Rio’s abandoned amusement park is an eye in a development storm.

Kill Screen columnist Michelle Young, on her way through Rio De Janero to study the legalization of street art, took a moment in Terra Encantada, another abandon amusment park whose play crossed the line into death. She took the full story to Untapped Cities.

By now, you might be used to seeing abandoned theme parks set in barren, post-apocalyptic landscapes in China. But this one’s different. Not only is it set in Rio de Janeiro, it’s also right smack in the middle of Barra da Tijuca, one of city’s most valuable real estate zones. And, it’s not far from the future 2016 Olympic games. The Barra zone will accomodate 20 Olympic competitions and the Olympic Village, roughly half the athletes will compete here.

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Terra Encantada (“Enchanted Land”) sits in the middle of this contested space. Opened in 1990, the park closed after a 61-year old woman was killed after being thrown from a ride and an investigation uncovered multiple engineering and maintenance failures. Terra Encantada has sat empty since, apart from being used for the set of a Brazilian soap opera.