海角大神

For decades, Rio has been viewed globally as an urban paradise, nestled between famous beaches like Ipanema and Copacabana, and dramatic, rain-forested mountains.

But its natural beauty is juxtaposed with extreme economic segregation. While the wealthy walk the streets that appear on the post cards and in films seen around the world, impoverished favelas sprawl across Rio鈥檚 hills, historically disconnected from the formal city.

It鈥檚 a contrast civil servants and activists have long said they鈥檇 like to resolve, from 鈥渇avela upgrading鈥� plans in the 1960s to more recent promises to better integrate the city and even out disparities via Olympic Games鈥� infrastructure projects.

叠别迟飞别别苍听聽of the city鈥檚 six million inhabitants live in favelas, an estimate that excludes the wider Rio conurbation. The hope was that the billions of dollars of Olympics investment would effect change for a swath of the city鈥檚 poor, who say they鈥檙e too often overlooked, ignored, or 鈥� worse 鈥� when Rio hosts lavish global events.

Today, as tourists walk along Copacabana, passing a blue marquee selling Olympic apparel and giant sand sculptures welcoming them to the city, there鈥檚 鈥渁nother city, a hidden city,鈥� says Leonardo Soares dos Santos, a historian at Fluminense Federal University.聽

Pledges to make up for past planning mistakes, like a program that envisioned a sweeping overhaul of the favelas聽鈥斅爀ssentially formalizing them by 2020聽鈥斅爁ell short. And聽as the Games kick off this weekend, many here question whether Rio missed its best opportunity in more than a century to truly live up to its nickname, 鈥淭he Marvelous City.鈥�

鈥淭he [Olympic Games] investment has exacerbated inequality,鈥� says Mr. Soares dos Santos, referring to the $12 billion spent on the Games, according to the聽. The final price tag is聽聽to be much higher.

鈥淚t has not been distributed evenly, which is Rio鈥檚 historic problem.鈥�

'The exclusion Games'?聽

In 2010, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes announced a project called 鈥�Carioca听尝颈惫颈苍驳鈥� (as residents here are known) packaged as a centerpiece of the 2016 Olympic Games鈥櫬犫�渓egacy鈥澛爑pgrades. The plan聽鈥斅爓hich included provisions for聽better sewage, paving roads, and constructing plazas and social service centers聽鈥斅燼imed to seek out universal, long-term benefits for hosting the Games.

鈥淚t was beautifully written,鈥� says Theresa Williamson, the director of Catalytic Communities, an organization that advocates for the formalization of favelas.

The favelas have been around for generations, establishing their own methods for grappling with the problems of living precariously on hillsides, like motorbike taxi services that whizz up the slopes. Such innovation, however, cannot address all of the issues: Constructing ad hoc drainage systems to channel stormwater runoff, for instance, is not enough to guarantee that homes are not at risk of聽.

But just as architects started gushing about how聽Carioca听尝颈惫颈苍驳 could be used as a tool for breaking down the socio-economic divide here, the ambitious project聽. In some neighborhoods, construction halted; in others, critics say, plans for a bottom-up, democratic planning processes meant to best meet the needs of favela residents were ditched in favor of quicker, top-down decisionmaking.

鈥淭hese are the exclusion Games,鈥� says Cosme Vin铆cius Felippsen, a sweets seller and tour guide in Morro da Provid锚ncia, Rio鈥檚 oldest favela, which was settled in 1897 by veterans of a聽. Provid锚ncia overlooks Rio鈥檚 port, an area that聽聽for the Olympics, including the inauguration in 2014 of a cable car meant to ease the climb into the cliff-side neighborhood.

With the favelas already reeling from聽police brutality, a once lauded pacification program, and聽鈥渞emo莽oes,鈥� or聽forced evictions聽鈥� often to make way for Olympics-related infrastructure 鈥� the homes of hundreds of families in Provid锚ncia聽were marked under upgrade plans for demolition in 2011. These planned tear-downs were halted only after the community聽聽against the city聽through the public defender鈥檚 office.聽

Meanwhile the cable car, according to Mr. Felippsen, was not a pressing need. 鈥淲e wanted schools and basic sanitation,鈥� he says, the smell of prawn gnochhi from a nearby kitchen and hip-hop music wafting in the air.

