Crônicas de uma cidade em obras

During the administration of Eduardo Paes as mayor of Rio de Janeiro (2009-2016), the city government undertook an ambitious project to revitalize the Port Area of the city, carried out under the mediatic nickname Porto Maravilha. The project consisted in the implementation of a new network of road infrastructure and services, which aimed to launch that area as a new business hub, fomenting there a process of demographic density and verticalization. To this end, in a controversial gesture, the Elevado da Perimetral (Perimetral High) was demolished, which bordered the quay of the port and the region of the Center, and, precisely in the strip of land liberated with its removal, were constructed the public spaces and urban equipment which became the main symbols of the Porto Maravilha operation. The months leading up to the 2016 Olympics, the big deadline for completion of the most important works, were the moment of inauguration of these spaces, when the results of the Porto Maravilha operation on the city environment could finally be appreciated by the population, after years of fences and sidings. This book presents a critical analysis of the project's products under the urbanistic aspect. And a memory of the accomplishment of the works, recording the daily of its implantation and the opinions of the citizens in respect. From this picture, the contradictions and ambiguities of the Porto Maravilha project emerge, exposed by the inaugurations.