- Re-qualification of an urban Project and social cultural Restoration in the historic Gloria and Santa Teresa Neighbourhood-Rio de Janeiro-Brazil    645 kb by    Lober, Anelice & da Costa Lobo, Manuel | anelober@arqplant.com    Short Outline This paper provides an analysis of a project developed by the IDB Portuguese Trust Fund in Santa Teresa/Rio de Janeiro. It involved, in the main, wide community participation. The main objectives included: 1) making a quantitative and qualitative re-assessment of public space, 2) assessing the need for building restorative works, 3) considering the development of tourist and cultural assets, 4) determining ways and means to reduce poverty and 5) identifying measures to improve public safety and security. Abstract This paper analyses a project developed under the IDB (International Development Bank) Portuguese Trust Found for Santa Teresa - a borough of Rio de Janeiro. A strategic area, an interface zone, with high landscaping and tourist levels, patrimonial values and proximity with the center of city – besides its functions diversities, empty spaces and cosmopolitism. Its innovation lays essentially in: 1. choosing punctual interventions that can have larger impacts on the city; 2. establishing a shared vision with stakeholders; 3. a new paradigm for the Public Administration (the municipality) based upon an “urban contract” and a strategic approach: an open process which identifies possibilities and design a desirable future – a visioning – built through concrete measures and priorities actions - resulting from a participative negotiation based mostly on the analysis of weakness and strengths - potentialities and opportunities; 4. a bottom up approach mediated by a local NGO and involving strong community participation. The intervention objectives were: recuperation and valorization of public spaces and restoration of historic vulnerable buildings, legislation adjustments, tourist, culture and quality life improvement, poverty reduction and security. At the moment the project is been cost evaluated by the municipality and is likely to be implemented in the next year. It represents a methodology of great potential for intervention in urban central districts - constructed through a population shared vision and based on crucial small scale interventions designed to generate impacts at a larger area with a symbolic projection in the whole city. Keywords Socio-cultural Restoration in the Historic Gloria/Santa Teresa Neighborhoods - Rio de Janeiro Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2007: Urban Trialogues   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper