Abstract

Letter From Brazil

This article focuses on the housing problem of Brazil. The buildings are constructed communally. The houses are structurally sound--most made from concrete and brick. residents visualize the homes they desire and then gradually create them, adding exuberant flourishes like sliding doors, spiral staircases, tile facades and hanging gardens. Many Brazilians will tell that the favelas are slums or shantytowns, but that is simply the dictionary definition. The favelas may once have been urban wastelands, but over the past two decades favelados have transformed their junkyard colonies into desirable neighborhoods, achieving something most illegal settlers can only dream of: permanence. The average Brazilian worker earns between $3,000 and $5,500 a year, and many squatters survive on far less than that--some on less than $100 a month.