Several environmental factors have been decisive in making Rio’s favelas ideal grounds for the illicit drug trade. Most favelas are located on steep hills with tight entrances controlled by young men with machine guns. Rooftops high up on the hill provide ideal observation points to watch out for the approach of police. The night watchmen, called falcons , are young boys who use drugs to keep awake and alert in order to patrol their areas. The cutters who prepare the drugs are hidden in secluded streets that are as inaccessible as a labyrinth. The affluent drug customer climbs only a short portion of the hill to the boca or the mouth, where the drug gangs establish an informal selling area. The fact that most middle- and upper-class areas in Rio with large houses behind electrified fences have symbiotic favelas as neighbours ensures a captive market. A Rio slum upgrading initiative, the Favela Bairro program was meant to integrate the favelas into the formal city. Streets were paved, infrastructure provided and many favelas were revitalised with the informal cooperation of drug gangs. Despite a general improvement in living standards, gangs still roam and expand their control even in the upgraded favelas. The fact that a favela road is now paved and more accessible does not stop drug gangs from using barricades, such as turning over an old van to block the entrance of the police. This ongoing lack of security presents a major impediment to the formalisation process started with slum upgrading.
The current trend in Latin American slum upgrading is based on the model implemented by Medellin, Colombia. Aside from improving the overall character of Medellin, there was a focus on providing visible and much needed public infrastructure, such as gondola lines connecting remote communities to the metro system and architecturally striking public institutions such as li- braries. Rio is following this strategy with the current regeneration of Complexo do Alemao and other large favelas with the help of state and federal funding. Unlike the challenges of scarce and meagre public places in the North American city, the challenge in Rio is to restore order in these exclusionary areas that constitute islands in the city. Infor- mality, organic geography and favela residents acting as urban designers in constructing their communities have all led to the wonderful vibrancy of the favelas today. It is also high density, powerful unity and neighbourliness and the gradual improvement over decades that have allowed favelas to coexist with and contrib- ute to Rio as a whole. Favelas must be nurtured to improve the for- mal city. By tackling the unsavoury aspects of the drug trade that make life in a favel untenable, the state will make favelas more ac- cessible, safer and even more vibrant than they are today. Despite this being a form of control and an exertion of state power, the whole society, especially the favela poor, will benefit. C
Kenan Handzic is an urban planner with the City of Edmonton. He graduated from University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design with a Masters in Environmental Design (Planning). His univeristy research focused on various aspects of slum upgrading in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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