walkability radius is used to create an understanding of scale as well as the distance between significant locations. The red linework depicts smaller scale structures and historical buildings that are remnants of the historic neighborhood of Centro and the connections to Saude. It is important to note the disconnected nature of the highlighted areas due to roads and barriers that have developed over the years.
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This map represents the parallel interaction of the site by the locals and visitors. As well as highlighting the dominant places, which are considered by residents to be worthy of attention. Therefore, the first layer shows which places are favored by the local population and which are mostly tourist attractions. The second layer shows the areas of temporary accommodation for tourists (hotels, hostels, private rooms) found on sites such as Booking.com and Airbnb. They show a specific pattern, it can be traced that most of the temporary residence is located in the historic center of Rio de Janeiro - Centro district. The third layer shows the interaction of hotels and hostels visitors with existing attractions recommended by the owners. Tourist circulation around the city also forms an ornament which helps to determine which places are most popular with tourists and which paths should be more developed for better interaction with the city. 72
Praca Manuel Antonio
Defunct structure
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Praca Manuel Antonio
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Street along R. Sacadura Cabral
Opposite Volongo Wharf
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Putting People First in Porto Maravilha Facilitated by Communities by Design, a program of the American Institute of Architects
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