Idealizing Brazilian cities: Their master plans from 1960 through 2015

• Published in: Cities 2018-12, Vol.83, p.186-192
• Main Authors: Ultramari, Clovis, de Oliveira da Silva, Roberto C.E., Meister, Gisela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access; Aspiration; Brazilian cities; Cities; Housing developments; Infrastructure; Land use; Latin American cities; Legislators; Local government; Low income groups; Master plans; Optimism; Planners; Services; Symbiosis; Urban development; Urban Management
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2018.06.021

This article discusses the Brazilian city through the perspective of its written idealisation, both in the format of Master Plans and their resulting legislations. The analysis reflects ideas expressed by local society, legislators and urban planners, recognizing that a myriad of intermediate agents play specific roles and confirming the main features in the way the city is understood. The discussion is based on a selection of 26 Master Plans for the ten largest cities in Brazil between 1960 and 2015. This timeframe reveals distinct phases constructed with different priorities and ways of idealising Brazilian cities and, by extension, those on the Latin American continent. The study suggests an increase in legal complexity, expansion of municipal responsibilities and the maintenance of physical-territorial priorities as the main instruments of urban management. Many of the themes observed in the selected Plans also indicate an overlapping symbiosis between the comprehensive Master Plans themselves and the laws for urban land use they encompass. The impressive expansion of responsibilities adopted by local governments, as well as holistic aspirations, has made achievement of the ideal city more difficult than ever. Efforts to democratise urban land access and appropriate use have gained importance in the composition of the ideal city; however, the access of the low-income population to proper land and basic infrastructure and services still relies on controversial and structural changes. Analysis of the desired city – here considered as the idealised city – during the selected period reveals a strategic absence of emergent features and points to both optimistic and pessimistic approaches. •A discussion on the Brazilian city through the perspective of their written idealization: Master Plans and legislations.•Discussion is based on 26 Master Plans for the ten largest cities in Brazil for the 1960-2015 period.•There is an increase of legal complexity, enlargement of municipal responsibilities and a physical-territorial priority.•Democratization of urban land access and its adequate use have gained importance in the idealized city proposed by Plans.•The idealized city in the Plans lacks emergent social novelties.•There has always been distance between what is idealized and what is accomplished.