Rio de Janeiro has been suffering from inequality and segregation in its urban context for many years. Around a century ago, self-built shelters called Favelas in Brazil started to occur in the city center, located mostly on the hills due to the lack of affordable housing. The numbers and sizes of the favelas increased so fast in time due to the migrations and poverty that they were exposed to several evictions throughout the history. After 80s, instead of evictions, upgrade programs for favelas started to be aplied. Favela-Bairro and Morar Carioca were the most important and comprehensive of the upgrades, however, they were more focus on infrastructure and physical changes. Therefore, favelas kept their isolated and poor identity. The thesis work is the proposal for favela upgrades by using public spaces as a main element in design. It aims to help problems in health, social life, education, economy and environmental issues (HSE3) in the favelas.