ABSTRACT
By 2009, after several years of economic growth and falling violence, and the emergence of a new political alliance, there was much talk in Rio de Janeiro of a ‘turnaround’ (Urani and Gambiagi 2011). The city had long become accustomed to decline, having lost its capital city status to Brasília and its business pre-eminence to São Paulo in the 1960s, and then suffering more than most during the economic crises of the 1980s and 90s. The ‘turnaround’ cemented itself as a hegemonic narrative in October of that year when the city won its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. These favourable economic and political conditions, combined with the impetus of the Olympics, 1 equently paved the way for a range of ambitious and controversial urban reforms spanning the spheres of housing, infrastructure, transport and public security.
