Verticalization

If you have driven around big cities, you have probably found that not all neighborhoods are created equal. There is generally a section of tall buildings, some shorter suburbs, and then houses in the outskirts. In really big cities, maybe you have seen mostly high rises like this one.

In fact, here in Salvador, the city was built, then grew, then rebuilt in it's new borders, then grew, and so we have several places that contain the tall tall buildings with almost every other kind of neighborhood in between. Our new epicenter for tall buildings in the last 5 to 7 years has been Pituba. Just since 2003 or so a few dozen new apartment buildings have sprung up, all high rises selling views of the ocean (at least until the next high rise is built in front of it). This has a way of wreaking havoc on the already established environment, causing massive heat bubbles where no ocean breeze can pass, or strange traffic flow because of increased rich commuters. Unsurprisingly, people generally do not want to see it happen to their nice-non-high-rise neighborhoods. There was recently a protest not far from the site of where this photo was taken, in Patamares, against the "verticalization" of the area. At the moment, this is the only high rise in the area - so marked as of yet that you can actually see the shadow it casts on google maps (search for Patamares, Salvador, Bahia, Brasil), while no other building in the area casts such shadow. There are signs announcing the planned construction of at least 2 other buildings just on this street, so it's a valid concern. But of course, why have a bunch of open land when you can build huge buildings on it...


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