20/6/2017 Is this the end of slum upgrading in Brazil? https://theconversation.com/is-this-the-end-of-slum-upgrading-in-brazil-67208 1/5 Author Patricia Rodrigues Samora Prof essor, Pontif ical Catholic Univ ersity of Campinas Academic rigour, journalistic flair In Brazil’s ongoing economic and political drama, one of the latest developments is a congressional proposal to freeze federal funds at 2016 levels, adjusting the 2017 national budget only for inflation. This move would mean deep cuts to spending on social programnes. Though such reductions would affect programmes that launched millions of Brazilians into the middle class and put the developing country on track to meet many of the Millennium Development Goals, the senate seems likely to approve the budget freeze. For Brazilian cities, this government belt-tightening promises a disquieting change: the possible end of the country’s ambitious slum-upgrading programs. Despite Brazil’s great wealth, many poor neighbourhoods known as favelas (slums or “informal settlements” in urban planning parlance) still struggle with inadequate construction quality, no sanitation, environmental risk Brazil’s favelas are famous, but so are its ambitious efforts to bring roads, w ater, electricity, and land rights to its informal urban settlements. eflon/flickr, CC BY October 25, 2016 7.12am BST Is this the end of slum upgrading in Brazil?