MEGA-EVENTS IN RIO DE JANEIRO AND THEIR ... - FAU

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C i t i e s , m o d e r n i z a t i o n a n d c o s m o p o l i t a n i s m : s o c i a l , p o l i t i c a l a n d c u l t u r a l c h a l l e n g e s insurance companies, hotels (luxury) for senior officials of multinational companies and government agents that are equipped with appropriate services (skilled labor) to ensure the movement of financial capital, the hard core of the modern economy and information society. In Rio de Janeiro, the economy is based 74.7% on services; 15.1% with public services and 10.3% with industries. In the national context, the city has the second highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), participating with about 5.1%. The services are based on communication services from television companies, telecommunication companies, spreading ideas and influencing a large percentage of the population through image production. Tourism is also an important sector that heats the economy. The activity that has been fomenting the economy of the state of Rio de Janeiro is related to the extraction of minerals and petrol and their commercialization through the stock market and exportation (China), stressing international trade. Curi, Knijni and Mascarenhas, (2008) affirms that cities from developing countries aims to be considered as global city status as an auto-affirmation of its economic potential and capacity and for this, they use the realization of the mega-events for international repercussion, as their moment in the world’s eye. There are potential consumers for the mega-event’s sponsor’s products, encouraging consumerism and the circulation of the capital worldwide. It is possible to identify diverse reasons to justify the realization of both megaevents in Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil, and this also provide us a reflection concerning the public administration. The urban planning for Rio de Janeiro is currently mega-events orientated, neither covering the entire city nor the real challenges, and in the worst case, presenting proposals that increase segregation, anger and breaking with any kind of popular participation. This way of governing may be considered as “urban propaganda” (Carvalho da Silva, 2010), concentrating efforts to improve the packages in order to realize superficial and short-term works, rather than contents, invisible and long-term works to solve the real problems of the city. As a matter of fact, the mega-events in Brazil have been used as an excuse to circumvent the legislation with exceptional rules, and considering that everything is possible and it is a priority, even if the projects just present immediate and temporary results – but still require high budgets. THE PROPOSALS FOR THE MEGA-EVENTS The Olympic games have been taken as a turning point in the history of the city, to modify its image associated with poverty and violence. In terms of urban infrastructure, they boosted many projects, not only their acceleration but also their implementation. The areas for the Games are located in different parts of the city, and all the effort is concentrated to improve those specific spots, simply beautifying the
1 5 t h I N T E R N A T I O N A L P L A N N I N G H I S T O R Y S O C I E T Y C O N F E R E N C E surroundings, connecting them with the mobility project and guaranteeing a “safe” event with the security project. The proposals for the mega-events in Rio de Janeiro do not present anything new or different regarding urbanity from the other editions of the sport megaevents around the world. Sharing this thought with Curi, Knijni and Mascarenhas (2008), the areas related to the Games are going to become ‘perfect urban bubbles’, demonstrating that it is possible to have the little developed country in the city, like a Disney World moment. Thus, the interventions create gated public spaces, closed and controlled, isolating the area from the rest of the city (arguing that it is due to security reasons), but it also selects the area that can be seen and shown by the participant and media. This has already happened during the Pan American Games realized in Rio de Janeiro in 2007, when some walls were constructed as a barrier around the sport facilities. Although the city has a diverse society in cultural, economic, and social terms, the cosmopolitanism does not seem to be taken into consideration in the proposals. The event is focused on a certain target group and is going to happen at specific places, everything selected and planned to foment the specific image in people’s minds. The problem is that all these actions have been conducting the projects as well as the large amount of the public investments and for the next years, remaining in a top-bottom planning, decided by politicians and entrepreneurs, which insist to affirm that “they know what is good for the city”. The advances of the national urban legislation (Estatuto da Cidade, 2001), regulated by the master plan for the city (Revisão do Plano Diretor do Rio de Janeiro, 2006) have currently been put aside as a formal attitude, and so do the effort from the technician of the municipality and the community to have a participatory process. Unfortunately, the manifestations, forums and public discussion do not achieve greater effects. THE URBAN INTERVENTIONS Rio de Janeiro knowingly divided in two parts: rich and poor; respectively South Region (South Zone and Barra da Tijuca) and North Region (City Center, North Zone and West Zone). For the FIFA World Cup 2014, the city is going to host some matches together with other 12 Brazilian cities, including the prominent final match at the Maracanã Stadium, located on the North Zone close to the city center. The public investments cover the projects in terms of sport facilities, mobility (infrastructure), accommodation and security. But, there is lack of information regarding the planning of the city and the real legacy after the games. It is important to mention that the implementation of the mobility projects has been evicting population from entire areas to create the bus corridor and more expressways, without proper indemnification, violating human rights. 5
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