SPS Seminar 21 May 2015: Urban Transformations in Rio de Janeiro
Professor Guilherme Lassance, from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, discussed urban transformations in the city of Rio de Janeiro ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games. He highlighted the transformations happening at the outskirts of the city of Rio, following the Arco-Metropolitano, the gigantic ring-road encircling the city.
To propel its economic development as one of the main hub-ports of Latin America, massive investments have been made in freight infrastructure in the periphery of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The new “Arco Metropolitano”, a ring-road that intercepts all major highways before they enter the more urbanized areas, is now triggering the transformation of distant and mostly rural peripheries into a new land of economic opportunities. This scenario implies the need to develop new urbanization models and methods that would help to counter unplanned urban growth, address specific environmental and social challenges and rethink the very concepts of compact city and urban sprawl.
