“Uma nova forma de morar e viver”: as tramas do planejamento urbano e do mercado imobiliário na cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how the real estate market executives and the municipal public power infiltrate urban planning instruments and production of the city. This research's analytical focus is the new simplified Building Code of Rio de Janeiro (COES) approved in January 2019. The new code allows the construction of apartments with a 25m² minimum area and simplifies the civil construction parameters for the city, while the previous code allowed a 28 to 60m² minimum area varying accordingly to city neighborhoods. The 2019 law allowed the real state sector to exploit a new housing model: “compact” and “studio” apartments in the noble neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro: the city's South Zone. In this research, I was able to verify the 2019 law was a result of political concessions and economic interests, as the real estate market acted in association with the local governmental institutions. Therefore, the urban planning mechanisms were strategically used to verticalize the city through the construction of high standard small apartments in the noble areas in Rio de Janeiro.