Sustainability in Rio % can it offer practical solutions to some of its worst problems, or is it like a course in vegetarian cooking for cannibals? Ten students would like to find out.
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Newsflash: STUDENTS DECIDE NOT TO GO TO RIO DE JANEIRO % PROBLEMS ARE JUST TOO OVERWHELMING, THEY SAY.
Delft, 28 May. Ten highly-motivated students and former students from TU Delft, who were planning to travel to Rio de Janeiro in July to participate in a project on sustainability with 15 of their Brazilian counterparts, have suddenly cancelled their trip. They made their decision yesterday, during a symposium which was supposed to be the ‘take-off’ for the whole project. ”It’s not that we didn’t realise Rio de Janeiro faces social and environmental problems which make any complaints about Dutch society sound like the whining of a spoiled brat,” one student said. ”But after hearing one guest speaker explain why almost every ‘solution’ is doomed to fail in Rio, it became clear to us it was pointless to go there. Sorry.”
Calm down, please % that’s not how it went at all. Well, guest speaker Dr. Martin de Jong (Assistant Professor in Public Management at the TBM faculty, and married to a Brazilian) did deliver a cruel-to-be-kind speech about Rio de Janeiro, which was all the more convincing because he tried to avoid oversimplification and stereotyping. But the (former) students could take heart from the fascinating account of the history of Rio’s city planning by architect Paul Meurs, an expert who may be just as pessimistic as De Jong but nevertheless couldn’t hide his love for the city.
Of course, Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by a stunningly beautiful landscape, has always been a city of two faces. (”Two? Thousand faces!” any Rio aficionado will protest.)
on the one hand, you have the rich, modern quarters, mostly situated along the coastline of Guanabara Bay. Then there’s the other side: the favelas % slums which are built against the forested mountains. Millions of poor city dwellers had to build their illegal homes there. The view from the mountains may be magnificent, and the favelas the heart and soul of the Rio carnival – favelas have even become a tourist attraction – but unemployment is very high, population growth explosive, and living conditions are often appalling.
And, worst of all, the hundreds of favelas in and around Rio are generally ruled by drugs lords. The rule of law doesn’t apply in their kingdoms. This is the world of the Brazilian movie Cidade de Deus, which has stunned movie audiences worldwide.
Of course, as De Jong emphasized, ”not every favelista is a criminal and not every criminal is a violent animal.” But ever since the police decided to confront the drug lords on their own turf last year, Rio has seen a frightening escalation of violence. Only last month, the BBC reported that Rio now has a murder rate worse than some war zones.
he message of the drug lords to the authorities is clear: stay out off the favelas… or else. The conflict is tearing at the fabric of the city. Hundreds of schools and shops sometimes have to close temporarily to avoid the wrath of the drug lords, police stations are regularly attacked, and so many buses have been fire-bombed that the once highly regarded public transport system has suffered immensely.
In this grim context, it’s almost superfluous to point out that this is a blow to the idea of a sustainable city. Sustainable development isn’t high on the priority list of the cariocas (residents of Rio), which doesn’t mean they don’t treasure things like Rio’s botanical gardens.
Trust
What makes Rio’s problems even more poignant is that Brazil has a lot to be proud of. Take the ‘ecological city’ of Curitiba, which is studied and admired worldwide. (Eduy Cezar Ferro was invited to the symposium to lecture on the principles behind its success.) The last presidential election, which gave Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva his long sought-after landslide victory, was hailed as a model for democracy. And Brazil has a healthy jet aircraft industry, an example of the ‘knowledge-driven industry’ that the Dutch are so keen to preserve.
”Brazil isn’t lacking in technology % the health care system for instance is on a par with the West,” De Jong says.”But in Rio people have lost their trust in institutional mechanisms. And the western approach % make an inventory of the problems and then choose the right approach to solve them % is bound to fail.”
He gives some examples. Why not demolish the favelas? ”Too late. Too many people live there. And it’s harder to earn your living when you live in a suburb far away from the rich parts of the city.” Why not subject the building of new houses to strict rules? ”Problem is, the rich people in Rio are also building illegally.” More public spending? ”Higher taxes will infuriate the middle class.” And so on.
De Jong’s pessimism reflects the feelings of his Brazilian family-in-law. ”They would complain about the city’s problems, but in the past, when I’d say, Yes, it’s really going downhill”, they’d protest: No, Brazil is still the greatest country in the world! That feeling seems to have disappeared.”
Yet, in the West, Lula gets credit for putting his weight behind some controversial economic reforms. While championing the cause of the poor, Brazil’s first left-wing president has turned out to be more of a pragmatist than Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Dire predictions about collapsing financial markets and diminishing investments have turned out to be unfounded.
Still, it takes a lot of tough-minded optimism to figure out how sustainable development can offer solutions to the problems of a hopelessly divided city. That didn’t curb the enthusiasm of the students. After all, you can be fascinated by a city without being optimistic about its future.
