Catalytic Communities

Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Website: www.catcomm.org

Based in Rio de Janeiro, Catalytic Communities (CatComm) is an empowerment, communications, think tank and advocacy NGO run as a small, adaptive collaborative network which works to support and empower residents of informal settlements.

As needs among favela residents and their leaders evolve, we do too.

CatComm functions as a news source, agenda-setter, movement-builder and research collaborative, each to a lesser or greater extent at any time, as needs dictate. We are the only organization in Rio working at the intersection of community development, international networks, media and urban planning.

For 13 years we have been supporting community organizing efforts across Rio de Janeiro by developing and providing access to communications and networking tools and spaces supporting favela development tailored in strategic ways when the time is right.

CatComm is classified as a 501[c][3] not-for-profit organization in the United States, in addition to our charity status in Brazil, because of our commitment to developing educational and free services that empower those most at-risk.

We conscientiously incubate programs to support Rio de Janeiro’s informal settlements knowing such communities will constitute a third of the world’s population by 2050 and document what we do to serve as an example for other cities across the globe.

{FAVEL issues}

Location: International

Website: www.favelissues.com

FAVELissues is a collaborative blog analyzing urban informality on a global scale. With such an interdisciplinary team composed of sociologists, architects, planners, economists, political scientists, academics and practitioners, and such an international body (US, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, India, South Africa and Egypt amongst others).

FAVELissues is sure to bring multiple perspectives – bridging both theory and practice- to discussions of city growth, development, and sustainability.

New economic processes and forms of urbanization are apparent in today’s society. With over half of the world’s population now urban, and a great percentage of the urbanization happening informally, the discourse of globalization and the global city can no longer exclude and is no longer separate from the informal one.

How should we manage urban growth, acknowledging that a large percentage of it lies in the realm of the favela? How should we balance the growing urban population, the rights for shelter and rights to the city, with the aims of environmental management and a more inclusive and equitable urbanism and development?

FAVELissues began as a reflection of Adriana’s observations and research during her 2010 travel fellowship. Today, the blog has transformed into an open forum for discussions addressing urban informality, urban upgrading and city development.