Environmental and Social Sustainability of Urban Upgrading Programs: Lessons from Rio.

Given that on-site upgrading is the "state-of-the-art" policy for squatter settlements and given that Favela Bairro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one of the most celebrated of these upgrading programs, this article addresses these three questions: how well did the infrastructure improvements hold up a decade after they were completed?; What happened during those ten years that reversed some of the positive impacts found in an evaluation study right after the upgrading was completed?; and, What can we learn from that?. Specifically, this paper assesses the state of the infrastructure of the 88 informal neighborhoods (favelas) improved by the Favela-Bairro-II (FB2) program between 2000 and 2008. The assessment found that, after a decade, the condition of the infrastructure in the upgraded favelas was no better than the infrastructure in the non-upgraded favelas. Climate change and lack of social cohesion undermined the sustainability of the upgrading. The improvements which deteriorated the most were street pavement, street lighting, drainage, and sewerage systems. Greatest deterioration occurred in larger favelas, those located on steep slopes and those with higher levels of violence and crime. No correlation was found between population density and deterioration of infrastructure. • Our article is based on field inspections and focus groups of more than eighty upgraded informal neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro. • Rio de Janeiro neighborhood upgraded program is one of the most ambitious, long standing, slums upgrading programs in the world. • Our findings highlight the increasing relevance of community engagement and environmental impacts on the sustainability of urban upgrades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]