- Revitalization of the Docklands Region in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil    992 kb by    TANGARI, Vera R. & SILVA, Jonathas Magalhães P. | vtangari@uol.com.br    Short Outline This paper describes the Urban Revitalization Projects developed to the docklands region in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, an important landmark in the city history, and emphasizes the role of the social cohesion and physical preservation as a strategy being implemented by the municipal government as an indicator for environmental quality and cultural improvement. Abstract Having the interest on studying and implementing strategies for urban revitalization which integrates to economic development, social cohesion and environmental preservation, this paper presents three project case-studies focused on the Plan for the Docklands in Rio de Janeiro. By defending integrated planning, the strategies sought deal with ecomonic diversification and growth in balance with preserving social and cultural co-hesion and urban environment inherited values. The case-studies described refer to different urban revitalization projects developed in the docklands region, from 2001 to 2003, in which specific criteria for analysis and intervention were utilized, focusig on local culture features shaped by urban history as defined by trends and patterns found in the original occupation, following the Portuguese tradition, dated since the eighteenth century. Being a historial region and located close to the central district of Rio de Janeiro, the docklands sector preserves the character of its original settelement enforced by rigid preservation codes. It concentrates housing for low and middle income population who work nearby and its maintenance in the area is strongly required. The regional strategy, sought by the Plan for for the Docklands, developed by the municipality, as well as by the different projects, presented by the authors, conceals preservation and future development being designed for the whole coastal zone, including commercial, entertainment and touristic investments. The local population culture and social profile are an asset for the Plan since they represent the potential for vitality and the link with a positive relation between space and society, in a local basis. The paper concludes by pointing out how the historical and social inherited values became positive efforts for urban regeneration planning in a large scale in Rio de Janeiro metropolitan context. The strategies described in this paper may be compared to many examples in other countries, specially in Europe, where, in some cases, multi-culture integration and social cohesion are sought as a premisse for urban regeneration and, in other cases, historical preservation is considered as an important concern in economic growth and diversity issues. Keywords coastal zone, docklands, urban revitalization, touristic development Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2004: Management of Urban Regions   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper