ABSTRACT
This article aims to survey the evolution of the census concept of favelas from the Federal District census of 1948 to the last national census of 2010. It is not intended to discuss specifically the quantitative data obtained by the censuses, but, on the one hand, to trace the evolution of the census definitions of favela spaces during the 20th and 21st centuries and, on the other hand, to understand how the national census services adapted their ways of acting to take into account the specificities of these spaces. In both cases, we question how the case of Rio’s favelas became a model for thinking the informal neighborhoods in Brazil.
KEYWORDS:
Favelas; Favela’s census concept; Censuses evolution