For decades, state neglect forced a pace of progress that was slow and painful in Rio’s favelas, which – unlike many other informal settlements around the world – have a largely stable population. While some residents express satisfaction that state involvement has brought new income streams and improved security, there is anger that changes are imposed from outside, without consultation with residents. — the Guardian

Scientists can disagree on how much the mass migration of 500,000 foreigners will accelerate the virus’s global spread and make the pandemic worse—but none can possibly argue that it will slow it down or make things better. [...]

“Olympism seeks to create … social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”. [...] But for the Games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now? — harvardpublichealthreview.org

Eleven people died while working on Olympic facilities or Games-related projects between January 2013 and March 2016, according to a report released Monday by Rio de Janeiro's Regional Labor and Employment Office.

The report, released by Elaine Castilho, the auditor for the Rio Olympic Games works, also notes that no workers died in the preparations for the 2012 Summer Games in London. — ESPN

International sports federations expressed concern Tuesday over problems with venues for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, including power failures at the gymnastics arena this week.

Members of the Association of Olympic International Sports Federations reviewed preparations for the Rio Games, which open in less than four months on Aug. 5.

"They miss some very important details in each field of play," ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said at the group's annual meeting. — cbc.ca

For Brazil’s economy, the near future probably features a period of stagnation, as a government paralyzed by political crisis dodges the tough choices created by strong inflation, rising budget deficits and, at best, a touch of economic growth in 2017 after hitting rock bottom in 2016. [...]

Demonstrators have turned out in numbers larger than in 1984 — when Brazilians of all stripes united to throw off military rule— to demand [President] Rousseff’s ouster — ibtimes.com

The city of Rio de Janeiro canceled the construction contract for the Olympic tennis center on Thursday, just 200 days before the start of the games, fining the consortium responsible for delays and breach of contract for the mostly finished venue. [...]

Rio City Hall, which is responsible for the construction, did not say how the tennis center, which is 90-percent complete, will be finished. — reuters.com

Brazilian police investigating corruption around the state-run oil firm Petrobras also plan to investigate more than $10bn of construction contracts for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, according to a lead investigator on the case.

Some of the big engineering companies caught up in the Petrobras inquiry “very probably” broke laws against price-fixing and bribery on contracts to build Olympic venues, said Igor Romario, a federal police chief and key figure in the investigation. — The Guardian

[Sara Zewde] argues that while the traditional monument commemorates a singular event or individual by placing an object in a space that is a break from its surroundings, the 400-year practice of African enslavement demands a different approach.

“For Afro-descended people, you wake up every day with the legacy of slavery,” she says. “How do you deal with that spatially?”

One approach is to translate cultural practices into spatial ones. — Next City

Like humans, cities and neighborhoods have their own unique fingerprints. The maps were created by researchers at the center’s Urban Age program, who have been studying how the layout of rapidly urbanizing cities can affect their livability. — CityLab

'When these [2007 Pan Am] venues were built the government told Brazilians that these would be Olympic-ready, and there would be a rather smooth and efficient transition to eventually hosting the Olympics,' explained Rio-based reporter Taylor Barnes...'But, these venues have instead had some pretty checkered after-lives.' — pri.org

Sérgio Bernardes was a star of 60s Brazil, a brilliant architect and a mesmerising man. And then almost forgotten. His grandson has made a film to discover what happened — theguardian.com

"They should be stimulating residential projects both for richer and poorer people, to make this a mixed area, and not another neighbourhood for privileged Brazilians." - president of the Brazilian Institute of Architecture in Rio, Pedro da Luz — BBC News

MoMA began its "Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities" initiative last year aiming to advance international discussion on disproportionate urban development and its potential consequences. To address this issue, six interdisciplinary teams spent 14 months in workshops designing proposals that investigate new architectural possibilities for six metropolises. Each case study will be exhibited to the public at MoMA starting on November 22. — bustler.net

Through the free-flowing talent of Costa, Niemeyer, Burle Marx and Athos Bulcão, Brasília—the only city built in the 20th century that is listed by Unesco—has captivated the world since 1960. But the federal capital has not made Modernism sacred in the country as a whole and the protection of Modern architecture is still in its infancy. — theartnewspaper.com

Police simulations such as these offer a peculiarly spatial insight into the ways humans attempt to make sense of the world. [...]

Someone builds a surrogate or a stand-in—a kind of stage-set on which to test their most viable theories—then they control that replicant world down to every curb height and door frame. Architecture then comes along simply as ornamentation, in order to give this virtual world a physical footprint — bldgblog.blogspot.com