Permeable Borders

Abstract

Rio de Janeiro has become a ’broken city’ (Ventura, 1994): rapid urbanization processes, wealth concentration, market-oriented development, governmental neglect and socio-spatial segregation have been enlarging the societal gap between rich and poor in Brazil. Those processes have shaped the fragmentation of the city, where multidimensional borders and subsequent conflicts construct a divide between the so-called formal and informal city. However, the consequences of this partition mostly affect the groups that low capacity to withstand the pressures of the city. The research intends to design strategies that can increase the permeability of the multidimensional borders of the city, by promoting the integration and increasing the adaptive capacity of the vulnerable groups in Rio de Janeiro. Finally, this research proposes that the co-production of spaces can create places of potentiality, that can enhance social interactions and support the self-development of the local population. Carried out as an open project, an exploratory design, the proposal has been translated to an extensive set of independent, but complementary, socio-ecological strategies that vary according to scale, program and involved stakeholders. The flexibility of the project intends to construct an alternative development process, open to changes and adaptive to uncertainties; that can satisfy local demands and promote the integration between the polarized communities in Rio de Janeiro, as well as enhance their adaptive capacity towards future fluctuations.