Creating the Image of a Modern Fortaleza

Abstract

With close to 2 million inhabitants, Fortaleza, capital of state of Ceara, concentrates majority of population and economic activity of its metropolitan region.' Its unemployment rate stands at over 12 percent, and more than 36 percent of population work in informal sector (Fortaleza, Prefeitura Municipal, 1998: 23). About 30 percent of inhabitants live in shantytowns that are found in 87 of 114 administrative districts into which city is divided (Falcao, 1996: 96). The proportion of heads of families with monthly incomes of R$ 755 (US$400)2 or less is 78 percent, and over a third of these survive on minimum wage of R$ 151 (US$80) a month or less (Fortaleza, Prefeitura Municipal, 1998: 25). With regard to income distribution, Gini index relating to average family monthly income in 1996 was 0.618. According to household budget survey of Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (Brazilian National Institute of Geography and Statistics-IBGE) (1990; available at http:// www.sidra.ibge.gov.br), this places it as worst among nine metropolitan regions of Brazil. Despite such statistics, since early 1990s Fortaleza's image has been no longer one of misery and drought but one of the Miami of Brazilian Northeast or the Brazilian Caribbean (Cabral, 1994). One sign of this change has been increase in number of tourists it has attracted. In 1997, according to a survey conducted by Associaqao Brasileira de Agencias de Viagem, Fortaleza had become most popular destination for Brazilian tourists (Pessoa, 1998: 62). Another indication is offered by a