Updated November 2007
The dichotomy between rich and poor is emphasised by the geographical proximity of rich and poor in the world's developing cities. Shanty towns are given different names depending on the country in which they are located. The FAVELAS of Brazil become BUSTEES in India. Also known as BARRIOS, PUEBLOS JOVENES.
In the city of Calcutta, 35% of residents are classed as slum dwellers. Some intervention has been made by the Government, for further details on CALCUTTA try here.
Cities in India can also be used as case studies of LEDC Urban development. There are several sites which contain information about the city of MUMBAI. There's another MUMBAI site here too.
Click here for the GLOBALISATION PAGE. - some useful resources here
A recent article in 'Teaching Geography' had some good ideas for mnemonics for remembering facts, and had a good piece of students work relating to favelas / shanty towns. This included a piece of work where each line or piece of information about the shanty towns began with the letters which spelt out the term: SHANTY TOWN
e.g. S (mall cities develop from Shanty Towns)
H (ouses are very close together)
A (ny available building material is used to make the houses) etc.
An American organisation called Habitat for Humanity is opening a theme park which is a recreation of a Shanty Town covering 6.5 acres in Georgia. It is aimed at educating rich Americans into the reality of LEDC poverty. (The Independent, 02/06/03)
FAVELA is the name given to spontaneous settlements in Brazil. They are prevalent in all the major cities, even the recently built new capital of Brazilia. The residents are known as favelados.
Defined on another site as:
A "favela" is an illegal occupation of a terrain in large cities, where dwellers often have to live without any basic infrastructure, such as water, sewage, electricity, garbage collection, mail, etc. In Rio de Janeiro, these favelas are home to about half its population and are normally located in the hills, as this land is difficult to access and tend to be neglected by contractors.
The Rio de Janeiro Master Plan, ratified in 1992 defines a favela as:
"...an area, predominantly of housing, characterised by the occupation of land by low-income populations, precarious infrastructure and public services, narrow and irregular layout of access ways, irregular shaped and sized plots and unregistered constructions, breaking with legal standards."
They develop on steep slopes and other unwanted land, which is also mentioned by some sources as being the origin of their name. There seems to be no hard and fast reason as to why they are called favelas, but possible origins include:
1. Named after the flowers which blanket the steep slopes
2. Military encampment called Favela, named for a local cactus, that was razed in the war of 1897 between the rebels and soldiers of the new Brazilian republic. The survivors were made homeless and moved south to add to the great immigration to the cities. Favela lent its name to the shantytowns which sprang up around the great cities of Brazil (10 of which are millionaire cities (which doesn't mean, as some of my students thought, that every person living there is a millionaire)
3. Named after a honeycomb, because they are a warren of small dwellings all linked together which grows organically over a period of time. The Brazilian name for honeycomb is very similar to favela.
Favela is an exclusive term. There are a lot of NGO: non-governmental organisations working to improve the conditions of the favelas. Some communities like Rocinha have become legalised neighbourhoods.
In terms of area, they are likely to be similar to the bustees of India which are defined as:
"a collection of huts standing on a plot of land at least one sixth of an acre"
High percentages of people in cities like Sao Paulo live in Favelas. People move to favelas to escape the sertão: the poverty-stricken interior of the country, or the drought ridden caatinga in the NE of Brazil where unreliable rains and Government policies have left many struggling to cope on marginal land. People tend to move into the areas before services have been built, or the houses.
ONLINE RESOURCES
People living in Favelas are called FAVELADOS.
People living in Rio de Janeiro are known as CARIOCAS.
Named examples of FAVELAS (for case study purposes) include ROCINHA in Rio de Janeiro, and PARAISOPOLIS in Sao Paulo. Also in Rio are Pavao-Pavaozinho.
Favelas also feature in the film newly released (October 2003) on DVD called 'City of God' - it's an 18 certificate though.
There is an issue to do with the way that the press has created the negative image of favelas and favelados.
1. Newspaper article on the Favelas
A good complete lesson plan
2. There is a site I came across recently (September 2003) which would be excellent for researching life in FAVELAS. It's called FAVELA FACES, and looks at 4 people who live in a Favela.
3. Produce a POWERPOINT PRESENTATION for the FAVELA TOURS organisation. This is a real organisation, which takes tourists into the favelas so that they can see the reality. It's run by someone called Marcelo Armstrong. Visit their website and you can see what they offer, along with some visitor comments. Go HERE for some of the comments which could form part of the brochure as a text input.
Add images and information, sounds, animations, even hyperlinks.
The David Gardiner produced pack: ICT ACTIVITIES IN GEOGRAPHY has some excellent examples of how this might be developed.
4. Mr. Noblett has produced a series of useful pages at CRICKHOWELL HIGH SCHOOL - lots of movement and nice images.
5. How about making your own model Favelas. Collect cardboard boxes and other materials and build them with your groups. Recently cleared away the previous year's models as they were looking a little (ahem) untidy, only to find that a colleague had made some new ones with their groups and they sprang up again. Art imitating life ? Just about to set off on a 2nd slum clearance campaign - anyone got a black bin liner ?
6. TAKING A WALK THROUGH A FAVELA
Go to http://www.qca.org.uk/geography/innovating/key3/learning_matters/using_images.htm
to download an idea provided by David Beresford, Coleridge Community College, Cambridgeshire
This is a rather good idea. I shall be adapting this to my own use: I have the FALA FAVELA pack.
7. The Favela journeys of Marie Hart.
I recently contacted Marie Hart, who teaches at Barnwell School in Stevenage. She recently visited a favela and took some rather great images. I'll try to add some more soon...
Favelas do have some advantages, as a recent report on BBC Online suggested. Some people are actually moving into Favelas out of choice, and estate agents are happy to sell them houses there. They have several advantages:
LOW PRICES
PROXIMITY TO WORK
VERY LITTLE IN THE WAY OF BUREAUCRACY
ZERO PROPERTY TAXES
They have tended to lose some of the negative press that they used to have, regarding crime and drugs. The Paraisopolis favela alone, the largest of many in Sao Paulo has an estimated population of 60,000. The local government in cities such as Sao Paulo suggest that favelas house an estimated 30% of the city's population. And that is the government estimate....
8. "GORGEOUS GEOGRAPHY" DME EXERCISE: http://gorgeousgeography.wordpress.com/?s=favela+marcos - good to see some new resources online
9. FAVELA TOURISM (Cont.)
This is something which featured in the Guardian in November 2007.
It featured a location called THE MAZE which has a great rooftop view of the bay and Sugar Loaf Mountain.
The website has more details and a nice map:
A related article in the Independent the previous week talked about the filming of the new INCREDIBLE HULK move in the favelas, which is bringing in some more money.
