Reviver Centro Project and the urban transformation of the centre of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

With the closure of non-essential commercial activities, suspension of in-person events and restriction of the movement of people (and of capital) due to the SARS-Covid 19 epidemic, several cities around the globe saw the collapse of their economies. And in the central region of Rio de Janeiro city it was no different: the process of recent urban re-signification, which had already been suffering the effects of the political-economic crises since 2014, was significantly worsened by the current health crisis. Thus, the Reviver Centro project emerges as a new proposal for the transformation of the central region – focusing on the Castelo and Cinelândia areas, where the effects of the epidemic restrictive measures were more evident in social and economic terms. Amongst its guidelines, the project predicts the urban recovery of the area via a new legislation, which allows the transformation of commercial buildings into residential use – therefore encouraging the renewal of uses and spaces in the city centre. Based on studies on urban transformation processes in the region, implemented or not, since the 2000s, it is intended to explore in this work how and/or if the guidelines of the Reviver Centro urban project would respond to the 21^st century city aspirations, in its essence creative, inclusive, diverse, sustainable.

Keywords: city, image, identity, urban policies