PolimiparaRocinha urban regeneration process: The role of “food design” for the sustainability of the Rocinha Favela in Rio de Janeiro

Rocinha (Rio de Janeiro) is one the largest favela of Latin-America. Founded in 1930’s it has now more than 160,000 inhabitants. The favela is characterized by several social and environmental urgencies including also critical phenomena affecting the population heath. The paper summaries the approach of the PolimiparaRocinha project, a research project founded by Polisocial (the social responsibility program of Politecnico di Milano) and coordinated by Politecnico di Milano involving the “Sorriso dei miei bimbi” (international NGO acting since 20 years in Rocinha), other Italian NGOs and the UFRJ. The project aims to contribute to the improvement of health, livability and inclusiveness of Rocinha community applying a multidisciplinary design methodology named IMM (Integrated Modification Methodology). The regeneration process integrates several thematic assets: climate and energy, ecosystem services and food, waste management, water and mobility and it is based on crosscutting proposals activating local circular cycles and virtuous synergies among different disciplinary and technical solutions. The PolimiparaRocinha project is characterized by a large international (and local) partnership that supports both the decision making process/solution design and the implementation and management of proposed interventions. The chapter focuses on the “Food” thematic asset, presenting the main urgencies deriving and connected to the food system emerging in the Rocinha context and the outcomes from the critical and comparative analysis of existing food polices and practices developed highlighting both the main barriers to implementation and stabilization of food polices/measures and the opportunities and inspirations from the existing experiences. The final part of the chapter is dedicated to the “food projects” integrated in PolimiparaRocinha urban regeneration process with specific focus on the synergies and connection with the whole framework of PolimiparaRocinha project and on the “food initiatives” proposed and shared with local communities. Food is one of the main drivers for the Rocinha regeneration process: its strong correlations with the water management sector (in particular with the drainage problem) and with the waste management (especially with the re-use of organic waste) made food policies and actions a crucial tool for introducing a synergic strategy towards a new circular metabolism of the favela’s internal processes. Some perspectives in terms of scenarios and main outcomes for the implementation of proposed projects close the chapter.