Rocinha-Rio de Janerio
Introduction
Rocinha is the largest and most populous favela in Brazil. It has a total area of around 144 hectares with a population which was measured by consensus in 2010 to 70,00 people. This However, in such a large slum with houses sprawling everywhere and a none writing and reading population such a consensus is unlikely to be accurate. An unofficial estimate put the population at 180,000 people. This results in a population density of 44,800-67,300 people per . The people in Rocinha live in small shanties all stacked up to eleven stories high and unprofessionally built. Although most houses have basic satiation and running water and electricity, most residents live in extreme poverty as the available jobs that can pay a living wage are only for people who have a degree above the high school level.
Rocinha was originally an area where slaves produced sugar cane and coffee. In the 1900s the close neighbourhoods of Sao Conrado and Gavea started to grow and cheap labour was required to build the apartments and houses required to expand. This meant that the labourers had to find houses of their own as there were no cheap options available nor any housing policies in place. The growth of Rocinha can be directly attributed to this fact.
Rocinha is situated close to the South American ocean although the the favela ends around a kilometre from the sea. Similarly to all other slums in Rio de Janerio, Rocinha's vast network of multi-storey shanties is built on a hill, sloping upwards towards the North. Just to the North of the favela there is the national park of Cidade.
It being a slum, there is surprising transport in the local area with buses running where the roads are wide enough to allow it. There are three main bus routes as well as mototaxis which can take you around the narrow favela streets and for a higher price can take you out. Taxis are also available where roads allow.
Quality of life
Since the late 1950s life in Rocinha has impoved greatly. Most of the houses that used to be wood have now been built out of stone and concrete and although they would not be considered good by Western standards, there are shops, recreational facilities, schools and even over 25 channels on television.
Rocinha has 25 different neighbourhoods which help to distinguish where people live. The way these are named are particular to different people. The different areas of the favela are also very distinct and can be told apart by their atmosphere and by how busy they are. Rocinha has a strong sense of community and welcomes newcomers kindly, often with gifts of clothes or furniture. In Rocinha people's houses are incredibly important to them
Proposal
The largest problem in Rocinha is the extremely high crime rate. With the favela being so large and with difficult access by anything other than foot or in some cases bikes, enforcing crime in the area is quite difficult. The biggest problems in Rocinha are the gangs which control the favela with drug money. The police are often scared of patrolling the favela without a gun because of how violent they are. Even now after police have successfully taken over most of the favela, the gangs still run it. This is shown by the fact that most people wound not even report a crime to the police because of the fear of being killed or attacked by those in the gang who commuted the crime. This happens despite a large presence of security including the navy and military.
In order to make Rocinha a safer place for its residents, it would have to be safe for them to come forward if they were protected as is used in programs such as the witness protection programme in the United States. People who come forward and feel threatened could be protected by the police when they report crime. The people who come forward could be offered small rewards such as job offers or funding for a child's education. They could then be kept in safe custody until all involved are arrested. This would allow the police to clean the streets quickly and effectively and see the police working more closely with the community.
Another large problem in this slum is the extreme poverty. Some are lucky enough to have a job in one of the neighbouring towns where the people are quite rich. However, many use their own houses as shops for example as a hair salon. Many more people could have a better life and more money if a better education was provided. Most people who live in Rocinha only attend school for 4.1 years and this significantly decreases their chances of getting a job. They key to reducing poverty is to educate not just children but adults as well. Schools could be provided with better teachers and after hours classes could exist for children. As children are commonly deprived of an education because they need to make money for their family families must also be compensated this. Such a programme could be funded by government in return for information on criminals. The locals would agree to this because when they become old, their children will be able to make enough money to look after them. Such an initiative would be improving the current state provided schools which are considered by many to be very poor, with attendees only rarely gaining access to a university, which they can only afford if they get a scholarship.
An education also benefits the community in other ways. Adults could be educated on how to do their jobs better. Food sellers could identify if their food is not fit for consumption and barbers could maintain higher sanitation in their shops. This would also mean that a higher quality of workmanship as well as higher cleanliness levels. Such an education initiative could also educate adults on how to protect their environment.
Rocinha has very good facilities including water, electricity and toilets that are available to most of the population. The roads in the upper parts are too narrow to allow garbage trucks to pass and collect rubbish but the people work together to carry it down to an accessible road. This works well but does not help stopping the spread of disease. Very simple measures can be taken to halt the spread of illness. Hand gel and soap, both of which are very inexpensive, can be distributed and the water that is provided can also be treated at the source. This is necessary simply because basic health is a human right and needs to be supplied by the government. For waste disposal, gloves could be used to carry the waste out as it is not a feasible option to destroy houses and make roads for obvious reasons. The rubbish also says in collection points for too long and collection is not often enough. This could be changed to twice a week to keep the slum clean and stop diseases spreading.
The houses are stacked very high and the government has successfully renovated ad few streets, widening the streets, making the houses more comfortable and creating more space for shops. Such a programme is achieved through self-help where the residents are given materials and guidance and build things themselves. Such a programme is expensive though and would take a lot of time because not too much money can be allocated by the government every year.
Improving just one of the many favelas in Rio would attract way too many people so the favelas should all be developed at the same time to stop this happening. Having too many people in the slum would just worsen the current problems. A lot of money would be required to complete a project of this size but when completed would not only affect the people positively but also affect the country positively in the long term by giving its people the skills to work in more advanced sectors.
Bibliography:
Rocinha Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocinha#
About Rocinha:
BBC Favela life and Rio case study:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-27635554
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/intermediate2/geography/human_environments/urban_areas/revision/5/
Google maps image:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@-22.9898191,-43.2554762,16z/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-gb
The New School-Rocinha:
http://blogs.newschool.edu/epsm/2012/05/24/rocinha-rio-de-janeiro/
Bitesize-Life in the favela of Rocinha
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zgp4d2p
GlobalPost-Police took over Rio's biggest slum:
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6718173/2016/01/11/brazil-rocinha-favela-pacification
Life in Rocinha-Bloogspot:
http://lifeinrocinha.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/interesting-facts-of-favela-life-part-1.html
http://lifeinrocinha.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/life-in-favela-pt2.html