Local assessment of Rio de Janeiro City: Two case studies of urbanization trends and ecological impacts

Abstract

Rio de Janeiro city (Rio) with its surrounding areas is undergoing a fast and extensive ecological transformation as a result of the city’s social and economical development. The urban landscape expands partly over land with Atlantic Forest ecosystems (22,277.20 hectare (ha) of natural areas which comprise 18.2 % of city area), with some of the richest biodiversity and most endangered species in the world. Urban sprawl and ecosystem degradation are two challenges that the city faces. This chapter presents case studies of two areas in Rio, representing widely differing social-ecological contexts. The fi rst is located in the Misericórdia (Compassion) Massif in the midst of the most densely populated and highly impervious area of the city, where residents have gotten together to reintroduce biodiversity in order to restore ecosystem services. The second case study is situated in the Barra da Tijuca area, a new real estate development region where the developer was responsible for the restoration and protection of ecological parks to comply with environmental legislation. In both cases, the forests offer crucial and irreplaceable ecosystem services, but the residents’ perceptions of the forests differs vastly. The two cases can serve as inspiration for ways to let biodiversity support play a central role in urban planning, design, and retrofi tting of urban ecosystems in the future.