Transcript How can life be improved for the urban poor?

How can life be improved for
the urban poor?
Is city life in LEDCs doomed to
failure?
We have seen why migrants…
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Leave the rural areas
Go to urban areas
Due to push and pull factors
Migrants have little money
Have no power or rights
They are vulnerable to intimidation by gangsters,
police, developers and governments
• Bulldozing
However the quality of life in cities
can be improved
How is city life being improved?
• Self help schemes – eg Rocinha – people
work together
• Government assistance (improving
infrastructure – water, electricity and
health facilities)
• Govs also assisted self help – money and
materials provided
• Some NGOs like Save the Children help
community programmes
Rio
• Rio de Janeiro has undergone rapid urban
growth over the last forty years
• With around 6 million people living in the
city itself, Rio today still ranks as one of
the world's largest cities.
• Rio is A city of contrasts
Copocobana beach
• Some residents of Rio enjoy extremely
high living standards. Owning property on
the Copacabana beachfront can cost
millions of pounds
However, 20% of Rio's population
live in the city's 600 favelas.
• In the past, favelas have conjured up
images of dirty, dangerous places with a
miserable quality of life
• today, many favela communities are
working in partnership with the Rio city
authorities to counteract these negative
images and to combat poverty
Disilusionment?
• Although a favela resident pays taxes like
any other citizen in Rio, many have felt
neglected by the city authorities and their
richer neighbours.
• To reflect their disillusionment, half a
million people voted for a monkey in one
of the elections for the mayor of Rio during
the 1990s.
Favela dwellers are citizens too
• But Rio's residents have begun to appreciate the
positive contribution that favela dwellers make to
Rio's economy
• They provide low cost services and goods in the
informal sector as well as being the birthplace of
Brazil's Samba dance schools
• Favelas are also the homes of some of the
country's greatest footballers like Pelé, Ronaldo
and Rivaldo.
The 'Favela-Bairio' programme
• favelas need support from outside
• Since 1995, the Rio city authorities have
invested in the most expensive
programme ever to improve life in the
favelas
• With financial backing from the InterAmerican Development Bank, the Rio city
authorities have spent $500,000 on the
'Favela-Bairio'
What is the 'Favela-Bairio'
programme?
• improve the services and infrastructure in 300 of
Rio's favelas.
• Also to promote self-help amongst favela
residents, building on the strong community
spirit that exists there.
• To make the most of the money available, the
city authorities discuss and negotiate with the
local community committees to find the best
ways in which local people can help themselves.
2 Examples of
REAL
improvements
from 'Favela
Bairio'
Villa Canoas
Villa Canoas
• The 2,500 residents of Villa Canoas, a small
favela located in a ravine on the edge of Rio,
now enjoy a better quality of life thanks to the
'Favela Bairio' programme
• A new underground sewage system has been
built beneath the favela's concrete steps and
alleys. Waste bins are available for each alley,
and are emptied on a regular basis. These
improvements have reduced the risk of disease
and illness, particularly amongst children.
Cheapo electricity?
• Villa Canoas now has
a subsidised
electricity supply.
Previously, poorer
residents would
illegally tap into the
mains because they
couldn't afford the
charges
Dangerous practices
• You should never play with electricity
• Always use a qualified electrician
• Never attempt to tap into the city supply of
electricity ilegally
• If you do the Government will not be held
responsible
Roçinha
• Rio's oldest and largest favela occupies a hilltop in the
city
• Since its creation in the 1950s, Roçinha's population has
swelled to 160,000, making it more like a city within a
city.
• Here, community committees represent different
neighbourhoods to identify people's needs and work
together to improve conditions in the favela
• Roçinha now has two newspapers of its own, a radio
station, its own waste disposal service, and local doctors
and dentists offer their services at lower charges.
Roçinha even has its own MacDonalds!
Environmental improvements
• In the previous photo you can see a pipeline
beneath the rock face. This is connected to
drains to remove excess water from the
Roçinha's slopes during times of heavy rain
• This should hopefully prevent a repeat of the
1988 tragedy when a build-up of water in the
underlying rock led to a landslide that killed
277 people and left another 13,000 homeless.
Drug Wars
• Rio has one of the highest crime rates in the world
• an average of 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants each
year
• A lot of the violent crime is associated with the drug
trade, much of which occurs in the back streets of the
favelas
• Rio's police force regard many favelas as 'no go' areas
• Instead, it is left to the community committees to police
the neighbourhoods
• it seems to work; few favela dwellers find it necessary to
lock their doors, for instance.