A great tragedy that appears in the Latin American cities is the large number of street children, and they appear to bear and be part of more problems within the society. However, focusing on the street children and their role in the urban problems, it appears that the problems lie a little deeper than one can expect (Barry and Huff Stevenson, chapter 9). A Brazilian movie by the name City of God depicts the issue of street children and other problems that emerge from the same. Several planning issues such as a global city, urban crime as well as youth gangs and the lack of economic and social mobility appear in the film. Other eminent issues include the urban slums as well as the physical environment, social networks, the importance of education and the public and government housing systems in slums. Evidently, planning urban cities in Latin America seems challenging due to the high population rates and low level of job creation, these factors combined lead to the massive migration to the cities thus creating densely populated urban cities.
Urban cities have plenty to offer, but one evident situation is the negative and positive bear different rewards. Growing up in slums near the city means that an individual is exposed to the city life but cannot afford to make the best from these experiences. The two boys from the film grow up in Brazilian favela (the slum) and have an exposure to different opportunities to grow their ideas. However, seemingly, their background affects their reasoning and selection of priorities. More so, the environment in the slums with the little resources that individuals struggle for exposes individuals to a “hustler spirit.” The lack of adequate resources and low literacy level in the slums in such cities make the residents to turn onto each other. The term “City of God” may have been coined due to the planning witnessed in the city, little resources, and few opportunities to earn a decent living. From these prevailing situations in the urban city, individuals only survive from the will of God.
With such limited opportunities, education plays a vital role because the best opportunities to earn decently are offered to the educated individuals (Barry and Huff Stevenson, chapter 9). Therefore, in the slum and urban cities, education plays an important role by reducing the suffering that people undergo. However, more evident is the effect of urban crime as well as youth gangs in the urban cities. In this case, the youth gangs emerge from the environment. The learning process is simple for individuals who want to join these youth gangs and engage in the city crime. Li`l Ze is an example of the learning process, in the 1960`s he watched the Tender Trio robbing motels along with the gas trucks and he developed a bigger dream in crime. Learning from the environment on how to engage and make a success out of crime, Li`l Ze in the 1970`s focusses on owning the city. In the urban cities with poor planning and limited resources, crime and violence can make one prosperous. In this case, the battle takes place between the rival gangs. For example, Li`l Ze now owns the city and creates fear and violence to wipe out the rival gangs in the city. Wiping out the rival gangs means that he has an easier time performing crime.
Government and public systems of housing appear as a failed system in the urban cities. Poor planning and the inadequacy of resources contributes to the search for alternative housing schemes. However, on the other side of Rio de Janeiro, the life is a bit different. Tourists can enjoy the Sugar Loaf Mountain along in Copacabana Beach. The five star hotels also provide the housing for tourists. Clearly, more resources in the planning departments are channeled towards improving the environment to better the system for tourists and visitors but the locals are not considered as much. The government appears keen to hide the negative side in Rio. Therefore, the planning and national housing schemes appear clearly as failed projects, which cannot help the residents of the slums.
The role and power of social networks are depicted negatively in the slums. For example, for the individuals who chose to run in crime and prosper from such activities, their networks include people who are in crime (Barry and Huff Stevenson, chapter 9). The actual sense of social networks is enabling the younger generations to learn the trade. Once the trade is learnt, the younger members in the social network try to improve on the weaknesses observed. In drug dealing, new members become better at transporting and trafficking. Most of the slum dwellers assume the similar traits to those of street children as depicted in the film. Crime serves a purpose in the process of attempted survival thus creating a constant conflict between these individuals and the local authorities. However, it is much evident that they have been neglected by the government and thus take charge at attempting to make their paths easier.
The image of a global city appears as one, which is framed with the riddle of a corrupt police force. Guns and a gun culture with an out of control drug menace also form part of the picture in the global city. Therefore, the urban cities, which are focused at being global cities, appear to operate under their own rules. The problem with such cities in this case is that the slums beside them have been built to house the poor. Mostly, the poor living in the favelas are black and are placed very far from the wealthy beaches. Evidently, to hide the reality to the tourists who bring good revenues, the slums are built further from the tourist attractions. However, the slum dwellers and global city residents are wise to comprehend that the government has cut down on the financing; therefore, they make rules to govern themselves. In this regard, the administration of global cities by the slum dwellers or criminal minds appears as a rebellion to the government due to a failure in their obligation.
The composition and social set up in these cities involves the young and jobless, as well as, the families waiting for better government services and the aged who have seen it all (Barry and Huff Stevenson, chapter 9). The common attribute in this composition is the social behavior, which depicts the lack of resources that translates to the lack economic and social mobility. Finally, it emerges that these experiences form a slum-city life culture with the urban slum environment housing more individuals per square meters than any other region. The culture is unique and easily shared among the residents just as the behaviors are easily shared.
Work Cited
Bluestone, Barry, and Mary Huff Stevenson. The Urban Experience: Economics, Society, and Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
