How can life be improved for the urban poor?

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How can life be improved for the urban poor?

• Is city life in LEDCs doomed to failure?

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We have seen why migrants

• 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

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However the quality of life in cities can be
improved
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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

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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

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Copocobana beach

• Some residents of Rio enjoy extremely high living
  standards. Owning property on the Copacabana
  beachfront can cost millions of pounds

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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

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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.

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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.

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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 Inter-American
  Development Bank, the Rio city authorities have
  spent 500,000 on the 'Favela-Bairio'

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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.

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2 Examples of REAL improvements from 'Favela
Bairio'
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Villa Canoas
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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.

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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

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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

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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!

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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.

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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.