jogOrio
Rio de Janeiro is currently on hold for a great take off: The World Cup in 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016. JogOrio is a system that uses sports infrastructure to empower the kids of Rio by capitalizing in the Olympic investment (the stadiums, the transit system, the FEVER for sports and the creativity) and push it a little bit further to reach structural problems of the city.
- Pick sports, the sports that kids like, that are collective in practice, that are fun and make them proud: like Capoeira, volleyball, swimming. In other words create social groups that they can belong to… an option appart from gang clubbing…
- Introduce facilities where most needed or where they just don’t exist, and where it’s close to kids. (they can also be public spaces, and an access to basic services). In this sense, a good starting point are the favelas where 20% of the population are under 16.
- Create social groups that kids can belong to and that provides opportunities to kids for a better life…an option apart from gang clubbing.
- Link the facilities together with the transit system, for example, the bus rapid transit being developed for the Olympics, so that for a minimal investment, kids inside the system can travel from one facility to another, from neighborhood to neighborhood.
- Design the transit stop as a jogO station identified by the single sport played in the neighborhood.
- Connect each jogO station with the larger scale of the urban system that connects kids to the city.
- Finally, reuse the Olympic stadiums for kids to compete in every year crowning new champions and bringing passion to the communities involved.
That is how you pass from a mega event to a common event that lasts generations and offers great opportunities for the kids and the future of Rio.
So, Do you want to play?