The transformations triggered by the set of processes that are conventionally called globalization deeply resonated in various scales. Despite the talk of flows and the alleged death of the place, we find ourselves increasingly concentrated in urban areas, considered the great dynamic centers of the new economy. Assuming that the prescriptive neoliberal model institutionalized by the Washington Consensus was transposed to the city in the form of strategic planning, this dissertation seeks to frame Rio de Janeiro not only as the synthesis of the hegemonic processes of commodification of relations and spaces, and urban spectacularization and spoliation shared by most of the contemporary cities – and catalyzed by the mega events – but also as an example of the contradictions inherent to the historical and geographical context of Brazil as an unequal and underdeveloped country.