Porto Maravilha: Rio's port area to undergo huge rehaul

By Alexandra Forbes

The upcoming World Cup is already bringing benefits to Rio. One of the most important is the planned rehaul of the port area, which today is not only an eyesore but also surrounded by abandoned warehouses with peeling paint and cracked windows, impoverished housing and dangerous streets and derelict areas. Although the city's port is huge and important to the economy of the city, it is used only for loading and unloading big ships:

Finally, the upcoming World Cup has pushed authorities to work on a multimillion dollar renewal project, which has been named Porto Maravilha, or Wonder Port.

The area will, in a few years, have its own museum, the Museu de Arte do Rio:

The "new" port district will be a mixed-use area with residential condos, shopping, promenades and even an Aquarium:

Here's a video that shows what will be done to the area. Although it's narrated in Portuguese, the 3-d graphics are quite clear: