Parsing the Urban Poverty Puzzle A Multi-generational Panel Study in Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas, 1968–2008

This paper describes the methodology of a longitudinal multi-generational study in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio de Janeiro from 1968 to 2008. Major political transformations took place in Brazil during this interval: from dictatorship to ‘opening’ to democracy; major economic transformations from ‘miracle’ boom to hyperinflation and crisis, and to relative stability; and major policy changes from the removal of favelas to their upgrading and integration. However, despite the cumulative effects of these contextual changes, poverty programmes and community efforts, the favela population has continued to grow faster than the rest of the city and the number and size of the favelas has consistently increased over these decades.urbanization, Brazil, poverty, community, slums

Seven Voices From One Organization: What Does It Mean?

It would be trite to say that citizen action means different things for different people; a cliche to say that it means different things simultaneously for the same person: yet both are overwhelmingly true. Listening carefully to the members of citizen action groups -- not the organizers, staff, or wellknown leaders -- but simply the members, reveals the entire gamut of understanding and confusions; gratifications and frustrations; of hopes and fears. The mini-portraits presented below represent a cross section, members of a single citizen action organization at a single point in time. Exploratory interviews with members of similar groups in the citizen action tradition do not seem to contradict any of the patterns that emerge from this group, although there are certainly differences in degree and emphasis. Rather than using interviews randomly across organizations, it seemed stronger to present diverse views from within the same one so as to highlight the similarities and differences that emerged. The rough ordering from enthusiasm to disenchantment should not mask the strong presence of both in each interview, and the complex interaction between individual needs, personalities and political awareness

Globalization and the urban poor

The focus of this paper is the effect of contemporary globalization on poverty and inequality in cities of the ‘global south’. Specifically it addresses the impact of globalization on marginalized communities—slums, squatter settlements and shantytowns—collectively called ‘informal settlements’. This is a timely issue given that over the next 25 years virtually all of the population growth worldwide will be in the cities of developing countries largely concentrated in such settlements. The paper takes a critical look at current assumptions about globalization, urban poverty, and inequality, distinguishing between different constructs and aspects of globalization and separating causality from co-terminality. It questions how the informal sector would fare in the face of advanced capitalism and technological transformations, absent the global component. Using Brazil as an example the paper draws comparisons between the lives of the poor during the isolationist period of ‘import substitution’ and the military dictatorship and their current lives in the context of pervasive globalization of ideas, icons, and identities. The findings are based on a longitudinal panel study conducted in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro between 1968 and 2005, examining the changes over time, space and generations. The presumed effects of globalization on the lives of the urban poor, on the levels of inequality between them and the rest of the city and on public policy are thrown into question. The answers are sought in the people’s perceptions of the impact of globalization on their lives, in the historic transformations of the country and city, and in the life history, survey data and open-ended interviews collected over this 35- year period

Mega-strategies for mega-cities: a project to accelerate the generation of effective social and technological innovation

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Megacities and innovative technologies

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Parsing the Urban Poverty Puzzle: A Multi‐Generational Panel Study in Rio de Janeiro's Favelas, 1968–2008*

This paper describes the methodology of a longitudinal multi-generational study in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio de Janeiro from 1968 to 2008. Major political transformations took place in Brazil during this interval: from dictatorship to 'opening' to democracy; major economic transformations from 'miracle' boom to hyperinflation and crisis, and to relative stability; and major policy changes from the removal of favelas to their upgrading and integration. However, despite the cumulative effects of these contextual changes, poverty programmes and community efforts, the favela population has continued to grow faster than the rest of the city and the number and size of the favelas has consistently increased over these decades

Risk Factors for End Stage Renal Disease in Non-WT1-Syndromic Wilms Tumor

PURPOSE: We assessed risk factors for end stage renal disease in patients with Wilms tumor without known WT1 related syndromes. We hypothesized that patients with characteristics suggestive of a WT1 etiology (early onset, stromal predominant histology, intralobar nephrogenic rests) would have a higher risk of end stage renal disease due to chronic renal failure. We predicted a high risk of end stage renal disease due to progressive bilateral Wilms tumor in patients with metachronous bilateral disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: End stage renal disease was ascertained in 100 of 7,950 nonsyndromic patients enrolled in a National Wilms Tumor Study during 1969 to 2002. Risk factors were evaluated with cumulative incidence curves and proportional hazard regressions. RESULTS: The cumulative incidence of end stage renal disease due to chronic renal failure 20 years after Wilms tumor diagnosis was 0.7%. For end stage renal disease due to progressive bilateral Wilms tumor the incidence was 4.0% at 3 years after diagnosis in patients with synchronous bilateral Wilms tumor and 19.3% in those with metachronous bilateral Wilms tumor. For end stage renal disease due to chronic renal failure stromal predominant histology had a HR of 6.4 relative to mixed (95% CI 3.4, 11.9; p<0.001), intralobar rests had a HR of 5.9 relative to no rests (95% CI 2.0, 17.3; p=0.001), and Wilms tumor diagnosis at less than 24 months had a HR of 1.7 relative to 24 to 48 months and 2.8 relative to greater than 48 months (p=0.003 for trend). CONCLUSIONS: Metachronous bilateral Wilms tumor is associated with high rates of end stage renal disease due to surgery for progressive Wilms tumor. Characteristics associated with a WT1 etiology markedly increased the risk of end stage renal disease due to chronic renal failure despite the low risk in non-WT1 syndromic cases overall