All Rights ReservedPonce, Leonel2025-02-122025-02-122016978-85-7785-551-1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/2679Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the southPatterns of increased global urbanization and a rise in precarious urban settlements have exacerbated trends towards substandard and unsustainable living conditions for billions around the Developing World. In Brazil, and specifically Rio de Janeiro, favelas have embodied this dual struggle to improve the livelihoods of citizens, while diminishing their negative impacts on the environment. Since the award of the 2016 Olympic Games, increased investment has led to numerous projects in these neglected communities. Urbanization programs such as Morar Carioca and Minha Casa Minha Vida have given residents glimpses of inclusive and sustainable development strategies, but ultimately failed to provide a continuous and stable vehicle for infrastructural improvement and related social, economic, and environmental benefits. As these communities have come under increasing international scrutiny, favelas have become a laboratory for scholars, planners, scientists, nonprofits and community organizers, leading to a variety of infrastructural projects that can provide an counterpoint to the abandoned top down approaches by local government programs. To overcome their principal infrastructural deficits, favela communities are creatively and directly collaborating with these outside parties to leverage their environmental and community assets and advance natural systems through participatory processes. This partnership between creative professionals, advocates, and local residents bridges knowledge gaps and broadens the scope of each approach, propagating more cohesive and holistic projects.EnglishopenAccessconferenceObject115-118