Enfim, global: a volta das políticas de remoção no Rio de Janeiro do século XXI

Abstract

This research pursuits to develop the subject of urban planning, urban entrepreneurialism and the idea of global city. Referring to the city of Rio de Janeiro, which is passing by profound changes to host the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. It aims to analyze the ideologies that guide urban policy and evaluate the main impacts of this policy and these changes in the everyday life of the city. It is considered that the production of consensus about the realization of mega-events and urban projects has encouraged the establishment of a permanent state of exception in the city, with the suspension of rights and adoption of authoritarian practices by governments. The study is part of an opposition between laws that guarantee rights and laws that suspend them, the emergency laws . Then, it is outlined an overview of current public policies in order to clarify the speeches of government on urban policy. So, conflicts that were previously concealed by the hegemonic discourse gets emphasized by presenting cases of popular resistance against the imposed project of city. The discourse of these social movements reflects the speech of a population that became a merely spectator and consumer of the city. There are problems involving city management and restrictions to public information. Meanwhile, many urban renewal projects are being performed, causing arbitrary evictions of thousands of families. Property speculation has become welcomed by the rulers, to stimulate investment and economic growth of the city and those who cannot afford to consume this city, are expelled, either directly or indirectly, to the outskirts regions, lacking infrastructure and essential services. As a result, urban policy reveals an exclusionary and undemocratic restructuring of urban space, as favoring public investment in areas of interest to the real estate capital, causing the segregation of low-income people and derail the democratic participation of the people in building policies. On the other hand, popular resistance processes are constituting a new activism that builds off the traditional political organization (from traditional political parties or social movements), constituting a horizontal struggle to reframe and recapture the town by the people.