Table of Contents for my dissertation:
INFORMAL URBAN DISPLACEMENT IN RIO DE JANEIRO:
ECOLIMITS ... more Table of Contents for my dissertation:
INFORMAL URBAN DISPLACEMENT IN RIO DE JANEIRO: ECOLIMITS AND DISASTER BIOPOLITICS IN THE FAVELA SANTA MARTA by Charles L. Heck Florida International University, 2016 Miami, Florida
Professor Roderick Neumann, Major Professor
This dissertation examines the effect of environmental discourse and disaster risk reduction mapping in the favela Santa Marta, an urban informal settlement in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With the world’s largest urban forest within the metro area, Rio de Janeiro is unusual for a metropolis of more than ten million people in the rapidly urbanizing country of Brazil. The government of Rio de Janeiro has attempted to control favela settlements since the early 20th century, but beginning in the 1990s the prefecture began delimiting favela settlements with environmentally protected areas called ecolimits. According to the state’s calculations, in the 2000s favelas began to rapidly expand into urban forest, which is protected by the ecolimits and national parks in Rio de Janeiro. The state then labeled Santa Marta the model favela after infrastructure improvements there and the installation of the first Pacification Police Unit, a new form of community policing begun in 2008 for favelas. In 2009, the state built a wall around Santa Marta, justified by concerns about expansion into the adjacent urban forest. The focus of my study is the particular ways that the government has framed its resettlement efforts in Santa Marta and how favela residents responded. I employ the concept of biopolitics assemblage to critically investigate the state’s and international institutions’ discursive and material practices of disaster risk management in Santa Marta. I collected data using a mixed methods approach during 15 months of fieldwork. Through archival research, I document the history of favela control tactics and trace the roots of disaster risk management in Rio de Janeiro to a World Bank financed disaster response project initiated in 1988. Using ethnographic methods, I documented residents’ responses to and understandings of the government’s resettlement project for Santa Marta. My results indicate that the state has discursively shifted the problem of favelas from a social question to an environmental one, while residents continue to frame favela conditions as a social justice issue and challenge the state’s assessment of environmental risk.
I presented these maps from a class GIS project at an invited talk I gave at the GIS center at Fl... more I presented these maps from a class GIS project at an invited talk I gave at the GIS center at Florida International University titled "The 2010 Brazilian Census: Lots of Data, Lots of Discrepancies".
The dicennial census of Brazil includes questions about living conditions and includes favela settlements and other urban informal settlements. The census micro-sectors provide a more granular look at Brazil’s urban population. Thousands of favela residents were displaced and resettled leading up to the 2016 Olympics.The high cost of rent in the southern zone will force them to leave for other parts of Rio with more precarious services and poor transportation. Santa Marta has been held up as a model favela for public policy. Santa Marta often experienced water and electricity outages during my field research. The sewage system in Santa Marta was poorly designed and overloaded during rainstorms. Water at the top of Santa Marta relied on a water reservoir that often ran out for days at a time. Basic sanitation is one of the most common complaints among favela residents. Residents used twitter to lodge their complaints with public officials.
To summarize, I use two response variables on the recognition of global warming and on the agreem... more To summarize, I use two response variables on the recognition of global warming and on the agreement that humans should adapt to global warming rather than prevent it. I have three explanatory variables: news media source, income, and political party. My control variables are gender, age, race, and education. I expect that party identification will influence both the assessment that there is evidence of global warming and the agreement that humanity should adapt to rather than prevent global warming.
