An amazing, entertaining vision for greening Rio's working port

Most working port areas of most cities - including just about all in the US - are way outmoded and polluting, and in deperate need of transformation for people and the environment.  In Rio de Janeiro, the city's working waterfront is being transformed into the Porto Maravilha (Marvelous Port).  If fully realized, this might become an incredible model for how to green port areas. 

Before you watch the captivating 3-minute video, here's a summary of the project prepared by the US-Brazil Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability and posted on the website of the US Environmental Protection Agency:

"Since the 1970s, the Port of Rio de Janeiro has fallen into disrepair-currently 1 million m2 of real estate are under-occupied and many historic buildings have not been kept up. With the impetus of rising real estate prices, a series of world-class mega-events, the 450th anniversary of Rio de Janeiro, and continued economic growth, the City has cooperated with the federal and state governments, private interests, and the local community to create the extensive Porto Maravilha (Marvelous Port) project to revitalize the area. Porto Maravilha aims to increase the number of residents in the region and provide new commercial and industrial space in a sustainable, equitable, and livable way.

"The plan includes installing 700 km of water, sanitation, drainage, electricity, gas, and telecommunications networks; 650 km2 of sidewalks; 17 km of bike paths; 15,000 trees; and three sanitation plants alongside historic preservation, social inclusion, and cultural and education initiatives. The Port area will also connect to other public transit hubs through a new light rail system (VLT), estimated to carry 200,000 people per day in its initial years. The area is meant to host mixed-use buildings as well as high-density mixed-income housing centered on several anchor projects, including the two museums and some Olympic sites."

Man I hope this happens.  Here's the video:

Related posts:

• What is "infrastructure," anyway? Industry report highlights 100 leading city projects (July 16, 2012)
• Cincinnati students plan redevelopment area of Brazilian city for the next World Cup (July 29, 2010)
• Nice video on Curitiba's car-free main street (July 9, 2009)
• How Hamburg became the European Green Capital (November 21, 2011)

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