From Favela to Gated Community

Architect Héctor Vigliecca explains what he wanted to do with the project, namely giving residents of the project better housing but also a public space, a place for leisure also accessible to other people in the area. But as the residents explain, the new park is popular but also being vandalized by those who do not live in the development. Therefore they want to turn something created ideastically as an open place to one that is gated.

At its most direct, "From favela to gated community" is a portrait of how an architect's intentions are not always aligned with the reality that occurs after a project's completion. The input of both sides – the architect and the residents – in the documentary reiterates this condition, while rising issues of public/private and security that could apply to other places as well.