REHA SHEEKL

FAVELAS IN BRAZIL AHMED FAZEEL

SYED SALAH HASSAN
WHY DO PEOPLE MOVE TO THE CITY?
Rural-urban migration
Push
Lack of electrical, water
and sewage services.
Hard work, long hours and
little pay for farmers.
Shortage of education,
health and welfare services.
Chance of natural disasters
leading to crop failure.
Pull
The availability of schools,
doctors, hospitals and
entertainment.
A greater variety of jobs
with higher wages.
Improved housing.
More reliable sources of
food
More enjoyment of life.
LIVING IN A FAVELA
WHAT ARE THEY?
Found mainly in LEDC’s.
They are informal and built from anything and everything.
They are illegal and built on unsafe and unwanted land.
Some are built on steep slopes and are subject to landslides.
Others may be built on floodplains which will be subject to flooding.
The rise of favelas has been rapid.
A favela is an “area lacking formal services, containing 60 or more families
who are squatting illegally on the site”.
Out of Rio’s 12 million population, between 1.7 and 2.5 million of them live
in slums.
The largest favela, Rocinha, is estimated to have a population of 80,000.
 HOUSES IN FAVELAS
The houses are usually made
first from wattle-and-daub, a
mixture of sand and clay, and
eventually to the use of
wood, brick and sheet metal.
Usually, the first settle near
the bottom of the hills and as
time goes by the hill fills
upward
 HOUSES IN FAVELAS
The housing that is created is often located away from their work.
There was an attempt to replace some favelas on the same site with
three-storey apartment buildings that would still allow the faveladors
to work where they have been. This was only a limited experiment
and was never considered to replace all favelas.
 RIO DE JANEIRO

Rich Poor
PROBLEMS OF URBAN GROWTH IN LEDC’S

Traffic problems
Unemployment
Poverty
Housing Problems
Crime
In Rio around 1 in3 people live in one of its 763 favelas
PROBLEMS CAUSED BY GROWTH
OF SHANTY TOWNS
No services i.e.. Doctors, water, toilets, electric.
Disease can spread quickly.
Crime.
No education.
Fire hazards.
Rubbish/pollution.
Houses situated on unsafe land.
No social life.
Low standard of living.
 WHAT ARE FAVELAS LIKE TO
LIVE IN

Each favela has its own community complete with grocery markets,
clothing stores, pharmacies, repair shops and other types of small
businesses. This varies depending on the location of the favela and by
the size of its population
For groceries, the prices are higher in the favelas than elsewhere in
the city.
“The architecture of survival”…
Some are better than o
 THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAVELAS

Favelas located in the South Zone have the best chance of finding work.
This is due to the infrastructure of the wealthy and their need for people
to complete odd jobs. Many times these jobs can lead into positions of
housekeeper, nanny or groundskeeper for the wealthy residents.
Favelas surround EVERY
MAJOR CITY in Brazil

The wealthy use numerous

“creative” techniques to
avoid interacting with the
poor / avoid favela areas

Ex: Highrises, Helipads

EDUCATION IN FAVELAS
In Rio, schooling is divided by address of residency. Because of this,
faveladors are not allowed to attend these schools. If a parent has a
connection or job with one of the wealthy residents, they can claim
that as their home address and allow their children to attend that
school.
THINGS DONE TO IMPROVE
FAVELAS
Rio de Janeiro plans to invest $1 billion U.S dollars in improving the
‘Favela-Bairro’, one of the worst favelas in Brazil. It is recognised as one
of the worst in the world.
RIO DE JANEIRO

In 1990, a programme of electrification had started to improve

conditions in the favelas.
Some favelas date back to the 1940’s and have a mix of commercial
services for a diverse socio-economic population.
The worst conditions are found in the most recent favelas such as no
basic services, low incomes, and very high unemployment.
LAND USE ZONES IN LEDC’S