OUR STATICALLY KINETIC RIO

Carla Alanis: Tatts

Scholar Rahul Mehrotra defines a “formal” Static City, a two-dimensional entity built of concrete, steel and brick and an “informal” Kinetic City, perceived as a space in motion, constructed of recycled materials. Not necessarily the city of the poor, the latter suggests temporary articulation and occupation of space, filled with symbolic, spectacular representations of the urban condition: processions, festivals, and weddings, among other vivacious events (Mehrotra 207). The static and the kinetic spaces give the impression of being accommodated within each other, making the city viable for integration at physical and metaphorical levels.

Is there a similar pattern of interaction between kinetic and static realms that can be applied to our interpretation of “favelas” and the whole urban experience in Rio de Janeiro? What does a portrait of a globalized favela look like? How would the fear of rape, robbery and violence fit in such an image? The narratives of integration of the informal and the formal cities seem a bit more complex to be represented in Brazilian urbanism. The “informal” disposable conditions and living architecture of the favelas have been “formalized” not only before the eyes of the elite inhabiting the Zona Sul who detest favela people but in the eye of those in the slums as well. A sense of carelessness and lethargy inundates both “the underprivileged” and the rich.

     A symbolic version of Mehrotra’s concept of Kinetic City partially exists in the favela insofar as there are spiritual and artistic sources like music and gospel constantly reenacting the community. The funkeiro culture, for instance, has contributed to a reconfiguration of the social space: the youths have found a way to construct pleasure and identity (Yúdice 128). Cultural projects, with an aura of stability, try to hide the urban sense of insecurity: even lower middle class people have been forced to move to the favelas due to the high real estate prices. How to expect models of development serve for the integration of communities when the great majority of individuals living on the other side of the fence keeps identifying favelas with narcotrafficking gangs, wasted lives, and de-humanized youths? Why can’t the media pay more attention to music, gospel and other positive things these creative human beings have to offer?

References

Mehrotra, Rahul. “Negotiating the Static and Kinetic Cities: the Emergent Urbanism of Mumbai.” Other Cities, Other Worlds: Urban Imaginaries in a Globalizing Age. Ed. Andreas Huyssen. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. 205-218.

Yúdice, George. “The Funkification of Rio.” The Expediency of Culture: Uses of Culture in the Global Era. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. 109-132.