the role of an ngo in building urban resilience in rio de janeiro

Resilient Cities 2011 Bonn 2011, June 4th Session: Cities in Focus III

Green Infrastructure for Urban Resilience

The role of an NGO in building urban resilience in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Cecilia P. Herzog and Anouck Barcat

Summary

• About Rio de Janeiro

• About INVERDE

• Lectures and conferences

• Website

• Projects and propositions

• Closing remarks

About Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Atlantic Rain Forest Today only 7% left

Source: SOS Mata Atlântica

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro city limits massifs and river basins

Population: 6,1 million inhabitants Area: 1.255,3 Km²

Guanabara Bay

• dense and spread urban growth pattern

• formal and informal settlement over sensitive areas

• hills razed

• embankments and created lands

Magnificent Natural Scenery Originally covered by Atlantic Rain Forest Biosphere Reserve

Guanabara Bay

Guanabara Bay shores: mostly impervious urban area

urbanized

vegetated

1960’s

Barra da Tijuca: typical occupation pattern

• Native ecosystems suppression • Globalized landscape design • Priority to cars, few public transportation options

2005

Rio de Janeiro will host International Events in the following years: • 2011 – Military World Games • 2012 – Rio + 20 • 2014 - World Cup (Football ) • 2016 – Olympic and Paralympic Games

Vulnerabilities

Climate Change in Brazilian cities: urgency of planning adaptation to face impacts

Project: Megacities, Vulnerability and Climate Changes General coordination: Paulo P. de Gusmão

Rio de Janeiro‘s challenges (some)

• Floods and landslides (stronger and more frequent);

• Temperature increase – urban heat islands;

• Sea level rise;

• Extreme climatic events more frequent and intense

• Macro drainage problems;

• Potable water shortage (higher salinity and decrease in groundwater levels);

• Health related problems: dengue, stress, respiratory disorders;

• Impacts on biodiversity: loss of native species, favorable conditions for invasive species;

• Food and power shortages, among others.

http://aleosp2008.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/rua-jardim-botanico-rj-1988_11-29-2008.jpg em 02.05.09

Grey infrastructure’s inability do face the challenges:

Pernambuco 01.07.2010 http://www.oeco.com.br/salada-verde/24133-uso-do-solo-favoreceu-tragedia-diz-professor

Rua Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro 06.04.2010 (crédito: Alex Herzog)

Rua Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro ,1988

April 6th, 2011

USUAL FLOODS

April 27th, 2011

USUAL FLOODS

May 30th, 2011

USUAL STORM SURGES AND POWER SHORTAGES

Infrastructure and new facilities are being built along the beaches. Almost all were affected in the last week end.

Heavy economic losses: private and public.

Low areas – susceptible to sea level rise floods

Infrastructure under construction and projects for the international events and oil industry

Rio de Janeiro: Cidade Maravilhosa?

“Projeto Olímpico” - Olympic Project • Isolated propositions with no actual projects available for analysis; • Private cars traffic oriented; • Lack of planning in regional, city or local scales; • Economic orientation, in spite of social-ecological aspects; • No systemic and long term vision; • Lack of accountability and real public participation in all instances.

http://veja.abril.com.br/complementos-materias/rio-olimpiadas-info/info-popup.shtml access in 21.05.2011

TOP-DOWN DECISIONS!

Porto Maravilha

Waterfront: Impervious surfaces, deficient tree planting and poor biodiversity, focus on private cars circulation, no transit systems among others

“Palmeirization”

Olympic Villa

In a created land at the ocean lagoon level

About INVERDE

• Educate and raise awareness about Climate Change vulnerability and the urgency of adapting Brazilian cities to face Climate Change impacts;

• Research, design and multiply Green Infrastructure projects that help mitigate climate change effects and adapt urban ecosystems

• Campaign by all means to support resilient and sustainable cities planning and design.

Objectives

Inverde is a non-profit organization, founded in January 2009 by a multidisciplinary team.

EMPOWER PEOPLE! BOTTOM-UP APPROACH

Lectures and Conferences CITIES FOR PEOPLE AND NATURE!

About Inverde:

INVERDE monthly lectures

Renowned Brazilian and international speakers on URBAN SUSTAINABILITY related topics.

2010: Mortality of fishes in Lake Rodrigo de Freitas : issues and solutions

INVERDE round-tables conferences

Different fields: architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, agronomy etc.

