Adriana Vial
Architect
Instituto Pereira Passos
Rio de Janeiro City Hall
Brazil

Biography
Architect/Urbanist, Msc., Housing Studies coordinator at IPP, office Rio de Janeiro`s Municipal Government, responsible for the production/dissemination of data and informations of the city. Specialist in GIS and informal settlements, produced many studies about these themes.

Abstract
Introduction to the Method and First Results of the Urban Rapid Participatory Appraisal in Rio de Janeiro's Pacified 'Favelas' Urban MRP

This work presents the methodology applied and preliminary results of the Urban Rapid Participatory Appraisal (Urban MRP) - conducted by IPP, centre responsible for the management of data in Municipal Government - to evaluate the urban conditions of pacified favelas in the city. The MRP is an instrument utilized by UPPSocial, a Programme in cooperation with UN-Habitat, to improve the quality of public services and infrastructure in these settlements. The main objective is to map internal structural differences by identifying spatial variations within these communities, produce detailed spatialized data and rank the conditions encountered, thus assisting the municipal government to better focus action and policies to attend the most vulnerable areas within and among these communities. The analysis encompasses nine dimensions: Risk Areas, Urban Regularization, Mobility Infrastructure, Housing Quality, Water Supply, Sewerage System, Rain Water Draining, Waste Collection and Public/Private Lighting. The method consists of capacitating UPPSocial`s field staff in order for them to define micro-areas within these settlements and collect data through visual observation and enquiries with different local actors, key informants such as older residents, local neighbourhood leaderships, etc. Micro-areas are defined through the identification of spaces with a high degree of internal structural homogeneity and a high degree of heterogeneity in relation to neighbouring ones. They are demarcated by usage of GIS and build up the spatial unit utilized for analysis. The data collected, descriptive in essence and related to each one of these spatial units is standardized by means of a closed questionnaire, answered by the same field staff. This procedure allows the data to be converted into standardized variables. Indicators are in turn calculated from these variables and enable the measurement of each spatial unit in regards the nine dimensions. Moreover, the sum of these 9 indicators builds up a General Index. The result of the MRP is the spatial representation of different levels of adequability within and among the territories in relation to the dimensions enquired and the summary of their urban conditions. It could become an important tool for planning in the city.