EcoHouse Research

Dr Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia

Research Officer, LSE London

 

Building on the information presented by Ms Ramakrishman, Dr Fernández showed her ongoing research on evictions and relocations as a result of the Olympic developments in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Following the situation at three different settlement sites spread across Rio, Dr Fernández focused on the challenges for researchers conducting fieldwork with limited resources and time.

 

Rio de Janeiro is a city full of contrasts: the city is enjoying a phenomenal economic growth; the gender division in salary is one of the greatest in the country; it’s worldwide the 13th most expensive city; and it has over 800,000 people living in favelas (slum settlements). In this context, Rio de Janeiro has been undertaking urban developments for the forthcoming Olympic Games in 2016. The main projects include Porto Maravilha, a major re-development project that means displacing at least 140 families; a Rapid Bus Transit system with four lines; and the Olympic project site itself. The research is centred on evictions and relocations that have affected 37 communities and around 11,000 families. The families are being mainly moved to peripheral zones through the national housing programme ‘Minha Casa Minha Vida’, available to low income families. 

 

Fieldwork was conducted between August and December 2013 in three different places: two displaced communities and one threatened favela community. Recanto de Natureza, one of the relocation sites for families, is found at the periphery of the city. Here families found an improved housing quality, however commercial, health and education centres could only be reached on foot or via infrequent public transport with large distances in-between them and, due to the rapid increase in people, there is an on-going overcrowding of schools and shortage in supplies. In the eviction process, 69% of the families had to change their jobs which were no longer available due to the new location, and overall earned lower salaries than before. In Bairro Carioca, flagship relocation project of the government and closer to the city centre, families have access to day care units, libraries and other facilities within the community. Nonetheless, Bairro Carioca remains an isolated unit from the rest of the city limiting opportunity and heightening the sense of marginalisation. In Vila Autodromo, more than 500 families have resisted the eviction plans of the government and drawn the attention of the global media to the threat of losing their homes due to the Olympic development plans through an alternative community-driven development and urbanisation plan.

 

Conducting research in such a politically charged environment requires an abundance of dedication. The internal and personal disputes between organisations involved; the difficulty of getting access to sites and information from the municipalities; to the reluctance of local academics to share information (academic territoriality); the messy social context; and the shifting and controversial political environment, all test the determination and ability of a researcher to unravel the complexity on the ground and pursue their research. 

 

Dr Fernández believes it may be too soon to evaluate the full extent of the government actions; however the voids created in the process to families’ lives, both economical and emotional, are already evident and need to be addressed by the academic community and decision makers.