SMH 2016

Removals on the Olympic city

The city of Rio de Janeiro has been an "Olympic champion" in housing prices over the past decade . The intense process of real estate appreciation in the city in recent years has primarily been sustained by the construction work associated with the urban reforms currently underway, and the expectations related to a cluster of events, particularly the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. Research and surveys about urban trends in Rio de Janeiro reflect some particularities about the process of capitalist production of space, and how a market-oriented outlook has been reemphasised in the city, mainly during the current municipal administration (beginning in 2009), at the expense of its citizens' rights. In this process, the residents who lose their houses as a result of the appreciation process do not enjoy the benefits that it brings about. On the contrary, they are marginalised in the reorganisation of how the urban space is occupied and appropriated. This book intends to establish connections between urbanisation activities, political projects and processes of intervention in the urban territory. Our aim is to set out the possible relationships between expropriations, removals, new housing developments, security policies, large-scale projects for the provision of public, sporting and urban mobility facilities, along with a process of producing and adding value to land based on the exclusion and elimination of a portion of the population from these localities. In other words, we will investigate the role of the state and other social and economic actors in constructing these new ventures in Rio de Janeiro.