Factory of Dreams

Factory of Dreams Experiences and expectations around slum upgrading in Recife, Brazil Merel van Winkelhoff Supervisors: Monique Nuijten and Michiel Khöne August, 2011 MCs International Development Studies, Law and Governance Wageningen UR 1 Photograph on front page by author. All translations made by author. 2 Acknowledgments While writing this thesis, I have become more and more thankful toward certain people, for making this process of learning possible. First I would like to thank the people from Saramandaia,Capilé, Chao de Estrelas, and from other areas. They have made me feel welcome, and I will always be grateful toward them for showing me their insights, ideas and stories of life. I feel incredibly blessed with this chance to take a look at the lives of people different than me and learn about their lives. Secondly, I would like to thank my supervisor Monique Nuijten, who has been kind enough to invite me to Brazil, and got me acquainted with Brazil and the people living in my research area. I would also like to thank Michiel Khöne for his supervising skills, especially his tips on how to structure. They both have been great supervisors, giving me the time to understand and build upon my research material. I thank them for their patience and their skillfulness. They have been fantastic teachers. I would also like to thank Marie Kolling, who has been a great friend and help in Brazil. She was reassuring at the right times, and encouraged me during the period of my fieldwork. It has been great working and living with her. Furthermore, I want to thank Gijs Wilbrink, for encouraging me in my academic adventures, and staying supportive throughout the process. I would additionally like to thank my parents, who are always interested in my works. They supported me in many ways. 3 Abstract In this thesis, a critical look has been posed on slum upgrading projects and the experiences of the people who are undergoing its implementation and effects in Recife, Brazil. Residents from poor urban areas respond to government programs in a creative way, without expecting much change or improvement. They dream about a better life, and create an imaginary of changes, while at the same time they remain distrustful toward the government’s aid. This leads to the consequence that they use more than just the project’s approach to reach their imaginaries in a parallel world of dreams. Furthermore, the participatory approach woven into the project of Prometrópole appears to lack enough space for the residents to participate in. Residents do not experience the participatory aspect of the project to be useful for them, since their ideas and complaints do not travel beyond the field offices of the project in the investigated neighbourhoods. Community leaders fill this gap, and shape the project’s outcome by their concern and involvement in the neighbourhood. They use their own format of the participatory approach to communicate between the residents and the project’s officials. The participatory approach can be seen as a government tool, used to gain more power in the area by providing some space for its residents, yet not enough to reach actual decision making power. Meanwhile, by implementing this type of project, certain categories have been created in which people want to fit, according to the Foucauldian interpretation. Thus, the bottom-up approach is in fact orchestrated from the top down; a reversed loop of power where responsibility remains stuck on the bottom. Do people change their perspectives on the city, and themselves as citizens with a project like Prometrópole? Surely, they do feel more attached to the rest of the city, and feel that they belong more. However, integral citizenship cannot be reached when the space that is given to the citizens to ‘develop’ is too small. In addition, it is not merely the relationship with the state and the residents of poor areas that matters, also the rest of the city and society need to be involved in the path towards integral citizenship. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Theoretical framework ...................................................................................................................... 10 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 19 Waiting on the world to change: in between promise and realization ............................................ 19 Speculating .................................................................................................................................... 20 Expecting ....................................................................................................................................... 23 Dreaming ....................................................................................................................................... 27 Waiting .......................................................................................................................................... 28 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................................... 32 Power to the people? ........................................................................................................................ 32 The reasons for participating from the project’s point of view .................................................... 34 The reasons for participating from the resident’s point of view .................................................. 35 Responsibility and community leaders ......................................................................................... 42 Participation: power to the people? ............................................................................................. 46 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................................... 51 Winning and losing ............................................................................................................................ 51 Progress ......................................................................................................................................... 51 Standstill ........................................................................................................................................ 58 Decline ........................................................................................................................................... 59 The view on the government ........................................................................................................ 62 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 67 5 Conclusions and further research ......................................................................................................... 68 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 68 Desinterestedness ......................................................................................................................... 68 The project as a factory of dreams ................................................................................................ 69 Community leaders and slum politics ........................................................................................... 70 The participatory approach and the discourse of citizenship ....................................................... 71 The luta continues ......................................................................................................................... 73 Further research ................................................................................................................................ 74 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 75 Online references: ......................................................................................................................... 78 6 Chapter 1 Introduction Brazil is a country with many different faces: it is famous for the riches in culture, music and dance and let’s not forget about the weather and the beautiful flora and fauna the

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