The first Favelas in Brazil grew up on the beginning of the 20th century in Rio de Janeiro as a result from the immigration of land workers from the less developed northern regions. The industrialisation gave the cities of the southern Brazil annual increasing rates of 8 %. São Paulo became one of the biggest cities in the world. The planers could not follow the explosive population increase during the Fifties. Over night grew up whole new settlements. Today the biggest Favela is in Rio de Janeiro ( Favela da Rocinha ). A high rate of des employment, low salaries and a false policy of planing helped the development of new Favelas.

In São Paulo actually about 1 Million people are living in Favelas, this is about 5 % of the population. The Favela syndrome is a big social, and mostly an ecological problem for Brazil. The policy of negation to the existent problem changed after the first Habitat conference on 1976, where the delegates made the declaration for a international human right of housing.

Today in Brazil and other developing countries countries are investing in programs and projects for to re urbanize the illegal settlements, and to integrate them into the contemporary city. To re urbanize Favelas it is necessary to make social, urban and technical analyses of the settlements. The Favelas are characterised of a different rate of consolidation. After the analyses it is possible to make the right decisions for the urban project. Urbanising a Favela means to reparate the existent structure in co-operation with the inhabitants, to create a new city quarter with all of the necessary basic infrastructure. Actually the biggest projects in Brazil are the program Favela - Bairro in Rio de Janeiro and Guarapiranga in São Paulo. The following points show some typical characteristics of Favelas: