GREETINGS

The city of Rio de Janeiro is honoured to welcome its distinguished visitors to this congress and we hope that the event will yield conclusions and recommendations of great value for technological development and for greatly increasing the safety of our hillsides.

Marcello Alencar
Mayor

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HILLSIDES

The city of Rio de Janeiro covers an area of nearly 1356 sq.km., reaching its highest point at the 1024m. Pedra Branca.
Topographically, it comprises predominantly low-lying, fluvial and marine sedimentary plains and the skirts of the hillsides. While 64% of the city lies between 0 and 20 m. above sea level, 36% is mountains, composed of igneous and metamorphic rock, with imposing rocky cliffs, including those of the Sugarloaf, Corcovado and Pedra da Gávea.
The mountainous area is associated with the Serra do Mar and forms three massifs separated by extensive lowlands:
- Pedra Branca massif to the west, formed by extensive granite intrusions and gneiss;
- Tijuca massif to the centre and south, formed predominantly by gneiss;
- Gericinó massif on the norther boundary of the municipal district, composed mainly of alkaline rocks and granites.
Besides hese three massifs, there are also isolated hills like the Sugarloaf, in the south, or the Morro da Penha, in the north-central zone.

Aldo da Cunha Rosa
Geotecnical Director

THE DRAMA OF THE RAINS

The population of the city of Rio de Janeiro is currently estimated at 6 million inhabitants, of which approximatelly 2 million (that is, 25% of the total) live in nearly 480 shantytowns and 500 irregular allotments. These are almost always risky areas, because any heavy rainfall triggers mudslides which bury dwellings and leave in their wake large numbers of dead and homeless among the poor.
Workers, unable to meet housing and transport costs because their purchasing power is being eroded daily, are compelled to set up home near to the centres of the service market, in shantytowns generally installed in areas which offer high risks, whether of violence, flooding or landslides.
Since 1966, when torrential rainfalls caused nearly 300 deaths among the city's population, then of 3,845,326, the City Council began to invest in a series of containment projects to prevent future catastrophes. The rains which occurred in 1988 demonstrated, however, that the problem persists and is growing.
Technicians of the Rio de Janeiro City Council face the major task of improving hillside containment, drainage, reforesting, and resettlement of the homeless and those living in high-risk areas.

Luiz Paulo Corrêa da Rocha
Secretary of Public Works

THE POSTCARD AND MEMORY

The picture postcard has been in use since 1869 and, as printing techniques have omproved, has become a medium for mass communication. The addition of photogravure illustrations imparted surprising dimensions to the postcard, by virtue of its documentary possibilities
The golden age of Cartophilia, during which millions of issues were launched and exchanged, occured during the Belle Époque. Here were circulated images of the dazzling art-noveau architecture which was changing the face of the city. The postcard's appeal spread as a result of the work of countless editors and exception documenters like Augusto Malta (1903-1936), the Federal District's first official photographer, Marc Ferrez and others.
This decade has seen a resurgence f postcard fever, including a whole range of events, from exhibitions to the publication of books, albums, catalogues and presentation sets.
The postcards reproduced in this pictorial essay focus on Nature in this marvellous city whose mountains and hillsides continue to fascinate travellers, tourists and researchers, as well as its inhabitants.

Fernando Ferreira Campos
Instituto Urbano de Memórias