A green oasis intended to contribute to neighbourhood health in Rio de Janeiro, Parque Realengo is rapidly being colonised by consumer culture In order to improve the life and wellbeing of citizens in boroughs far from beaches or public gardens, Rio de Janeiro’s municipal government recently launched the Parques Cariocas programme to oversee the renovation of existing and creation of new parks with leisure and health facilities. Opened in June 2024, the Parque Realengo Susana Naspolini is among the new parks created under the scheme, and is located in a populous lower‑middle‑class neighbourhood whose origins date back to the early 19th century. Although it is flanked to the south by the 12,400 hectares of Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca, one of the largest urban forests in the world, the Realengo neighbourhood did not have public spaces suitable for outdoor physical exercise and other leisure activities. The most popular site of recreation among Cariocas (Rio residents) might be the beach, but the closest one to Realengo is 22km away, an hour and a half by public transport. Due to its geographical position, wedged between hills with limited wind flow, and the lack of trees in its streets, Realengo is notorious for its extremely high temperatures – it is common for them to soar above 40°C. In the centre of the neighbourhood, a large piece of land lay abandoned for decades, with vegetation taking over scattered industrial remnants. Home to the Brazilian Army’s Cartridge Factory from 1898 to 1977, the plot was set to be transformed into a residential complex for military personnel but met resistance from the local community. After about two decades of political struggle, the City eventually agreed to convert more than half of it, corresponding to 80,500m2, into a public park. Local architecture and landscape firm Ecomimesis Soluções Ecológicas was commissioned for the park’s masterplan and landscaping, and construction began in 2022. Mayor Eduardo Paes’s idea was to create a local version of Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay. There was no shame or shyness in wanting to build ‘supertree’ simulacrums; the municipality aspired to create a landmark in the suburban landscape, a symbol of its administration. This decision is best explained not by urban planning theory, but by a famous quote from the great Carioca carnival designer Joãosinho Trinta: ‘The people like luxury, those who like poverty are intellectuals.’ This is the quintessence of Rio de Janeiro’s culture. Like the floats of samba schools parading down the Avenida Marquês de Sapucaí during carnival, the towers of Parque Realengo seek to represent wealth and opulence. It was a conscious strategy to create a popular symbol, and copying the foreign reference of the time is nothing new; in the 1924 carnival, a replica of the Eiffel Tower was built in nearby Madureira. The five towering structures of Parque Realengo rise above a water basin and among curvilinear walkways designed to provide Instagrammable views. As lower‑tech versions of their half siblings in Southeast Asia, they integrate a water sprinkler system to mitigate the heat‑island effect with planters at their base, for vegetation to climb and twine round the metal profiles. The structures truly come to life after dark; every evening, a sound and light show takes place, a low‑cost Dubai fireworks spectacle with powerful speakers playing popular Brazilian music.  Parque Realengo is a real stage for popular activities and celebrations, with an intense and vibrant energy. This is the product of both the current day‑to‑day management of the park and enthusiastic appropriation by the locals, rather than the architecture and landscaping. Throughout the day, it is buzzing with bicycles, food carts, skateboards, and the hustle and bustle of crowds. This is not a park for silent enjoyment or to admire botanical species. Ecomimesis did propose the planting of 3,700 trees, incorporating 60 new native species in the park grounds, yet the landscape design does not follow any specific Brazilian tradition. Its approach is closer to the École Nationale Supérieure du Paysage de Versailles (where Ecomimesis founder Pierre‑André Martin studied), concerned with the resilience of microenvironments, than to the ideas of Roberto Burle Marx, whose tropical compositions alluded to cubist paintings. Internal paths are winding, so the park reveals itself gradually to those who walk, run or cycle. While there is no privileged vantage point from which to see the place as a whole, the park delivers a series of pleasant surprises, with most structures and stops along the route protected from view by vegetation. Between the football pitch and the skatepark is the community’s vegetable garden; the use of two multisport courts and a smaller one for 3 × 3 basketball is regularly fought over by neighbours; the outdoor gym equipment seems popular among older people. Dozens of benches and tables scattered throughout the park provide places for users to stop, rest and picnic, while the covered barbecues spread around the lawns become meeting points around which families and friends gather; when I visited, on a summer’s Friday night, four birthdays were being celebrated at the same time. Noise levels reach a climax in the water play area, with fountains shooting water upwards and hanging buckets that tip over once filled, their water pouring down to the delight of children who want to cool off. After sunset, once temperatures begin to drop, children rush to the playground with their toys. Although the builders did not follow the design to the letter, the infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff and help with soil drainage is functioning. To minimise the impact of extreme rainfall – increasingly common due to global warming – the park’s rain gardens and bioswales absorb and filter excess water before it is directed and stored in a retention basin near one of the park’s entrance gates.  Two structures stand out for their architectural quality. Both were designed by six young architects commissioned by Ecomimesis: Juliana Ayako, Helena Meirelles, Larissa Monteiro, Carlos Saul Zebulun, Rodrigo Messina and Francisco Rivas. At the southern end of the park, the Mercado na Praça (‘market square’) acts as a gateway from the busy street. The improvised, non‑legalised shops that previously stood on the site were removed to widen the pavement and create a large square just outside the park’s boundary. Two long, horizontal structures provide shelter from the elements; overlapping and arranged at a 90° angle to one another, they also structure the open space. The lower, single‑storey axis consists of a row of 11 units where shop owners were relocated; above, running perpendicular to it, a 66m‑long, 3m‑tall steel roof seems to float, its trusses supported by just a few pillars. Designed without a specific programme, the space below and around the canopy – peppered with flowerbeds, tables and benches – supports spontaneous and ephemeral occupation. At the other end of Parque Realengo, the Cobertura Multiuso (‘multipurpose canopy’) speaks a similar language. Deep metal trusses hold a roof that slopes inwards, descending towards a central patio. The architects imagined it could host yoga sessions, dance classes or samba school drum rehearsals, but nine stalls have been built underneath the roof, turning the whole into an outdoor food court. Like Venturi and Scott Brown’s ducks, the popcorn kiosk and ice cream parlour have the shapes of the products they sell; their eccentric, oversize decor works surprisingly well at one of the structure’s corners, partially overtaking the roof. The six architects also designed a third building: another hollowed‑out structure with a courtyard, this one with its roofs sloping upwards towards the centre. Only its general proportions and the roof silhouettes were kept; the building, intended to be a cultural centre, now houses a health centre and educational space for the locals.  Parque Realengo represents the triumph of consumerism. It is an open‑air public space full of free activities, but with a high number of commercial establishments – around 40, both carts and fixed structures. With its motorised go‑karts for children to rent out and race, its main alley resembles a shopping‑mall corridor. The unemployed and underemployed members of the local community have spontaneously taken possession of the park as their economic platform – not part of the architects’ projects, this necessity was understood and facilitated by the municipality. Consumption and ideas of a healthier lifestyle coexist. In its own way, Parque Realengo has proven to be a success, so much so that the city recently reached an agreement to use the remaining land belonging to the army to expand it in the coming years. 2025-04-22 Francesco Perrotta-Bosch Share AR April 2025Buy Now