Informalidade e inovação social:

práticas e perspectivas em uma favela carioca

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In the Vale Encantado favela, located in Alto da Boa Vista, municipality of Rio de Janeiro, RJ, experiments with sewage treatment using a sanitation biosystem, and ecotourism projects, are striking examples of the potential of social innovation in terms of respect for the legitimization of favelas and their residents as members of society as a whole. We believe in the potential of social innovation as a driving factor for transformations, for another becoming, since social innovation consists of a rupture in the way of doing things, an innovative element in a given context. It represents a discontinuity in relation to the solutions, considered formal, usually offered and put into practice. The current argument for favela removal practices in Alto da Boa Vista is based on the allegation of the risk that these communities pose to the environment, both through deforestation and river pollution. In this sense, we start from the hypothesis that even based on practices considered informal, emancipatory social innovation can contribute to the search for solutions for environmental conservation and the elimination of the risk of removal from these communities.