海角大神

Turning the corner on a narrow, uneven footpath, a small white chapel comes into view in a plaza surrounded by whitewashed buildings with blue tile trim. As dusk falls on this tightly packed neighborhood set high above the ocean, the scene evokes Mediterranean Greece instead of one of Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 oldest 蹿补惫别濒补蝉,听笔谤辞惫颈诲锚苍肠颈补.

Brazil鈥檚 蹿补惫别濒补蝉,听or shantytowns,聽are increasingly in the news, usually in a negative light. Last night聽the death of a popular dancer prompted a shootout between police and residents of Pav茫o-Pav茫ozinho, and protests spilled into the streets of posh Copacabana.

But not all favelas are created alike. There's Rio鈥檚 Cantagalo favela, where businessmen are moving in and building boutique hotels for tourists, and Complexo do Mar茅, which security forces recently occupied (it sits on a main road between Rio's airport and popular tourist zones.) In quickly gentrifying Vidigal, residents chatter about British soccer-star David Beckham's alleged "plans" to build a mansion among the homes perched on a steep mountain overlooking Rio's striking beaches.

鈥淔avelas are built on central hillsides in Rio and hidden valleys in Sao Paulo.... Some are violent and dingy and others have homes selling for high prices. But they all have one thing in common,鈥� says Pedro Da Luz, President of the Architecture Institute of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. 鈥淚nformality.鈥�

Rio has 763 favelas, according to the 2010 census, home to about 22 percent of the city鈥檚 population, or nearly 1.4 million people. They鈥檙e unregulated and often defined by their lack of official access to public services like water, trash collection, sewage treatment, security, and electricity.

But they鈥檙e also innovative, and according to Mr. Da Luz, encapsulate a 鈥渢ruly Brazilian鈥� quality of 鈥減referring chaos over order.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a question of good or bad,鈥� when it comes to favelas, Da Luz says. These communities are often solution oriented, which becomes obvious when walking up the steep stairway in 笔谤辞惫颈诲锚苍肠颈补. Over one edge of the hand-built stone and concrete staircase there鈥檚 a single, large city water pipe with scores of smaller PVC plastic pipes siphoning off water to share among clusters of homes perched higher up.聽

Favela residents build incrementally and based on individual needs, Da Luz says, something made clear in the favela of Vila Kennedy, located on Rio's outskirts. The neighborhood was originally built in the 1960s聽by the US-funded Alliance for Progress聽as a grid of formal, low-income housing units. Now the flat land has been built up and out, adapting to the needs of residents.

But 鈥渢here鈥檚 no respect for public space,鈥� he says, citing 鈥媤hat he considers a major problem. Favelas "lack a clear limit between the public and the private," which translates to few open spaces for neighbors to congregate and to pathways just wide enough for foot traffic.

Da Luz emphasizes the importance of 鈥渦rbanizing鈥� these informal zones: Connecting the neighborhoods to light, water, and sewage, and opening roads that can permit trash collection, and access for fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars. An estimated 60 percent of Rio鈥檚 sewage goes untreated into the city鈥檚 rivers and ocean, and disconnected favelas play a big role in this contamination, says Leona Deckelbaum, an activist who works on city sanitation at Meu Rio, or My Rio.聽

Urbanization could diminish the differences among Brazil鈥檚 favelas 鈥� and the stigma that exists between them and formal city neighborhoods, says De Luz.聽

鈥淚f we all pay the same taxes and get the same services, the second-class favela residents鈥� can exercise their rights and help bridge Brazil鈥檚 vast inequality, Da Luz says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for everyone to have a more inclusive city.鈥�

He points to the recent police and security efforts in Rio to 鈥減acify鈥� violent favelas in the leadup to this summer鈥檚 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic games. 鈥淭he most secure city isn鈥檛 one with the rich here and the poor over there,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 integrated.鈥�

Whitney Eulich reported from Brazil as a fellow with the .