This dissertation was developed out of concerns about city projects and the construction of spaces that are produced through physical and symbolic borders. In light of these points, I recognize the city of Rio de Janeiro as a space endowed with socio-spatial disputes that expose, through exceptions and continuities, oppressions and resistances, images of a fragmented and disputed city. In order to deepen the analysis of the imagined Marvelous City, I propose using Rio s carnivals, both from a historical perspective and from the perspective of more contemporary carnival practices, as a lens for analysis. By adopting Carnival revelry as a lens of analysis, I argue that it is possible to put a strain on the spatial and social division of the city, bringing notions such as spatial segregation, order and disorder, control and hygienic ideals to the center of the research. Considering these notions, I see the case of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) as an object of analysis that allows us to explore the political nature of these categories and, above all, the intersection between this health crisis and the carnivals of the year 2022. Considering the above, this research seeks to understand for what and for whom Rio de Janeiro is shaped.