Volume

13

Issue

3

*Corresponding author lcteixeiracoelho@prefeitura.rio

Published 20 Dec 2025

Citation

TEIXEIRA COELHO, L. C. Routes, paths, and transitions in the City of Rio de Janeiro. Coleção Estudos Cariocas, v. 13,n. 3, 2025.
DOI: 10.71256/19847203.13.3.207.2025

The article was originally submitted in PORTUGUESE. Translations into other languages were reviewed and validated by the authors and the editorial team. Nevertheless, for the most accurate representation of the subject matter, readers are encouraged to consult the article in its original language.

Routes, paths, and transitions in the City of Rio de Janeiro 

Rotas, caminhos e transições na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Rutas, caminos y transiciones en la Ciudad de Río de Janeiro

Luiz Carlos Teixeira Coelho1*

1Instituto Municipal de Urbanismo Pereira Passos, R. Gago Coutinho, 52 - Laranjeiras, Rio de Janeiro- RJ, 22221-070, ORCID0000-0002-4466-9772, lcteixeiracoelho@prefeitura.rio.

What are Rio’s paths? Certainly, the Carioca metropolis has been, is, and will continue to be a source of continuous flows: lived histories and juxtaposed realities that meet on life’s roads and in the city’s routes. As another issue of the Estudos Cariocas Collection comes to a close (concluding the regular edition of the second semester of 2025) it is possible to outline a flow of trajectories, encounters, and recoveries in texts that are seemingly quite distinct, yet converge on a shared theme: unknown paths, encounters and lived histories, flows that serve as meeting points between multiple realities, whose cartographies are described in the following paragraphs.

Moraes Junior (2025) brings to light little-known details of a tragic historical fact: the trafficking of people from Africa who were enslaved in this country, whose clandestine disembarkation took place in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone. From the perspective of these illegal routes, the researcher identifies the ruins of the Casa do Porto, a site of oppression for countless enslaved Africans during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Not all routes, nor all forms of transport, are desirable or successful. Nevertheless, the recovery of these histories and the remembrance of these events serve as an important memory of past injustices, helping us understand the pressing need for historical reparation and for building an egalitarian society—one in which affirmative actions are implemented to promote racial equity and to repair the damage caused by the violent legacy of slavery in Brazil.

From illegal routes to everyday routes, Rodrigues (2025) develops an interesting study based on records of trips requested through the TAXI.RIO application. Using geoprocessing tools and spatial analysis, the author sought to understand spatiotemporal patterns of taxi transport routes in the municipality. Among the main findings, the author identified significantly different patterns on weekdays and weekends, as well as a regular spatiotemporal pattern on weekdays, noting that “[i]n the morning period, this demand appears specifically located in predominantly residential areas, with destinations clustered around the central area and its surroundings.” The research presented in the article outlines key steps of a broader project aimed at mapping transportation patterns in Rio de Janeiro.

One of these central points in the city of Rio de Janeiro—and fundamental to the flow of people over nearly five centuries of history—has been Largo da Carioca (Souza et al., 2005). This issue of the Estudos Cariocas Collection features an article dedicated specifically to the theme of interventions in this public space, which is so important to Carioca identity. Focusing on the period from the 1940s to the 1980s, the authors propose an interpretation of the interventions at Largo da Carioca through the lens of the urban palimpsest, in which layers of distinct urbanizations and planning processes overlap in Rio de Janeiro’s city center.

Ribeiro (2025), in turn, leaves terrestrial routes behind and writes about aerial routes—more precisely, about the classic period of Brazilian aviation, with a specific focus on the image constructed of Rio de Janeiro in Varig posters between the 1950s and 1970s. The author seeks to engage the reader through visual materials, including analyses of color palettes and comparisons with posters from other airlines, demonstrating the construction of a distinct visual language to promote Rio de Janeiro as an international tourist destination. In this sense, air routes cease to be merely a product and become a desire, with visual communication playing a relevant role in consolidating Rio de Janeiro as a desirable destination and cultural landscape. From air routes to the tourist objective, communication plays an extremely central role in differentiating the Carioca landscape.

Salas (2025), on the other hand, does not speak of routes, but of a destination: Flamengo Beach. In the article, the author traces regressions and improvements that have led to the current condition of the beach’s water quality for bathing—an unprecedented fact in recent decades. The analysis reveals two distinct moments of improvement in bathing conditions: one during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and another beginning in 2022. The latter is linked to the project to divert the mouth of the Carioca River to the South Zone outfall, an action carried out in the context of regulatory changes introduced by Brazil’s new Legal Framework for Basic Sanitation.

This discussion aligns with an opinion article written by Dr. Waldir Peres, focusing on environmental sanitation in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region (RMRJ) (Peres, 2025). His article critically analyzes recent advances in the Integrated Urban Development Strategic Plan (PEDUI/RMRJ) related to environmental sanitation, based on empirical data on the implementation of its sectoral plans—from wastewater treatment plant works to macro-drainage projects. While identifying significant achievements, it also discusses the structural challenges that persist and the prospects for universalizing services by 2033.

Finally, this issue also includes another edition of the curation and critical analysis of publications on Rio de Janeiro, prepared by Amaral (2025). This section seeks to summarize recently published, interesting, and multidisciplinary articles, thereby expanding the diverse debate on Rio de Janeiro to include the work of other researchers who have been writing about the city. This issue encompasses pertinent themes and creative, relevant works. It is hoped that they will serve as starting points for deeper research, highlighting the needs and challenges of Carioca development. I wish you an excellent read!