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This paper examines an infrastructure road project in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil,
within the local context of a small favela, Colonia. This road project, called Projeto
Costa Oeste, has a dual purpose of development and increased transportation. This
project is done for my client, a local NGO called Associacao dos Moradores do Litoral
Oeste (AMLO) and seeks to provide recommendations so that the NGO can work to maximize
the benefits and minimize the costs. This paper draws on fieldwork and a wide body
of literature in developmental economics, political participation, transportation,
road impacts and environmental impact. After outlining these possible and perceived
impacts, it assesses Costa Oeste’s viability, desirability and effectiveness. The
primary finding is that neighborhood residents are unable to realize the attendant
rise in property values assocastio4ed with Costa Oeste due to their insecure property
rights regime. Therefore, the two primary recommendations to my client are, first,
a house registration drive kin which residents take advantage of a Brazilian legal
mechanism for registering a house that has been built in a favela such as Colônia.
The second recommendation is for AMLO to consolidate the numerous associations working
for social change in the neighborhood, thereby focusing their efforts and amplifying
their resources.
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