Does the future of the favela fit in an aerial cable car? Examining tourism mobilities and urban inequalities through a decolonial lens

Abstract

Promising to foster social, economic, and spatial integration, as well as tourism opportunities, the application of gondola lift systems to segregated urban areas has attracted widespread attention. In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the aerial cable car system is a key component of place-branding strategies that are preparing the city for global mega events. Under a decolonial lens and the inspiration of the New Mobilities Paradigm, the idealization, the uses, and disputes around this transportation device, celebrated as capable of adding touristic value to despoiled landscapes, allow for a more comprehensive understanding of heated conflicts over mobility patterns, especially concerning favelas as touristic destinations, that are contemporary but are also extensions of older inequalities played out in Brazil. The conclusion highlights the need to infer about the future of the megacities in which tourism flows are increasingly legitimating high-cost infrastructural proposals which neglect genuinely participatory and inclusive public consultation methods.