​​The poorest residents of polarized megacities are often relegated to environmentally risky locations subject to threats like flooding, landslides, fires, and toxins. This case highlights an effort to improve conditions for thousands of residents in the massive Paraisópolis favela in São Paulo, Brazil. By constructing mid-rise apartment complexes on an environmentally-safe site, close to flood prone settlements slated for removal, the project endeavored to promote more equitable forms of resilience. The Paraisópolis Condomínios project engages with all four dimensions of equitable resilience. The project was meant to provide environmental protection to favela residents while maintaining affordability and mitigating displacement. It also aims to sustain or improve livelihoods, strengthen secure tenure, and enable residents to share in their own governance. Success in all these facets, however commendable, has been far from complete.  Interviews with policy makers, Condomínio and favela residents, designers, and researchers, together with site visits and analysis of documents and previous neighborhood studies, reveal significant achievements and illustrate some of the many obstacles that can complicate the pursuit of equitable resilience.