Mapping the urban evolution process of Complexo da Maré, Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Complexo da Maré, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, occupies a narrow strip of land limited by two important highways, Avenida Brasil and Linha Vermelha. Morro do Timbau, its first community, received its first constructions around 1940. Stilt houses can be seen as the primary housing system in the region, given the possibility of “creating land” in a scenario of scarcity of space for new buildings. housing. The current territorial configuration incorporates successive and systematic landfilling processes. The grounding in the stilt areas, which was initially carried out by residents, was later carried out by the intervention of public authorities. This process promoted the narrowing of the arm of the sea that separated Fundão Island from the mainland. This work presents the mapping of urban evolution from the point of view of its urban form, thus involving the complexity of actions and actors that resulted in the current scenario. All the dynamism in its evolution process meant that the 15 communities that today make up Complexo da Maré have territorial characteristics that are distinct from each other, showing a diversity and richness of spatial configurations within the same territorial extension.