Ministry of cities RIP: the sad story of Brazil's great urban experiment

How an urbanist dream of fixing Brazil's chaotic metropolises became a nightmare

Inside Maria Cleudimar da Silva's flat, gospel music plays softly on the stereo, family photos and religious posters decorate the walls, and a wicker rocking chair and computer furnish the living room. The only evidence of her past life is a faded photo of the home she lived in for 11 years, a shack she called Noah's Ark for its frequent floods.

She moved in in 1996, pursuing the promise of a better life from Brazil's rural north-east to Sio Paulo, its largest city, where she settled in Paraisopolis, the city's largest favela.