Meia-água: The Configuration of Land Plots and Houses in Low-Income Real Estate in Rio de Janeiro
Abstract
As well as the now world-famous favelas, other forms of precarious housing can be found in Brazilian cities, including what the public authorities call ‘irregular estates’ (loteamentos irregulares): these are private housing developments built in accordance with land legislation but without any concern for planning permissions. As ‘owners’ of a plot, the poor families living in these estates have developed their own unique ways of using their land, often with scant regard for building regulations. The meia-água, a rectangular single-storey backyard construction, which uses surrounding walls as support, can be seen as a classical example of this popular means of making ‘irregular’ use of available space. Originally built to lower construction costs, the meias-águas have ended up serving other ends. These include providing homes for recently wedded children and other relatives, a purpose closely linked to the life cycle of the domestic group, functioning as workshops for small-scale economic activities (sewing, repairs) or providing a means to divide up the land and increasing the lot’s exchange value. By focusing on the case of Jardim Maravilha, an ‘irregular estate’ located in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, where we are currently conducting ethnographic fieldwork, we show how the meias-águas provide an insight into the sociocultural hierarchies that shape land plots and houses in these low-income districts, as well as the differences between theses hierarchies and the principles informing urban planning and building regulations.
Bio
Thomas Cortado is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro / National Museum (UFRJ/MN) and researcher at the Center for Research on Culture and Economy (NuCEC). He is working on urbanism, real estate market and housing in a Rio de Janeiro “irregular estate” (“loteamento irregular”), under supervision of Federico Neiburg. In 2012, he obtained a Master of Arts in Social Sciences at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, analyzing the social morphology of a Rio de Janeiro slum (“favela”).
[email protected]
As well as the now world-famous favelas, other forms of precarious housing can be found in Brazilian cities, including what the public authorities call ‘irregular estates’ (loteamentos irregulares): these are private housing developments built in accordance with land legislation but without any concern for planning permissions. As ‘owners’ of a plot, the poor families living in these estates have developed their own unique ways of using their land, often with scant regard for building regulations. The meia-água, a rectangular single-storey backyard construction, which uses surrounding walls as support, can be seen as a classical example of this popular means of making ‘irregular’ use of available space. Originally built to lower construction costs, the meias-águas have ended up serving other ends. These include providing homes for recently wedded children and other relatives, a purpose closely linked to the life cycle of the domestic group, functioning as workshops for small-scale economic activities (sewing, repairs) or providing a means to divide up the land and increasing the lot’s exchange value. By focusing on the case of Jardim Maravilha, an ‘irregular estate’ located in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, where we are currently conducting ethnographic fieldwork, we show how the meias-águas provide an insight into the sociocultural hierarchies that shape land plots and houses in these low-income districts, as well as the differences between theses hierarchies and the principles informing urban planning and building regulations.
Bio
Thomas Cortado is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro / National Museum (UFRJ/MN) and researcher at the Center for Research on Culture and Economy (NuCEC). He is working on urbanism, real estate market and housing in a Rio de Janeiro “irregular estate” (“loteamento irregular”), under supervision of Federico Neiburg. In 2012, he obtained a Master of Arts in Social Sciences at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, analyzing the social morphology of a Rio de Janeiro slum (“favela”).
[email protected]