Location
Venue
The core conference will take place at the Sofitel Rio Palace which anchors one end of Copacabana Beach and has more than adequate space for a conference of 800. There are 388 rooms and excellent accessibility. Many choices of low to mid-price hotels are within blocks of the Sofitel Rio Palace. Detailed information about accommodation options will be available early in 2004.
Some of the Pre-Conference Intensive Sessions will take place in other locations, outside of Rio de Janeiro. Additional information regarding these locations will be posted here soon.
Why Brazil?
A significant priority of Designing for the 21st Century III is to be a catalyst for building understanding and collaboration between the developed and developing nations, it must be in a place that exemplifies economic disparity and yet attracts the people who can shape the agenda. Brazil is the largest nation in Latin America with 182,032,604 people. 50% of the population accounts for just 10% of the national income - the internal economic disparities parallel the world's. The demographics are complex - from the fact that 47% of Brazilians are of African descent to the fact that Brazil has the largest community of Japanese outside of Japan. More than 80% of Brazilians live in urban areas. And there is exciting potential for Brazil to model the national integration of universal design. Innovative Brazilian leaders are shaping public policy and finding ways to excite ordinary citizens about design-for-all. A new initiative on accessible technology has been created out of President Lula's own office. The city of Curitiba has created an international model of integration of sustainable and universal design in transportation and urban design.
The choice of Rio de Janeiro is partly strategic and partly practical. The conference must attract the diverse mix of designers, businesspeople, academics, students, government officials, leaders from the international NGOs serving people with disabilities and older people. Rio is a stunningly beautiful, internationally renowned city of 5.5M recently named the "world's friendliest city" (BBC News 6.23.03). It's a compelling place to go. From a practical standpoint, Rio de Janeiro has substantial experience with universal design and with hosting accessible conferences. There is capacity in the hotels, conference facilities, in transportation and in technology to host a diverse audience.
The core conference will take place at the Sofitel Rio Palace which anchors one end of Copacabana Beach and has more than adequate space for a conference of 800. There are 388 rooms and excellent accessibility. Many choices of low to mid-price hotels are within blocks of the Sofitel Rio Palace.
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About Brazil and Rio de Janeiro
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Brazil is the largest nation in Latin America and the fifth largest economy in the world and has a population of 182,032,604 .
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Portuguese is the official language.
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50% of the population accounts for just 10% of the national income - the internal economic disparities parallel the world's.
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80% of Brazilians are urban dwellers.
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Brazil has the largest number of residents of Japanese descent of any nation outside of Japan.
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Rio is a stunningly beautiful, internationally renowned city of 5.5M recently named the "world's friendliest city" (BBC News 23. 6.03).
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There is potential for Brazil to model the national integration of universal design. Innovative Brazilian leaders are shaping public policy and finding ways to excite ordinary citizens about design-for-all. In addition to the accomplishments of the last decade in promoting universal design in the built environment, a new initiative on accessible technology has been created out of President Lula's own office.
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From a practical standpoint, Rio de Janeiro has substantial experience with universal design and with hosting accessible conferences. There is capacity in the hotels, conference facilities, in transportation and in technology to host a diverse audience.
Food
If there is one dish that typifies Brazilian cooking it is feijoada. In Rio de Janeiro, where it is especially popular, feijoada is a complicated bean dish prepared with air-dried beef, smoked sausage, tongue, pig's ears and tails, garlic, and chili peppers. It is customary to fill a soup plate with white rice and spoon feijoada on top. Over this is added pulverized manioc flour (farofa), a starch that thickens the sauce. The whole dish is garnished with collard greens and slices of oranges.
Drink
Brazil produces a powerful, clear, raw rum (cachaça) made from fermented sugar cane alcohol. Cachaça combined with crushed lime, sugar, and ice becomes a very popular drink called caipirinha. Guaraná, a delicious soft drink unique to Brazil, is made out of a fruit from the Amazon.
People
There are three basic racial sources for the Brazilian people. To the original inhabitants (Indians) were added successive waves of Europeans (mainly Portuguese) and Africans (mostly from the sub-Saharan west coast).
This racial mixing went on as Brazil began, at the end of the 19th century, to receive increasing numbers of immigrants from all over the world. Portugal remained the single most important source of migrants to Brazil, with Italy second, followed by Lebanon. In the first half of the 20th Century, as a consequence of war or economic pressures, sizable contingents of immigrants came to Brazil from parts of western, central, and eastern Europe. In 1908, 640 immigrants came to Brazil from Japan.
Geography
Brazil has 10 neighbors: the Department of French Guiana and the countries of Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, and Colombia bound Brazil on the north. Uruguay and Argentina are on the south, and on the west are Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru. Ecuador and Chile are the only two countries of continental South America that do not share a border with Brazil. The Atlantic Ocean extends along the entire eastern side of the country, giving it a coastline of 4,578 miles (7,367 km).
Climate
There are five climatic regions in Brazil: equatorial, tropical, semi arid, highland tropical, and subtropical. Plateau cities such as São Paulo, Bras?lia, and Belo Horizonte have very mild climates averaging 66‹F (19‹C). Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Salvador on the coast have warm climates balanced by the constancy of the Trade Winds. In the southern Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba, the subtropical climate is similar to parts of the U.S. and Europe with frosts occurring with some frequency. In this region temperatures in winter can fall below freezing.
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