- Rio de Janeiro's port area transformations for the mega-events: history, urban regeneration and grassroots creative experiences   424 kb by    Sarayed-Din, Luiza Farnese Lana & Ahmad, Faizah Binti & Zainol, Rosilawati Binti | luiza.sarayed@siswa.um.edu.my    Short Outline Presenting Rio de Janeiro’s port area urban regeneration for the mega- events and how grassroots creative experiences have been handled and coped with that, this paper advances in the urban regeneration discussion and potential of learning from creative urban experiences in inhabited historical land within ‘Global South’ cities. Abstract In the context of city transformations related with hosting the Olympics 2016 and World Cup 2014, this paper aims to present the huge urban regeneration process that is taking place in Rio de Janeiro’s port area. Particularly focusing in describing how some grassroots creative urban experiences, which for a long time were the few initiatives that have encouraged the dialogue between this forgotten area and the city, have been handled and have coped with all this transformation. Despite being forgotten by the governmental for more than fifty years, Rio de Janeiro port area has always been one of the most dynamic spaces in the country and was in this area that one of the most diverse population have lived [i.e.: African slaves, Portugueses, Spanish, natives] mixed and create things such as the samba. Throughout the last thirty years, some creative urban experiences developed by the people who live and use that area were the main connection between this historical area and the city. For instance, the creation of a samba group called ‘Escravos da Mauá’ that attracts to the port streets more than 1500 people every month for 23 years. Having in mind the postcolonial urban studies claim of an urban theory able to learn from the cities everywhere (McFarlane, 2011; Robinson, 2006, 2011) and conscious of the role of creativity in the city-making (Landry, 2008), the history of the area and current situation will be addressed through the description of this urban intervention, called Porto Maravilha Project. Based on the analysis of official documents and ten days of observation and application of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, this descriptive effort advance in the discussion about the revitalization process and the potential of learning from creative urban experiences in inhabited historical land in other cities of the ‘Global South’. Keywords Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2013: Frontiers of Planning - Evolving and declining models of city planning practice   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper