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