Two blocks after leaving my hotel, my Uber passed one of these new museums: the MIS (Museu da Imagem e do Som, or “Museum of Image and Sound”).

An elegant and complex structure designed by American architects Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, the building – which broke ground in 2014 but won’t be ready in time for the Olympics – projects a series of ramps on the main facade. The visitors will have a hard time deciding if they should look to the collection inside or to the bright Copacabana beach outside. I commend the architects for offering the choice instead of blocking the view (as others proposed). Nevertheless, a recent Ph.D. dissertation by scholar Lidia Quieto revealed how opaque the competition process – organized by the powerful Roberto Marinho Foundation, the cultural arm of the Brazilian media conglomerate Rede Globo – really was.

Does it have to be like that? Could an architectural competition be held with transparency and public spirit in mind?

Apparently, not in Rio.

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As the Olympic Games begin, it has become clear that Rio 2016 is already a missed opportunity. The subway extension to Barra da Tijuca will operate only on a limited schedule (probably for Olympic ticket-holders only). The light rail downtown will also operate on a reduced course. Of the two big architectural monuments tied to the Olympic Games, one will not be ready (Museu da Imagem e do Som) and the other (Museu do Amanhã) isn’t worth a visit. Thousands of families were displaced; thousands of apartments will take their place and make gentrification worse than it already is.

Yes, the Bus Rapid Transit lines are working fine, while both the TransOeste and the TransCarioca bus corridors are operating at full capacity, serving half a million people everyday and reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent. But one new piece of infrastructure has already collapsed: On April 21, a 50-foot-long piece of a dedicated bicycle lane that had opened in January collapsed into the ocean, killing three cyclists.

All this should be just another case of bad infrastructure planning and investment. But it’s much worse. Over the past 20 years, Rio has implemented an entire model of city building that’s relied on gentrification, campaign finance kickbacks and forced relocations; now that model is being used by the entire country. As The New York Times recently wrote, the political party that ruined Rio is the same that is supporting a coup against Dilma Rousseff.

It’s sad that the Rio 2016 Olympics might be remembered for three collapses: the demolition of the downtown Perimetral highway (1960-2016), the collapse of the bicycle lane (January to April 2016) and the implosion of Brazilian democracy (1985-2016).

Rebuilding the last will be an Olympic proposition.