1. Favela at the Forefront:
Design, Dynamics, and Development Aggression within Informal Urbanism
Nicholas Okafor
Department of International and Area Studies | Advisers: Prof. Shanti Parikh and Lynnea Brumbaugh
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my advisors, Shanti Parikh and Lynnea
Brumbaugh, along with those in IAS and OUR that have assisted
with my own development of my research process. Also, I’d like
to thank the community of Alagados for their support.
Abstract
The future of development will be marked in how we deal with slums.
This rapid development often lacks community participation, which
reduces the sustainability of the project. With a focus on favelas, this
fieldwork done on Projeto Ribeira Azul in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil,
deconstructs the role participatory design and community dynamics
play within slum development. Pushing past the dichotomy of good vs.
bad development, this study elaborates on development aggression,
which marks when a foreign group intervenes within a community to
spark development but their resulting project has a negative impact.
Data: Community Participation
Development Aggression
Connecting the works of Amartya Sen and Alexandre Frediani,
this study led to a critical analysis of development in the context
of freedom, exposing PRA’s restrictive policies and results.
Data: Environmental Health
Fieldwork
Objectives:
• To analyze the community response to Projeto Ribeira Azul
as a measure of effectiveness of the initiative
• To access how Projeto Ribeira Azul increased and restricted
certain freedoms and liberties during development
• To add to current literature and design strategies for
housing within informal settlements
Methods:
• Three weeks of participant observation
• Surveys and interviews with fifty community members
• Interview with former Projeto Ribeira Azul manager
Participatory Design
Citizen Power
Delegated Power
Partnership
Placation
Consultation
Informing
Therapy
Manipulation
“There is a critical difference between going through the
empty ritual of participation and having the real power
needed to affect the outcome of the process.”
Degrees of
citizen Power
Degrees of
Tokenism
No power
System Dynamics
In future iterations, I would use this method to map the
following factors of development aggression:
• Citizen Power, Levels of Participation, Local Labor Usage,
Efficacy and Efficiency of Dev, Success of Project
THE NUMBERS
A product of informal urbanism, favelas emerged from an unmet need for housing in the
formal sector. Outside of governmental regulation, these communities of concentrated
disadvantage are developed by individual residents and are continuously adapting to the
culture and access to resources, jobs, knowledge, and the city.
POPULATION
11.4 MILLION PEOPLE
LIVE IN FAVELAS
WHICH IS MORE THAN THE
THE POPULATION OF PORTUGAL
VULNERABILITY
FAVELAS OFTEN FIND
THEMSELVES PREY TO
ENVIRONMENTAL
VULNERABILITY
DENSITY
FAVELAS
FORM LOW-RISE
YET HIGH DENSITY
STREETSCAPES
PRIDE
80% OF THOSE LIVING
IN A FAVELA ARE PROUD
OF WHERE THEY LIVE
EDUCATION
ROUGHLY 30%
OF FAVELA RESIDENTS
IDENTIFY AS
ILLITERATE
SANITATION
ABOUT
ONE-
THIRD
OF FAVELADOS
ARE NOT CONNECTED
TO SANITATION SERVICES
WATER ACCESS
FAVELAS ARE
RESPONSIBLE FOR
R$38.6
BILLION PER YEAR
IN COMMERICAL ACTIVITY.
(WHICH IS EQUIVALENT TO
THE GDP OF BOLIVIA)
6 OUT OT 10
HOUSES
DO NOT
HAVE ACCESS TO
PIPED
WATER