The author visiting new built road with a coordinator at Quinta do Caju.

My summer research focused on the Favela Bairro Program, a squatter settlement-upgrading project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1995, Rio's municipality developed Favela Bairro as their first attempt to consolidate squatter settlements (favelas) into the formal city. In a unique partnership, Rio's municipality pooled together financial resources from the Inter-American Development Bank and institutional support from NGOs and favela resident associations to upgrade ninety mid-size squatter settlements. The project's objectives are to furnish sanitation services, spatially reorder favelas to introduce streets, create spaces for public use, provide social services and legalize land tenure.

Originally, I planned to analyze the community participation component of the Favela Bairro (FB) Program, however because of my short stay and the evolution of my hypothesis question, I redirected my focus on the program's land tenure component. Land tenure is a central issue related to squatter settlements, and Favela Bairro is one of Brazil's first efforts to implement urban land reform. When I left Berkeley for Rio, I had a two-part hypothesis in mind. I asked the following question:

Will upgraded and improved favelas increase land values and inevitably displace poor residents and why would neo-liberal economic policies of international financial institutions, like the Inter American Development Bank (IDB), support this type of economic development?

I knew that IDB played a principal role in drafting the goals of the program, but I was not sure why they choose to prioritize architecture/ infrastructure. Architectural solutions in squatter settlements are important, but since the contemporary literature on Rio highlights drug trafficking, violence and poverty as the major problems it is incomprehensible how architectural problems became a priority. Solutions that address economic development or social capital would be more logical? I was full of question. How did the IDB expect the municipality to repay loans? How does the IDB's emphasis on architectural solutions connect to globalization, structural adjustments and neo-liberal economic policies? These questions became the central focus of my inquiry, especially since current articles applauded Favela Bairro as an example of how architectural upgrading can "alleviate poverty". My stint in Rio focused on finding out how?

Within the context of Brazil, there are several broader themes that are essential to understanding the interconnection between international development financing and localized community projects. The massive public organizing of the 1970s, created a space for civic participation that brought an end to Brazil's military dictatorship. In 1988 Brazil democratized and formed a new constitution that addressed land reform concerns related to the unequal distribution of wealth in the country. The new constitution states that squatters have a legal claim to land that they live on for five years. This clause is the basis for current urban land reform, as well as rural land reform like the Movimento Sem Terra. However, democratization also marked Brazil's transition to a capitalist economy. Throughout the 1990s previously nationalized industries opened their doors to multinational investment interested in Brazil's untapped consumer market. This transition also saw a change in squatter settlement policy. Before the military coup the policy approach was to eradicate and relocate settlements, then during the dictatorship there was a void and the settlements were ignored, then democracy brought recognition and eventually upgrading. This political background is essential to understand the formalization of Rio's squatter settlements. One third of the population, approximately four million people, lives in favelas and they are large consumer base. Formalizing favelas includes providing efficient access to electricity, water and sewage-services that have been accessed illegally or provided informally in the past. The fiscalization of land creates a consolidated system where the service sector can easily provide utilities and collect payment.

Outdoor tables at Quinta do Caju.

I arrived in Rio on Friday, June 5th and I had three weeks to find the key players that designed, implemented and managed Favela Bairro. Although, this was a short period of time I felt that my Portuguese language skills and familiarity with Rio would make up for it. I started by going to several urban planning libraries at the Instituto Pereira Passos and the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, looked at current literature on Favela Bairro, who authored it and asked librarian how I could track them down. Soon after, I had interviews lined up with several municipal and non-governmental agencies around the city. I focused on interviewing professional who worked in some capacity on Favela Bairro, or agencies that had expertise on issues related to the program. I knew I did not have enough time to interview favela residents since that would require a longer period of time to establish a report and trust. Shortly after I developed a relationship with the city's Favela Bairro office, and interviewed the director of the Regularizacao de Fundarios. This office administers the regularization of land titles. Through this department I was able to visit two of the three favelas that have received "right to use certificates" at Quinta do Caju and Ferrer Cardin. I visited both sites with their site coordinators, who are responsible for community participation and orchestrate project implementation.

After conducting my interviews it became apparent that Favela Bairro is not only integrating squatter settlements into the formal city system architecturally, but it is also fiscalizing urban land where the poor live. One of the major aspects of the program is land regulation. This process does not provide land titles where a resident can sell their investment, but rather provides residents with a "right to use certificate". Essentially this is a lease between the municipality and the resident that prevents squatters from being evicted. The lease is typically a hundred years. Although the resident can not sell the property, because technically it remain the property of the city, the property can be bequeathed to immediate family members.  This process provides the resident with security, and it provides the municipality with a system to collect property taxes and facilitate the payment of utility services.

In addition to the constitutional clause that supports land reform, Lula's administration (current president) has a strong commitment to implement land reform, but each situation is specific based landownership and zoning restrictions. According to the Favela Bairro office, actual legalization is complicated, time consuming and costly. Favelas built on municipal, state, federal land have a greater chance to receive a "right to use" certificate. The ones that are on private land have to bring their claims to the private landowner and this involves money for law suites, which favela resident usually do not have.

Outdoor theater in playground at Ferrer Cardin.

To solve the complexity of implementing full-force land reform the current trend is a three-part process. First, in order for land to be given a "right to use" certificate it must have utilities and urban services, which Favela Bairro is providing. Second, after services are installed the land can be regularized, which means that individual parcels are measured, assigned a "tenant" and registered on a city map. Third, the "right to use" certificates are drawn-up. However, the city does not provide certificates as a prerequisite to collect taxes or utility fees. Taxation has been separated from ownership rights. The only requirement is that the parcel be recorded on the city map. Once the parcel receives a street address, the resident has a fiscal responsibility to pay taxes and utility services, i.e. electricity, water and sewer. This form of consolidation will ensure that the municipality's coffers will grow and so they can eventually repay the loans from the Inter American Development Bank. It also ensures that sectors, like electricity, can increase their consumer base, can better provide services and can systematically bill residents for the electricity they use. For resident the fear of being evicted is lifted if they actually receive a certificate, otherwise they just begin to pay for services they were probably using with less supervision.

By the end of my research trip I conducted twelve interviews with professional in local government, NGOs and academia. I was able to learn what many reports have failed to mention. The Favela Bairro Program has improved architectural features in settlements (Figures 1,2,3) and although it does not publicized the fiscalization of urban land, this is central aspect of the program. My findings suggest that international financing institutions, like the IDB, support projects that further their own financial goals. There is less evidence that the Favela Bairro program will alleviate poverty beyond architectural goals or that fiscalization of land will improve the economic conditions of individual families. There are suggestions that the fiscalization will actually close-off affordable housing opportunities for the poor since the taxes and service fees might be more then they can afford. My research in the next few months will investigate these issues further and will be part of my master's thesis.