Rio de Janeiro and it's Metropoletan Area

In Brazil Rio is known as the Marvelous City, a name which reflects the city’s stunning natural setting between the mountains and the sea.

Rio is located on the western side of Guanabara Bay on a flat, narrow coastal plain adjacent to the foothills of the Brazilian Highlands.

As the city has expanded, it has occupied the spurs of these coastal mountains, often with the homes of the poor.

The municipality of Rio, the city proper, occupies a comparatively small area, about 1,170 sq km (about 450 sq mi).

The metropolitan region outside the city is vast, however.

It includes 13 other municipalities, making the total metropolitan region about 6,500 sq km (about 2,500 sq mi).

This urbanized area even spans Guanabara Bay, to include the suburban areas of Niterói, Neves, and São Gonçalo located on its eastern shores. These suburbs are connected by the Rio-Niterói Bridge, a 14 km (9 mi) span constructed in 1974.

The local topography has been reengineered considerably to expand the city and facilitate transportation within it.

The site of the city’s original founding, a low hill known as Morro do Castelo, was leveled in the early years of the 20th century to expand the central business district.

In the 20th century, San Antonio Hill was removed, a number of tunnels were constructed to facilitate traffic, and several large landfill projects have extended the city into Guanabara Bay and widened its beaches.

The city of Rio can be thought of as being divided into three principal areas: the traditional historical core at the eastern base of the Serra da Carioca, a small coastal mountain range running east to west; the northern zone situated to the northwest of the core; and the southern zone located to the south and southwest of the core.

The Serra da Carioca provides a natural physical boundary between the northern and southern zones.

The commercial area of the city is compact, centering on Avenida Rio Branco and Avenida Presidente Vargas.

The city’s subway system follows these two avenues through the downtown area. The center includes many tall office buildings, and on weekdays its streets are clogged with motor vehicles and pedestrians.

Most government offices, banks, financial institutions, major airline offices, and commercial buildings are located in the city’s core. Museums, colonial churches, and notable public buildings are also located in this area.

The metropolitan area’s industrial districts and extensive lower-income suburbs, like the municipalities of Nova Iguaçu, São João Meriti, and Duque de Caxias, are found in the city’s northern zone.

The city’s southern zone is largely the home of Rio’s upper classes. Traditionally these wealthy residents have lived in the coastal neighborhoods of Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, and Gávea.

While these areas are still popular upscale locations, Barra da Tijuca, further west along the coast, has perhaps become Rio’s most fashionable neighborhood.

Squatter settlements, known in Brazil as favelas, cover the steep slopes of many of the hills throughout the city, often in close proximity to wealthy residential neighborhoods.

Rocinha, the city’s largest favela with 150,000 to 300,000 residents, sits in the southern zone adjacent to the wealthy neighborhood of Gávea.

Urban transportation in Rio is dominated by buses, which account for nearly 70 percent of all passenger trips, while automobiles and taxis represent slightly less than 20 percent of such trips.

Suburban trains, the subway, and ferries account for a limited proportion of passenger trips—about 7 percent, 3 percent, and 2 percent respectively.