Sustainability in Rio % can it offer practical solutions to some of its worst problems, or is it like a course in vegetarian cooking for cannibals? Ten students would like to find out.
Newsflash: STUDENTS DECIDE NOT TO GO TO RIO DE JANEIRO % PROBLEMS ARE JUST TOO OVERWHELMING, THEY SAY.
Delft, 28 May. Ten highly-motivated students and former students from TU Delft, who were planning to travel to Rio de Janeiro in July to participate in a project on sustainability with 15 of their Brazilian counterparts, have suddenly cancelled their trip. They made their decision yesterday, during a symposium which was supposed to be the ‘take-off’ for the whole project. ”It’s not that we didn’t realise Rio de Janeiro faces social and environmental problems which make any complaints about Dutch society sound like the whining of a spoiled brat,” one student said. ”But after hearing one guest speaker explain why almost every ‘solution’ is doomed to fail in Rio, it became clear to us it was pointless to go there. Sorry.”
Calm down, please % that’s not how it went at all. Well, guest speaker Dr. Martin de Jong (Assistant Professor in Public Management at the TBM faculty, and married to a Brazilian) did deliver a cruel-to-be-kind speech about Rio de Janeiro, which was all the more convincing because he tried to avoid oversimplification and stereotyping. But the (former) students could take heart from the fascinating account of the history of Rio’s city planning by architect Paul Meurs, an expert who may be just as pessimistic as De Jong but nevertheless couldn’t hide his love for the city.
Of course, Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by a stunningly beautiful landscape, has always been a city of two faces. (”Two? Thousand faces!” any Rio aficionado will protest.)
on the one hand, you have the rich, modern quarters, mostly situated along the coastline of Guanabara Bay. Then there’s the other side: the favelas % slums which are built against the forested mountains. Millions of poor city dwellers had to build their illegal homes there. The view from the mountains may be magnificent, and the favelas the heart and soul of the Rio carnival – favelas have even become a tourist attraction – but unemployment is very high, population growth explosive, and living conditions are often appalling.
And, worst of all, the hundreds of favelas in and around Rio are generally ruled by drugs lords. The rule of law doesn’t apply in their kingdoms. This is the world of the Brazilian movie Cidade de Deus, which has stunned movie audiences worldwide.
Of course, as De Jong emphasized, ”not every favelista is a criminal and not every criminal is a violent animal.” But ever since the police decided to confront the drug lords on their own turf last year, Rio has seen a frightening escalation of violence. Only last month, the BBC reported that Rio now has a murder rate worse than some war zones.
he message of the drug lords to the authorities is clear: stay out off the favelas… or else. The conflict is tearing at the fabric of the city. Hundreds of schools and shops sometimes have to close temporarily to avoid the wrath of the drug lords, police stations are regularly attacked, and so many buses have been fire-bombed that the once highly regarded public transport system has suffered immensely.
In this grim context, it’s almost superfluous to point out that this is a blow to the idea of a sustainable city. Sustainable development isn’t high on the priority list of the cariocas (residents of Rio), which doesn’t mean they don’t treasure things like Rio’s botanical gardens.
Trust
What makes Rio’s problems even more poignant is that Brazil has a lot to be proud of. Take the ‘ecological city’ of Curitiba, which is studied and admired worldwide. (Eduy Cezar Ferro was invited to the symposium to lecture on the principles behind its success.) The last presidential election, which gave Luis Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva his long sought-after landslide victory, was hailed as a model for democracy. And Brazil has a healthy jet aircraft industry, an example of the ‘knowledge-driven industry’ that the Dutch are so keen to preserve.
”Brazil isn’t lacking in technology % the health care system for instance is on a par with the West,” De Jong says.”But in Rio people have lost their trust in institutional mechanisms. And the western approach % make an inventory of the problems and then choose the right approach to solve them % is bound to fail.”
He gives some examples. Why not demolish the favelas? ”Too late. Too many people live there. And it’s harder to earn your living when you live in a suburb far away from the rich parts of the city.” Why not subject the building of new houses to strict rules? ”Problem is, the rich people in Rio are also building illegally.” More public spending? ”Higher taxes will infuriate the middle class.” And so on.
De Jong’s pessimism reflects the feelings of his Brazilian family-in-law. ”They would complain about the city’s problems, but in the past, when I’d say, Yes, it’s really going downhill”, they’d protest: No, Brazil is still the greatest country in the world! That feeling seems to have disappeared.”
Yet, in the West, Lula gets credit for putting his weight behind some controversial economic reforms. While championing the cause of the poor, Brazil’s first left-wing president has turned out to be more of a pragmatist than Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Dire predictions about collapsing financial markets and diminishing investments have turned out to be unfounded.
Still, it takes a lot of tough-minded optimism to figure out how sustainable development can offer solutions to the problems of a hopelessly divided city. That didn’t curb the enthusiasm of the students. After all, you can be fascinated by a city without being optimistic about its future.
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