INVERDE lectures in Universities

São Paulo City Department for Green and the Environment

UMAPAZ, nov 2010

INVERDE lectures for Public Sector

O Globo (newspaper) – Razão Social

Forum How to build a better city?

November, 23rd 2010

Website About Inverde:

Information – Education – Open Forum about the cities

From October 2009 till April 2011

more than 50.000 visits From Brazil and abroad

www.inverde.org

Projects and Propositions PLACES FOR PEOPLE WITH NATURE!

About Inverde:

Proposition of a Green Infrastructure plan for the Botanical Garden

neighborhood could be a model for the whole city

RIO+VERDE

• Situated at the South zone of the city

• Interface between rain forest fragment and dense urban occupation

• In the heart of one of the most impressive landscapes of Rio de Janeiro

Zona Norte

Barra da Tijuca

Zona Oeste

Zona Sul

Centro

Sugar Loaf

Copacabana

Christ the Redeemer

(statue)

• c

Lagoa

Ipanema

Leblon

Botafogo

Leme

Botanical

Garden

RIO+VERDE

Botanical Garden Neighborhood:

RIO+VERDE

Botanical Garden Neighborhood:

degraded, vulnerable to frequent

floods and landslides

Traffic accident risks

Occupation pattern

RIO+VERDE

Renaturalization of the Macaco’s River’s course

RIO+VERDE

Satoyama

Canal

SATOYAMA MULTFUNCTIONAL URBAN-FOREST BUFFER ZONE

Food production + water management + engaging citizens + natural processes visibility + education

RIO+VERDE

Topics:

• Canal renaturalization

• Linear pocket park

• Exclusive for pedestrians and bicycles

• Rest areas

• More pervious residential areas, through use of pervious ground materials, green walls and green roofs

• Traffic calming

First possibility of implementation currently under way: renaturalization of Macaco’s River Estuary

RIO+VERDE

Project inspired by the San Francisco Urban Forest Map:

• Mapping of the trees of the Botanical Garden neighborhood

• Vizualization as a Google Maps by every potential user

• Profile of every tree with all information related to it and a list of the ecossistemic services it can provide

Ruas + Verdes – Green Streets Map

San Francisco www.urbanforestmap.org

Ruas + Verdes – Green Streets Map

Articulate and provide open access to information.

Promote communication among City Institutions, scientists, researchers and citizens.

Ruas + Verdes – Green Streets Map

Ruas + Verdes – Green Streets Guide

Design propositions for better streets, aiming at becoming good practice cases to be replicated in the whole City.

Design with nature and natural processes.

Rain gardens

Porous pavings

Native vegetation

Ruas + Verdes – Green Streets Guide

Rain gardens

Porous pavings

Adequate urban trees

Traffic calming pedestrian crossings

Ruas + Verdes – Green Streets Guide

Concluding remarks

• Climate Change impacts are not yet a real concern in Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian cities;

• Resilience is a word that most people have never heard;

• Cities are mainly oriented to private cars traffic, with extremely deficient mass transit and bicycle systems;

• Most of the urban surfaces are impervious (grey),

• Energy supply travels hundreds of Km,

• Food production was eliminated from the urban limits by the new urban plan, among others.

Restraints

Concluding remarks

• Inverde has played an important, although still limited, role in educating and raising awareness about the importance of an urgent change in urban planning and design local paradigm;

• Inverde’s propositions of introducing Green Infrastructure in visible areas have given positive results and generated interest and debate;

• Green Infrastructure’s multifunctional and systemic approach is a possible way to mitigate and adapt urban ecosystems to face the challenges of this millennium.

Opportunities

Concluding remarks

Before

Example of “REVITALIZATION/MODERNAIZATION” in a Northern State city São Salvador Square

Fotos antigas cedidas por Cláudio Valadares e Mariana Sala

Campos dos Goytacazes RIO DE JANEIRO State

After

Granite, Exotique Palm trees in a Tropical City, where floods are frequent

Janeiro de 2010 (crédito: autora)

Outubro de 2009 (crédito: MT Arquitetura)

Resilient Cities 2011 Bonn 2011, June 4th Session: Cities in Focus III

Green Infrastructure for Urban Resilience

Thanks! Vielen dank!

Cecilia P. Herzog and Anouck Barcat