Dream of the week: Rebirth in Rio de Janeiro

last updated 8 January 2015

While many of the world’s cities struggle, Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro is experiencing a renaissance, said Andrew Solomon in Travel + Leisure. “The wave of change owes something to the booming Brazilian economy,” something to offshore oil, something to the city’s having been anointed host of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, and a lot to do with a dramatic reduction in crime. In 2011, Rio feels like “the capital of hope.” It has “an aura of fiesta, even of miracle.”

The change is felt by all residents, because Rio is integrated almost by design. The wealthy live seaside, in the low-lying Zona Sul district, which encompasses such famous beaches as Ipanema. But the area is “punctuated by abrupt hills,” where the poor live in dense settlements called favelas. When you see the city from the air, you notice that “the favelas are distributed like chocolate chips in a cookie, rich and poor alike under the gaze of the towering Christ of Corcovado.” The beach is very much part of the city and thus also brings people together, because Brazilian beach culture offers “no way to show off anything much besides your body.” But in Rio, unlike many other places, “those who have privilege admire those who don’t.” And for good reason—“much of Brazilian culture originated in Rio’s favelas,” from samba to the newer funk carioca. The shantytowns have also produced top soccer stars and some of the world’s most famous models.

“The city’s street life has been reborn now that the streets are relatively safe.” Music and dancing add to a convivial atmosphere in which “friendships happen fast.” One such instant pal invited my husband and me to an evening samba party, where the improvisational feel of the music suited the mixed audience, made up of “businessmen on their way home from the office and favela residents on their way to clean those offices.” As local television star Regina Casé later explained to me, America could learn a lot from Rio about tackling its divisions. “In Rio,” she said, “we invite all the problems to a big party and we let them dance together.”

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