Tracing Rio's history

The history of Rio鈥檚 development is, in many ways, tied to the history of its policy toward the favelas.

In the years after Brazil won independence from Portugal in 1889, Rio 鈥� then the capital 鈥� expanded. Urban planners reclaimed marshland and revamped infrastructure, following, a public official who redesigned Paris in the 19th century. These upgrades, however, involved聽bulldozing tenements聽where poor rural migrants lived, pushing them into what are today favelas.

During the 1930s, Rio聽聽specifically addressing the favelas, fueling expectations, Soares dos Santos says. Many hoped their problems 鈥� which mirror those in shantytowns across the region, like poor sanitation and crime 鈥� might be resolved. But too often, the policies were based on attitudes of exclusion, experts say, with residents聽in the 1940s, for instance, simply resettled in isolated ghettos called聽鈥�.鈥�

From the 1960s onward, however, projects emerged that emphasized greater participation of residents in favelas, most notably one that began in the 1990s under former Mayor Cesar Maia, called聽Favela-Neighborhood. It was considered a leap in progress, not only in terms of significant improvements to infrastructure, like concrete staircases, but for how increased formalization promised to help reduce discrimination against these communities.

'Marvelous for me'

Still, few favela residents聽鈥撀爉any of whom are part of families that have lived there for decades聽鈥撀爁eel city leaders have created many noticeable changes.

High in the neighborhood of Babil么nia, far above the 谤别肠别苍迟濒测听驳别苍迟谤颈蹿颈别诲聽sections closer to the formal city, Maria Regina Luiz鈥檚 home sits in the shade of tropical trees. Although she has spectacular views of Copacabana Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, her home is built of rotting wood and corrugated iron on a precarious mud slope.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the same as it always was,鈥� says Ms. Luiz, whose neighbor has a dream-catcher pinned to the front door. 鈥淣obody leaves here and nobody takes us out.鈥�

Critics here have unleashed attacks on Mayor Paes, alleging that his approach to Olympic planning has accentuated the rich-poor divide. For example, some residents point to how he let聽Carioca听尝颈惫颈苍驳 slide by but invested heavily in Barra da Tijuca, the already wealthy neighborhood where the Olympic Village is situated.

While Brazil鈥檚 economic downturn in 2014 recently led interim President Michel Temer to commit to聽, activists like Ms. Williamson claim聽Carioca听尝颈惫颈苍驳 was sidelined around Jan. 2013,聽after Paes won reelection,聽because of the聽political influence of powerful interest groups who resist integrating the city.

Carlos Vainer, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 urban planning institute, says policymakers preparing for the Games have disregarded the idea of cities聽鈥� and Rio聽鈥� as shared 鈥渟paces of encounter.鈥澛�

鈥淲hen you separate the spaces,鈥� Mr. Vainer says, 鈥測ou kill the soul of the city.鈥�

Paes denies accusations of prioritizing the rich,聽聽last month that 鈥渢here has never been so much transformation for poor people鈥� in Rio, and claiming that聽聽will benefit residents on the city鈥檚 north, poor side.

While many residents of the favelas fervently disagree with Paes, some are optimistic about the future.

In Babil么nia, Jo茫o Medeiros da Silva, a retired firefighter, lives in a modern apartment block with two of his daughters. The building was constructed with聽,聽completed around 2012. Mr. Medeiros da Silva says it was wrenching when he had to move out of the favela home he had built himself into this new apartment, which residents say was poorly built.

But he is upbeat about the long-term impact of the Olympics. Tracing a history of his life here in Rio, he says that, all in all, things haven鈥檛 been too bad.

鈥淯p until now,鈥� he says, 鈥渋t has been marvelous for me.鈥