Table of Contents for my dissertation:
INFORMAL URBAN DISPLACEMENT IN RIO DE JANEIRO:
ECOLIMITS ... more Table of Contents for my dissertation:
INFORMAL URBAN DISPLACEMENT IN RIO DE JANEIRO: ECOLIMITS AND DISASTER BIOPOLITICS IN THE FAVELA SANTA MARTA by Charles L. Heck Florida International University, 2016 Miami, Florida
Professor Roderick Neumann, Major Professor
This dissertation examines the effect of environmental discourse and disaster risk reduction mapping in the favela Santa Marta, an urban informal settlement in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With the world’s largest urban forest within the metro area, Rio de Janeiro is unusual for a metropolis of more than ten million people in the rapidly urbanizing country of Brazil. The government of Rio de Janeiro has attempted to control favela settlements since the early 20th century, but beginning in the 1990s the prefecture began delimiting favela settlements with environmentally protected areas called ecolimits. According to the state’s calculations, in the 2000s favelas began to rapidly expand into urban forest, which is protected by the ecolimits and national parks in Rio de Janeiro. The state then labeled Santa Marta the model favela after infrastructure improvements there and the installation of the first Pacification Police Unit, a new form of community policing begun in 2008 for favelas. In 2009, the state built a wall around Santa Marta, justified by concerns about expansion into the adjacent urban forest. The focus of my study is the particular ways that the government has framed its resettlement efforts in Santa Marta and how favela residents responded. I employ the concept of biopolitics assemblage to critically investigate the state’s and international institutions’ discursive and material practices of disaster risk management in Santa Marta. I collected data using a mixed methods approach during 15 months of fieldwork. Through archival research, I document the history of favela control tactics and trace the roots of disaster risk management in Rio de Janeiro to a World Bank financed disaster response project initiated in 1988. Using ethnographic methods, I documented residents’ responses to and understandings of the government’s resettlement project for Santa Marta. My results indicate that the state has discursively shifted the problem of favelas from a social question to an environmental one, while residents continue to frame favela conditions as a social justice issue and challenge the state’s assessment of environmental risk.
I presented these maps from a class GIS project at an invited talk I gave at the GIS center at Fl... more I presented these maps from a class GIS project at an invited talk I gave at the GIS center at Florida International University titled "The 2010 Brazilian Census: Lots of Data, Lots of Discrepancies".
The dicennial census of Brazil includes questions about living conditions and includes favela settlements and other urban informal settlements. The census micro-sectors provide a more granular look at Brazil’s urban population. Thousands of favela residents were displaced and resettled leading up to the 2016 Olympics.The high cost of rent in the southern zone will force them to leave for other parts of Rio with more precarious services and poor transportation. Santa Marta has been held up as a model favela for public policy. Santa Marta often experienced water and electricity outages during my field research. The sewage system in Santa Marta was poorly designed and overloaded during rainstorms. Water at the top of Santa Marta relied on a water reservoir that often ran out for days at a time. Basic sanitation is one of the most common complaints among favela residents. Residents used twitter to lodge their complaints with public officials.
To summarize, I use two response variables on the recognition of global warming and on the agreem... more To summarize, I use two response variables on the recognition of global warming and on the agreement that humans should adapt to global warming rather than prevent it. I have three explanatory variables: news media source, income, and political party. My control variables are gender, age, race, and education. I expect that party identification will influence both the assessment that there is evidence of global warming and the agreement that humanity should adapt to rather than prevent global warming.
Uploads
INFORMAL URBAN DISPLACEMENT IN RIO DE JANEIRO:
ECOLIMITS AND DISASTER BIOPOLITICS IN THE FAVELA SANTA MARTA
by
Charles L. Heck
Florida International University, 2016
Miami, Florida
Professor Roderick Neumann, Major Professor
This dissertation examines the effect of environmental discourse and disaster risk reduction mapping in the favela Santa Marta, an urban informal settlement in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With the world’s largest urban forest within the metro area, Rio de Janeiro is unusual for a metropolis of more than ten million people in the rapidly urbanizing country of Brazil. The government of Rio de Janeiro has attempted to control favela settlements since the early 20th century, but beginning in the 1990s the prefecture began delimiting favela settlements with environmentally protected areas called ecolimits. According to the state’s calculations, in the 2000s favelas began to rapidly expand into urban forest, which is protected by the ecolimits and national parks in Rio de Janeiro. The state then labeled Santa Marta the model favela after infrastructure improvements there and the installation of the first Pacification Police Unit, a new form of community policing begun in 2008 for favelas. In 2009, the state built a wall around Santa Marta, justified by concerns about expansion into the adjacent urban forest.
