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Latest News
  • [ May 9, 2025 ] ‘Trash? Not to Us!’ Environmental Action in Rio Public Housing Complex Denounces Municipal Neglect and Proposes Waste Collection as a Source of Income by Community Contributors
  • [ April 30, 2025 ] Sustainable Favela Network Launches Groundbreaking ‘Favela Climate Memory’ Exhibition on May 3, Kicking Off Museums Month [RELEASE] *Highlight
  • [ April 20, 2025 ] ‘No One Wants to Hear How Much We Miss Them’: 20 Years After the Baixada Massacre, Families of Victims Report Poor Mental Health and Demand Psychosocial Support from the State #UPPWatch
  • [ April 14, 2025 ] ‘I Was Up All Night, Like Every Summer’: Storm Deepens Climate Anxiety and Sparks Outrage Among Favela Residents Across Greater Rio de Janeiro, Say #VoicesFromSocialMedia #MediaWatch
  • [ April 7, 2025 ] ‘Temporary’ Housing in Santa Cruz Turns 60: Reflecting on Cesarão, the First Housing Complex, and Favela do Aço #EvictionsWatch
Homeorganic architecture

organic architecture

*Highlight

Green Roofs or Air Conditioning in Parque Arará? Studies Show the Potential of Green Roofs in Rio’s Favelas [VIDEO]

By Luis Cassiano Silva • Translation by Clau Guimarães, Gianna Giordani, Malena Galuccio • February 24, 2021

 Clique aqui para Português This video report (with English subtitles) is part of a series on energy justice and efficiency in Rio’s favelas. It is also part of a series created in partnership with the […]

*Highlight

Campaign Calls on UNESCO to Recognize Favelas as World Heritage [VIDEO]

By Luisa Fenizola • Translation by Cerianne Robertson • June 23, 2018

Clique aqui para Português The Chilean non-governmental organization committed to improving housing in informal settlements, TECHO, is today active in 19 countries across Latin America. In Brazil, where it is known as TETO, the NGO works […]

Favela Culture

Rediscover Rio’s Oldest Favela with Rolé dos Favelados [IMAGES]

By Antoine Horenbeek • May 24, 2018

Clique aqui para Português Rolé dos Favelados (Stroll of the Favelados) is a guided tour led by community activist and tourist guide Cosme “O Favelado” Felippsen, often in partnership with other favela activists. The aim of […]

#HousingWatch

History of Urban Renewal ‘Project Rio’ in Maré Part 1: A Siren’s Song

By Claire Jones • June 29, 2017

Clique aqui para Português This is the first article in a three-part series on the history of the Projeto Rio urban renewal program in Maré, from 1979-1981. On the afternoon of June 10, 1981, Brazil President […]

View from Laboriaux, top of Rocinha
#HousingWatch

Housing Policy Lessons from Rio’s Favelas Part 1: Construction and Community

By David Robertson • October 4, 2016

Clique aqui para Português This is the first in a five-part series titled Housing Policy Lessons from Rio’s Favelas. We hope this series will inform debates on housing and favela upgrading and that Rio’s new mayor, Marcelo […]

Posts pagination

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RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
A Project of

About

In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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Awards

Special Thanks

Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
World Habitat
Fideicomiso de la Tierra Caño Martín Peña
Pastoral de Favelas
Center for CLT Innovation
Global Land Alliance
Ecocity Builders
Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
SDSU Behner Stiefel Center
The Rio Times
Forum Grita Baixada
Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

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