Olympic Legacies

Expectations of urban upgrading projects in light of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro oscillated between hopeful prospects and pessimistic anticipation. The different opinions were clearly interwoven with stark socioeconomic inequalities and urban segregation. While authorities spread a celebratory narrative of improvements for the whole city, critics depicted a dystopian vision of spatial interventions that would violate the poor’s right to the city. We side with those critics who foresaw the uneven consequences of these sports mega-events. Nevertheless, we also think that the experiences and narratives of poor residents themselves often get lost in such struggles. This photo essay provides insights into the displacement that took place against the backdrop of these mega-events. In both text and images, it zooms in on the consequences of an urban development program that was carried out in the run-up to the Olympics in two favelas bordering Rio’s affluent South Zone. It shows residents’ diverse ways of dealing with the intervention and its aftermath. It demonstrates how their displacement entailed decreased notions of collectivity, neighborliness, and security, and how it gave rise to new expectations, grievances, and claims on authorities.