Goiânia public housing project integrates social, economic and environmental objectives

The Fora de Risco programme in Goiânia (Brazil) is a public housing program that incorporates social, economic and environmental aspects of urban development into a single project.

The programme illustrates how a city can address national problems of income inequality, social exclusion and a paternalistic, unilateral relationship between citizens and state at the local level. 

The Fora de Risco programme was launched to deal with 7,000 housing units located in environmentally hazardous areas, being the banks of rivers and streams, and places subject to periodic flooding.  Similarly, slum settlements have been overwhelmingly built in sensitive watershed areas. 

The project, rooted in Goiânia’s Master Plan and Municipal Housing Policy, aimed to improve the quality of life for these 7,000 families using social (education, counseling and training programmes), physical (housing and infrastructure provision, and environmental recuperation), and legal (land tenure legislation) interventions.

The integration of social, economic and environmental considerations has been key to the success of Fora de RIsco. Citizen participation has been identified as one of the most significant success factors. 

For more information on the project, please contact COMOB, the City of Goiânia Department responsible for Fora de Risco, at tel. +55-62-3524-2175.

Sustainable development, as defined by the Brundtland Report, is “… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”  ICLEI’s mission is to build sustainable communities.  Please visit other pages on our website – www.iclei.org – for more information.

Goiânia is one of 12 local governments in Brazil that are currently Members of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.  For more information on ICLEI and its activities in the Latin America and Caribbean Region, please visit www.iclei.org/lacs.

Source:  Goiânia, Brazil Case Study, Liveable Cities:  The Benefits of Urban Environmental Planning, 2007.