Caminhar em sentido único: notas de um espaço público carioca à luz das Olimpíadas

Abstract

The present work aims to discuss the transformations that are taking place in Rio de Janeiro’s central area, more precisely inside Porto Maravilha’s field of intervention, on a recently inaugurated public space which has been announced as the “democratic space of access to the Olympic experience”, where a series of cultural activities were held during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Through this joint writing exercise and having the experience of walking as a common thread, an effort is made to combine the analysis of the present urban renewal model with the emergence of an unparalleled event, being evident in the making of a single-direction pedestrian flow of circulation in the area. Further on, this paper defends that the binomial “Olympics-Porto Maravilha” provides a rare window of opportunity towards the consolidation of a new “city making”, thus a unique occasion to the intensification of mechanisms of control over life in great urban centers and, not by coincidence, to the silencing of disputes that challenge the hegemonic project of city.