Door into the future? Debates about the transformation of Porto Maravilha (Rio de Janeiro)

Having been historically important and shaped by slavery and colonialism, Porto Maravilha's waterfront in Rio de Janeiro, has, since 2011, been fully revitalized through public-private partnerships. In a town, which is associated with easy exoticism, with delinquency and drug economy, the port zone should in the context of the mega sport events of 2014 (the FIFA World Coup) and 2016 (the Olympic Summer Games) create an internationally respected display window for responsible urban ethics with green spaces, affordable housing and clean water. For the first time, the harbor zone aims at being a space for responsible history policy, that manifests itself in cultural historical projects such as museums, Afro-Brazilian memorials, cultural centers, and events in the public space, and discusses the crimes of a slave economy. The processes of transformation in Porto Maravilha strive for the social inclusion of still marginalized groups of inhabitants, as it was formulated and partially enforced on a national level by the former governments of Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff (2003-16). This subproject analyzes, which politics in the architectonic-symbolical and economic transformation of this greater area were enforced in a top-down fashion and which politics resulted from negotiation processes between civil and governmental players, which kind of governance, which measures of social creativity can be identified and which ethical actors and subjects will develop within the transformation processes.

The project is part of the Interdisciplinary DFG Research Group "Urban Ethics", which examines how answers to the question "how should one live in the city?" are being negotiated. In the following cities the interdisciplinary group works on a new approach on urban ethics: Auckland, Mexico City, Munich, New York City, Rio de Janeiro and Tbilisi.

Nature of the project:

DFG-funded project, part of the DFG Research group (FOR 2101)

Duration:

2018-2021

Participating researchers:

In the Rio project:
Prof. Dr. Ursula Prutsch (LMU)
Dr. Clemens van Loyen (LMU)

In the research group:
Prof. Dr. Eveline Dürr (LMU) (Mexico City)
Prof. Dr. Moritz Ege (University of Göttingen) (New York City)
Prof. Dr. Guido Hausmann (University of Regensburg) (Tbilisi)
Prof. Dr. Hannes Moser (LMU) (Munich)
Prof. Dr. Gordon Winder (LMU) (Auckland)