Recognized as Brazil's oil capital, Macaé, in northern Rio de Janeiro, produces hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil and millions of cubic meters of natural gas per day, generating a large supply of jobs that attract new residents to the city.
According to the "Mapping of Urban Areas in Brazil," an IBGE research, Macaé is one of the cities in Rio de Janeiro state that is growing the most horizontally, with an expansion that has become a portrait of poverty in the municipality: disorderly, precarious, and lacking basic services.
The Ajuda de Baixo neighborhood illustrates this reality, where the lack of basic infrastructure contrasts with the development of the oil industry in the region.
In the 2010s, an area crossed by Nádia Maria Avenue received a housing complex from the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program, installed amid greenery. From 2020 onward, according to residents' accounts, the neighborhood began to grow around these housing complexes in a disorganized manner.
