• informal settlement
• place making
• redevelopment
• slum upgrading

The Favela-Bairro Program – in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - marked a shift in the 1940s perception of how to deal with the informal city, oriented to social eradication and slums clearance as an apathetic and violent response from the government. Instead, the program developed slum upgrading projects, providing basic sanitation, streets for better circulation of cars and services, underground infrastructure (burying electric power lines), and spaces for the community. Jauregui's work acts in the division between the formal and the informal city, promoting the hybridization of these zones towards a more integrated Rio de Janeiro. Jauregui's team has turned many favelas into Bairros where houses are identified, streets are named, and driveable roads with underground infrastructure are provided, improving navigation and access to essential services and sanitation by the population. Safer sidewalks lead pedestrians to recreational facilities and social centers. The Project created more integrated neighborhoods with connectivity and better livelihood. Jauregui's team preceded the design with an interdisciplinary site-analysis methodology, accommodating different points of view collected on-site visits, conversations with favela leaders, mapping, and dialogues with the community. Jauregui's work changed the reality in the following communities: Fernão Cardim, Fuba-Campinho, Salgueiro, Vidigal, Rio das Pedras, and Macacos (from 850 to 12000 families each). As a result, nearly 450,000 people in 105 shantytowns were positively affected by the Project. Each community had solutions specific to its needs, respecting the local character of the neighborhood and residents. Fuba and Campinho, for example, are two different favelas now linked by the Project that provided infrastructure for various age groups, skilling facilities, and sports equipment. Salgueiro's intervention focused on the importance of soccer and samba for the community through a new stadium and rehearsal hall, among other improvements. Vidigal intervention provided a new road to facilitate access to services and public transportation in a community located on steep terrain. Fernao Cardim's intervention linked the favela to the city through the Faria River, where sanitation infrastructure was also provided. These are some - but not all - interventions implemented to improve the quality of life in the many communities where the Favela-Bairro project intervened. Designers integrated the favelas in two ways: first, by providing better circulation routes and access to essential services; second, by dissolving the favelas' edges with the formal city through communal equipment that facilitated interactions between residents. The Favela Bairro project was successful because it was sensitive to each population's cultural nuances and socio-economical needs. Thus, the Project's great value resides in the Urban Design's potential to change unequal realities by empowering marginalized groups to revitalize their own communities.