2012 Reports

Studio Report: Porto Maravilha: planning for inclusive communities in Rio de Janeiro's Port Area

Irazabal Zurita, Clara E.; De Castro Mazarro, Alejandro; Huerta, Claudia P.; Bolich, Rosemary R.; Kogan, Millay; Podemski, Max B.; Saah, Daleen; Salinger, Jordan Harrison; Welton, Sarah; Yu, May

The Porto Maravilha Studio represents the work of seven Masters in Urban Planning students from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation with the guidance of their instructors. In Spring 2012, the studio worked in collaboration with the Municipal Secretary of Housing of Rio de Janeiro (Secretaria Municipal de Habitação, or SMH) to analyze opportunities for incorporating affordable and inclusionary housing in the urban redevelopment plans of Rio de Janeiro’s historic port area. Rio will host a number of mega-events in the next five years, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics Games, and is currently undergoing large-scale urban development projects in preparation for these events. Despite its economic growth, the city faces a growing housing deficit that has been driven by rapidly increasing housing costs and population growth, among other factors. This presents many challenges to the SMH’s goal of ensuring access to housing to low-income residents as a basic social right. In supplementing the SMH’s mission, the Porto Maravilha studio seeks to deliver SMH with planning strategies to
develop both affordable and inclusionary housing through the Porto Maravilha Project, a large urban redevelopment of the port area catalyzed by the upcoming Olympics and other mega-events.