To solve this structural problem, Gerando Falcões partnered with Google and naPorta to create open source, free digital addresses integrated into Google Maps. To locate addresses using “plus codes,” the technology converts GPS latitude and longitude coordinates into alphanumeric codes, which are placed in front of each residence.
As part of the Favela 3D project, e-commerce orders are directed to a container located within the favela itself. Operated by naPorta, the hub coordinated by da Silva, items are delivered by local couriers to residents by bicycle. The organizations collaborate with e-commerce companies and retailers to create campaigns to encourage online consumption in favelas.
However, Nemer suggests that connecting the favela to e-commerce does not necessarily equate to empowerment. “If we get [favela residents] to buy from well-established companies with no commitment to the territory, we are taking resources away from their communities. This means we focus on social development through consumerism, which is problematic because it does not necessarily mean progress or inclusion,” he says.
Other technology companies have come to set up shop in the Dreams slum as part of the Favela 3D project. Coletando, a fintech company that makes digital payments in exchange for recyclable materials, has set up shop in the area. Fleury, a healthcare company, has set up a telemedicine center.
The technological components of the Favela 3D plan address a broader question: who has the right to access fundamental aspects of the digital economy. “The Internet as we understand it was not designed for marginalized areas like favelas,” says Nemer. “When seemingly simple and basic technologies are deployed in these communities, they become tools of transformation and resistance.”
The 3D project attempts to give residents access to technological education, vocational training and entrepreneurship, as well as more traditional development projects, such as housing construction, sanitation and public spaces. Lyra has worked with organizations like Spanish nonprofit Teto to build homes from recycled toothpaste tubes and lobbied the local water company to serve the area. Residents recently renamed the favela Boca do Sapo (“frog’s mouth”) to Favela dos Sonhos (“favela of dreams” in Brazilian Portuguese).
“This old name referred to many aspects of the place we live in that we were ashamed of. We couldn’t even get an Uber to go home because the drivers wouldn’t take us,” said Joelma Campos, also a former housekeeper and now the leader of Decola, a nonprofit started by Gerando Falcões to lead the Favela 3D project.
The changes introduced by the initiative may have a significant impact on some people, but the next steps as the project grows are what really matters, says Adla Viana, an anthropologist specializing in technology and innovation and founder of AI startup TechViz.
“Favela 3D is a project that improves the capacity of individuals to resist, to control their own narratives and to envision a horizon of possibilities. However, we must ask ourselves: what happens once opportunities open up for individuals like [da Silva, the logistics operator]? Will they create their own startups? How will their careers evolve in the years to come and how [might] can these successes be replicated?” she said.
The Dreams favela is only a prototype. So far, Lyra has secured commitment from the state of São Paulo to deploy the project in nine medium-sized favelas. He hopes other states will feel compelled to replicate the model. However, with 11,000 slums nationwide, there is still a long way to go before the entrepreneur gets any closer to his utopia of “turning favelas into museum objects before Elon Musk colonizes Mars.”
