About this place

Rocinha is the largest favela in Brazil, located in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro. It is situated on a steep hillside that overlooks the city, positioned between the affluent neighborhoods of São Conrado and Gávea. The official 2010 census recorded a population of approximately 70,000 residents, but unofficial estimates, which account for the community's continuous growth, often place the number well over 100,000. Rocinha's landscape is a dense, vertically-oriented urban environment, a complex maze of narrow, winding alleyways, and homes built one on top of another. While many structures began as simple shacks, over decades, they have been progressively consolidated with brick, concrete, and reinforcing steel, creating a solid, permanent urban fabric.

The Historical Context of Favelas

The term "favela" first appeared in the late 19th century in Rio de Janeiro. It was used to describe the informal settlement built by soldiers returning from the Canudos War in Bahia, who had camped on a hill named "Morro da Favela" after a common local plant. More broadly, favelas emerged and grew as a result of major social and economic shifts in Brazil. The abolition of slavery in 1888, combined with a lack of government support for freed slaves, and mass migration from rural areas to cities in search of work during the 20th century, led to a severe housing crisis.

Without affordable housing options, the newly arrived urban poor settled on unoccupied, often undesirable public land on the city's steep hillsides. These settlements grew organically, without any urban planning or government oversight. For much of their history, favelas were characterized by a lack of basic public services, such as sanitation, running water, electricity, and formal street addresses.

Internal Structure and Economy

Contrary to the image of being simple shantytowns, large and established favelas like Rocinha are complex and highly functional urban centers. Rocinha possesses a vibrant and largely self-sufficient informal economy. Its main thoroughfare, the Estrada da Gávea, is a bustling commercial street lined with a wide variety of businesses, including banks, pharmacies, supermarkets, restaurants, and retail stores. This internal economy provides employment and essential services for a significant portion of the community.

The physical infrastructure within Rocinha is a mix of the improvised and the formalized. While many homes still rely on tangled networks of illegally tapped electricity and complex systems of hoses for water, there has also been a gradual process of formalization. Government programs and community-led initiatives have brought improvements, such as paved roads in some areas, better sanitation systems, and the introduction of public services like bus routes and even a dedicated metro station at the base of the community. Despite these advances, the infrastructure often struggles to keep up with the population density, and many residents in the higher, more remote parts of the favela still face significant challenges in accessing basic services. Socially, the community is organized through a network of residents' associations and local NGOs that work to provide social services, educational programs, and cultural events.