Copacabana promenade
The Copacabana promenade is a pavement landscape in large scale (4 kilometres long). It was completed in 1970 and has used a black and white Portuguese pavement design since its origin in the 1930s: a geometric wave. The Copacabana promenade was designed by Roberto Burle Marx
Living standard
Copacabana has the 11th highest Human Development Index in Rio, the 2000 census put the HDI of Copacabana at 0.902.[6]
The neighbourhood
According to the IBGE, 160,000 people live in Copacabana and 44,000 or 27.5% of them are 60 years old or older.[7][8] Copacabana covers an area of 7.84 km²[citation needed] which gives the borough a population density of 20,400 people per km².
Residential buildings eleven to thirteen stories high built right next to each other dominate the borough. Houses and two-story buildings are rare.
When Rio was the capital of Brazil this was considered one of the best neighborhoods in the country if not the best. Therefore the sea front apartments are extremely luxurious and classical. In the 1970s the neighborhood descended in the social scales and now is one of the most overcrowded in the planet. [2]
Transportation
More than 40 different bus routes serve Copacabana,[9] as do three subway Metro stations: Cantagalo, Siqueira Campos and Cardeal Arcoverde.
Three major arteries parallel to each other cut across the entire borough: Avenida Atlântica (Atlantic Avenue), which is a 6-lane, 4 km avenue by the beachside, Nossa Senhora de Copacabana Avenue and Barata Ribeiro/Raul Pompéia Street both of which are 4 lanes and 3.5 km in length. Barata Ribeiro Street changes its name to Raul Pompéia Street after the Sá Freire Alvim Tunnel. Twenty-four streets intersect all three major arteries, and seven other streets intersect some of the three, but not all.
Notable events
On 26 April 1949, RMS Magdalena broke in two as she was being towed into Rio de Janeiro harbour. Much of her cargo of oranges was washed up upon the beach.
On December 31, 1994, the New Year's Eve celebrations featured a Rod Stewart concert with an attendance of 3.5 million, making it the largest concert crowd ever.[10] More recently, the beach has been a site for huge free concerts unrelated to the year-end festivities. On March 21, 2005, Lenny Kravitz performed there in front of 300,000 people, on a Monday night. On February 18, 2006, a Saturday, The Rolling Stones surpassed that mark by far, attracting over 1.5 million people to the beach.
On July 7, 2007, the beach hosted the Brazilian leg of the Live Earth concerts, which attracted 400,000 people. As the headliner, Lenny Kravitz got to play the venue a second time, with Jorge Benjor, Macy Gray, O Rappa and Pharrell as the main opening acts, on October 2, 2009, 100,000 people filled the beach for a huge beach party as the IOC announced Rio would be hosting the 2016 Olympics. 11 of the 15 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups have taken place here.
On July 28, 2013, the beach hosted the final event of the World Youth Day 2013. About 3 million people including 3 presidents joined Pope Francis when he celebrated the holy mass. This was one of the largest religious gatherings in history.
From May till July, 2014 the United Buddy Bears exhibit was held on the Copacabana promenade and attracted more than 1,000,000 people. The presentation consisted of more than 140 bear sculptures, each two metres high and designed by a different artist.[11]