View of MAR (Museo de Arte do Rio) construction on Rua Venezuela, the street of INEA offices where I'm working in downtown Rio.
I have been in Rio already for 3 days working at Secretaria de Ambiente. Maria Silvia Muylaert, Assessora and Architect introduced me to all. The first day I learned about the closure of Parque Gramacho landfill, the largest in Brazil. We talked about the potential sustainable redevelopment of the community. It is a fascinating project.
The second day I was educated about the INEA (Instituto Estadual do Ambiente) structure and they walked me through the land use plans and potential economic and urban design development for urban gaps with their housing programs.
Today I had an interesting meeting about the proposed Rio Green Districts. In addition, the INEA is developing a new office building which could definitely became LEED certified. All very exiting projects at a time when the world is watching Rio carefully. Rio is already developing a partnership with the US and I would love to link them also to the Chicago sustainable urban development initiatives and its potential investors.
The INEA and RIO in general have a vibrant environment that inspires... I hear from my balcony escolas de samba as I'm blogging...
