Advisor: Ana Luiza Nobre
Defense date: 29/01/2016
Abstract
The city of Rio de Janeiro has undergone, at the transitions between the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries, an intense and complex urban and social
transformation, which has as the main engine the organization of mega sporting
events, most notably the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic and
Paralympic Games in 2016. These events are presented by their promoters as
strong inducers of socio-spatial changes through its ability to attract and mobilize
national and foreign investments, intending to bequeath to the population urban
improvements in various aspects. Despite the declared intentions by these
promoters, one must understand the extended logic in which this urban
transformation falls and the forces at play in this dynamic. Occurs, in the context
of globalization, a process of intense competition among the cities in the world’s
political and economic scenario, with direct and indirect implications on the urban
space of the metropolis, a process in which the city of Rio de Janeiro strongly
seeks to be inserted. The purpose of this research is to bring to light some of these
underlying processes, identifying some of their actors, their motivations, and how
they are related, through the case study of the national public competition of
architecture and urban planning projects for the construction of olympic facilities
in the port area of Rio de Janeiro – “Olympic Port”.