The focus of my study is the particular ways that the government has framed its resettlement efforts in Santa Marta and how favela residents responded. I employ the concept of biopolitics assemblage to critically investigate the state’s and international institutions’ discursive and material practices of disaster risk management in Santa Marta. I collected data using a mixed methods approach during 15 months of fieldwork. Through archival research, I document the history of favela control tactics and trace the roots of disaster risk management in Rio de Janeiro to a World Bank financed disaster response project initiated in 1988. Using ethnographic methods, I documented residents’ responses to and understandings of the government’s resettlement project for Santa Marta. My results indicate that the state has discursively shifted the problem of favelas from a social question to an environmental one, while residents continue to frame favela conditions as a social justice issue and challenge the state’s assessment of environmental risk.
The dicennial census of Brazil includes questions about living conditions and includes favela settlements and other urban informal settlements. The census micro-sectors provide a more granular look at Brazil’s urban population. Thousands of favela residents were displaced and resettled leading up to the 2016 Olympics.The high cost of rent in the southern zone will force them to leave for other parts of Rio with more precarious services and poor transportation. Santa Marta has been held up as a model favela for public policy. Santa Marta often experienced water and electricity outages during my field research. The sewage system in Santa Marta was poorly designed and overloaded during rainstorms. Water at the top of Santa Marta relied on a water reservoir that often ran out for days at a time. Basic sanitation is one of the most common complaints among favela residents. Residents used twitter to lodge their complaints with public officials.
INFORMAL URBAN DISPLACEMENT IN RIO DE JANEIRO:
ECOLIMITS AND DISASTER BIOPOLITICS IN THE FAVELA SANTA MARTA
by
Charles L. Heck
Florida International University, 2016
Miami, Florida
Professor Roderick Neumann, Major Professor
This dissertation examines the effect of environmental discourse and disaster risk reduction mapping in the favela Santa Marta, an urban informal settlement in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With the world’s largest urban forest within the metro area, Rio de Janeiro is unusual for a metropolis of more than ten million people in the rapidly urbanizing country of Brazil. The government of Rio de Janeiro has attempted to control favela settlements since the early 20th century, but beginning in the 1990s the prefecture began delimiting favela settlements with environmentally protected areas called ecolimits. According to the state’s calculations, in the 2000s favelas began to rapidly expand into urban forest, which is protected by the ecolimits and national parks in Rio de Janeiro. The state then labeled Santa Marta the model favela after infrastructure improvements there and the installation of the first Pacification Police Unit, a new form of community policing begun in 2008 for favelas. In 2009, the state built a wall around Santa Marta, justified by concerns about expansion into the adjacent urban forest.
The focus of my study is the particular ways that the government has framed its resettlement efforts in Santa Marta and how favela residents responded. I employ the concept of biopolitics assemblage to critically investigate the state’s and international institutions’ discursive and material practices of disaster risk management in Santa Marta. I collected data using a mixed methods approach during 15 months of fieldwork. Through archival research, I document the history of favela control tactics and trace the roots of disaster risk management in Rio de Janeiro to a World Bank financed disaster response project initiated in 1988. Using ethnographic methods, I documented residents’ responses to and understandings of the government’s resettlement project for Santa Marta. My results indicate that the state has discursively shifted the problem of favelas from a social question to an environmental one, while residents continue to frame favela conditions as a social justice issue and challenge the state’s assessment of environmental risk.
The dicennial census of Brazil includes questions about living conditions and includes favela settlements and other urban informal settlements. The census micro-sectors provide a more granular look at Brazil’s urban population. Thousands of favela residents were displaced and resettled leading up to the 2016 Olympics.The high cost of rent in the southern zone will force them to leave for other parts of Rio with more precarious services and poor transportation. Santa Marta has been held up as a model favela for public policy. Santa Marta often experienced water and electricity outages during my field research. The sewage system in Santa Marta was poorly designed and overloaded during rainstorms. Water at the top of Santa Marta relied on a water reservoir that often ran out for days at a time. Basic sanitation is one of the most common complaints among favela residents. Residents used twitter to lodge their complaints with public officials.