6 Continuous Years In Brazil

Residing in Brail since 2001 has had a profound effect on how I view the built environment. My experiences there first as a tourist, then as a resident, businessman, corporate director and as a developer have provided me with a unique perspective from which to understand the regions challenges. My experiences there as well as those from the classrooms at Columbia have allowed me to understand the political-economic forces of a region and the challenges of their social capital networks. Since I began studying Urban Planning during the fall semester of 2006, my coursework has provided me with a foundation from which to provide substantive input which can provide higher levels of social interaction, enhanced city amenity, true affordable housing for tenured and new residents, sustainable mass transit systems, and ways to assist in providing solutions that positively benefit all within a society, not simply those who were born into a privileged class.

Such ideas have helped me to understand and define what my contribution is to be within urban planning. Through my varied experiences within the built environment and from my coursework, I see myself as laying the foundation for advocacy planning.

One theme that has been consistent within myself, as I have interacted with my courses has been the attention to equitable and comprehensive solutions that the poor and disenfranchised of an area are attaining. Such groups are of great concern to me as they may not have adequate human, natural, educational, political or economic resources at their disposal to facilitate needed changes. In providing solutions for such groups, there is a minimum level of resources that are necessary for the alleviation of simple, or historically chronic challenges to occur. In areas where change is needed, solutions need not always be financially burdensome or governmentally controlled.

One example of this was the transportation needs that many citizens were face with who live in favelas. These dense, vibrant communities were for years, neglected and sidelined by controlling political forces. For positive planning to become a reality, citizens of such communities were forced to implement the planning process on their own, independent of political officials. Such choices can be evidenced through locally installed sewage systems and locally installed clean tap water necessities that were initiated by the residents of Morro dos Macacos, a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, the rise in popularity of Jitney/Van services throughout all of Latin America and now within various cities in the United States is challenging transportation norms.

Various groups that had been locked out from participating with the economic, social, and educational opportunities of a city through politically created land-use policies such as were created after World War II which encouraged suburbanization, the abandoning of mass transportation and reliance of the mode of the automobile, are now enjoying new levels of economic and social mobility due to self promoted transportation alternatives. This can be seen within cities that have high concentrations of peoples of Latin roots who have a history of interaction with varied transportation methods such as Jitney/Vans or MotoTaxis. Such groups normally come from places were they have had to provide their own method of mobility and used the disadvantage as a method of creating economic independence for the entire community as a whole.