ABSTRACT
Morro da Babilônia is an informal settlement located in Rio de Janeiro. Sedrez and Barbosa study a reforestation project implemented in that area through a collaboration between local residents and the municipal government. The authors employ archival research and oral history to recover the histories of the settlement and explore the evolution of the reforestation project. Throughout the 20th century, the memory of the residents discloses an ambiguous relationship with the forest and urban environment, marked by frequent unnatural disasters, mostly slides and floods. This story is not only about the transformation of a favela but also about the transformation of the actors involved in the reforestation project, all of them struggling with their preconceptions on humans and nature.
