Representations of favela territories are multilayered and contested. In this post, Ann Deslandes discusses the promises and perils of ‘favela chic’ projects, particular representations and reinterpretations of favelas in the Anglosphere

Deslandes, Ann

LSE Research Online

Communicating bottom-up social developmentCredit: Scott Roberts CC BY-NC-ND 2.0Urbanism between favela and chicRepresentations of favela territories are multilayered and contested. In this post, AnnDeslandes discusses the promises and perils of ‘favela chic’ projects, particularrepresentations and reinterpretations of favelas in the Anglosphere. (Versão emportuguês aqui)The favela, as Biance Freire-Madeiros shows us, is a travelling signifier. The favela appears forAdriana Kertzer as a cipher of Brazilianness and for Janice Perlman as urban informality.Elsewhere, it approximates some kind of renovated-neighbourhood combined with all-night-dance-party.As a signifier, in the English-speaking ‘Anglosphere’ the Brazilian favela is easily recognised as ahigh-altitude gangland. More recently, the signifier has started to melt into our own struggles tore-imagine cities as affordable, sustainable, and socially just.In 2009 futurist and Wired magazine columnist Bruce Sterling drew on both ideas of the favela –its lawlessness, as well as its sustainability – to coin his version of the term ‘favela chic’. Anextension of cyberpunk‘s ‘high tech and low life’ future, favela chic marks the infrastructure of a“post-scarcity” world. Sterling mobilises the favela, in this instance, to signal a networkedurbanism of temporariness, cheapness, and ‘always-in-beta’ provisionality. His account includesapplause for a successful urban renewal project on the east coast of Australia. ‘Renew Newcastle’,which has become a prototype for similar projects in hundreds of cities, takes empty  commercialbuildings and ‘activates’ them for creative use on a temporary and low-cost basis. Sterling pointsup Renew Newcastle’s re-use of abandoned buildings, its use of social media and provision of freewireless internet, and its invitations to non-profit activity. That the project is fundamentallyenabled by open-ended urban planning and para-legal land title also aligns it with a favela chicfuture.In such a way, Sterling incises acorrespondence between the urbanism ofthe favela and Anglosphere practices of‘do-it-yourself urbanism’. Indeed, thediscourse of DIY urbanism is characterised bycommitments to favela-esque informalityand innovation. As I recently speculated,favela chic and DIY urbanism may also belinked in what they are yet to account for.Like so many invocations of the favela,Sterling’s takes place outside the historicalspecificity of Brazil’s favelas. The question ofwhether a favelad@ would recognise themselves or their built environment on the streets of aHome About Book Links News and Events Resources This site is supported byBookUndergroundSociabilities waspublished byUNESCO in 2013.Click on theimage for freedownload .Social media Urbanism between favela and chic | Favelas at LSE1 of 3August 7th, 2014 | Brazil, English, Urbanism | 0 Comments Previous postLeave A Commentpost-industrial Australian town is missing in action. The discourse of DIY urbanism similarly riskssilencing the inhabitants of cast-off, or ‘abjected’ types of urban informality, amateurism andmarginality. DIY urbanists cite sweat equity, voluntarism and refusal of sanctioned experts tocelebrate their productive use of abandoned space: re-populating it with economic activity. This,as I observe in my article, is pursued as a counter to the abjected phenomena of squatting, graffitiand vandalism, which might otherwise lurk therein.Sterling calls up a “post-scarcity” world, but I wonder if we’re quite there yet if we need to abjectparticular use(r)s of space in order to claim the productivity of our preferred uses. The promise toreturn capital to ‘abandoned’ parts of town is surely informed by the anxiety of felt scarcity: theextent to which we know that shelter and sociality is locked up in property regulations, inflatedprices, and professional expertise. I have wondered, too, if that scarcity also shrinks our ambition,compelling us to assent to the abjection of the ‘favela’ in order to claim a capitalisable ‘chic’.Where Sterling risks eliding the historical specificity of the favela, the discourse of do-it-yourselfurbanism risks the omission of those too easily labelled squatters, graffitists and vandals –criminalised people who may yet deserve to live in our cities too. Perhaps that is also how we cancome to have a discussion about the meaning of the favela entirely without the input of those wholive there.Dr Ann Deslandes is a freelance writer and researcher in Sydney. She is currently investigating theglobal signification of the favela in discourses of ‘do-it-yourself’ urbanism and placemaking. Moreinfo available at XTerraFirma.The views expressed on this post belong solely to the author and should not be taken as theopinion of the Favelas@LSE Blog nor of the LSE. Please read our comments policy before commenting.Share this:Next post O urbanismo entre a favela eo chiqueA little hill with big impact:Favelas, art and socialrelevanceTypes of favela mediaactivismLSE Latam is a joint effort of @lseargentinasoc @LSEsuColombia @LSESUMexicanSoc @CASAUK_org  Chile. Inviting Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and all!Retweeted by Favelas atLSELSE SU Latam @latamlseExpandThere is need for subsidised or free #healthcare for the growing population of older people living in #slums ow.ly/FUTrNFavelas at LSE @FavelasatLSE2h11hTweets FollowTweet to @FavelasatLSELike us on FacebookFavelas at LSE: Adialogue betweenthe UK and Brazil904 people like Favelas at LSE: Adialogue between the UK and Brazil.Facebook social pluginLikeArchiveSubscribe to Favelas at LSEvia EmailEnter your email address tosubscribe to this blog andreceive notifications of newposts by email.Urbanism between favela and chic | Favelas at LSE2 of 3 Notify me of follow-up comments by email. 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Urbanism between favela and chic

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