Urban dreams and nightmares in the metropolis: violence and segregation in the city of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This work makes an analysis of the residential areas in the city of Rio de Janeiro. We think that the urban violence is fundamental to understand the deepen of social spatial segregration in this metropolis. In the context of globalization the violence related to the drug dealing has substantially changed and it has contributed to deepen the fragmentation process in urban areas. The violence issues in the city places us far way of the urban utopia and much closer to the dystopian nightmares of a Hell Town which has developed into gigantic proportions. The research is based on the literature about the theme, statistics data, maps of the city and its residential areas, as well as field research in the gated communities and favelas.