A Rio de Janeiro crossing during Winter 2011. Urban, social and economic contrasts and contradictions of a city that is preparing to host the World Cup in 2014 and the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016. The ‘street cleaning’ of cidade maravilhosa: the next sporting competitions and related ‘showcase’ will not include people living on the streets as well as drug trafcking. The city seems to look forward to the events while at the same time the common people have di?erent opinions. That fosters the idea of a new opportunity for Rio de Janeiro and Brazil and at the same time fears for contradictions, speculations and inequalities.

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