The region of Brasilia came into being on April 21, 1960. Today, it is the capital of Brazil. It was built at the request of President Juscelino Kubitschek and was designed by Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa. In this paper we will try to answer the question of whether or not Brasilia fits the role of a 'utopia'. To answer this question, we must first examine the initial projects and then analyze the facts.
The initial project had a functional perimeter that was surrounded by large green areas. The combination of functionality and hygiene that it characterized was what was admired most about the project. Brasilia was planned to play host to 500,000 inhabitants, it had to refocus the centers of political decisions and economic developments.
This land was often called ‘ideal'. According to Oscar Niemeyer, “In Brasilia, we were far from everything. There were no cars, not even roads. Nothing!"
In fact, Oscar Niemeyer and his team had to incorporate a Brazilian cerrado in the design. Indeed, the land, located on the Central Plateau of Brazil, is 1200 meters and at the crossroads of three Brazilian states: Goias, Minas and Mattao Grosso.
Tags: Brasilian project, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Brasilian utopia
[...] These green areas mark the hygienist will of architects in charge of the project. The combination of functionality and hygienism is reminiscent of Le Corbusier's Radiant City that Niemeyer admired. Planned for people, Brasilia needs to refocus the centers of political and economic decisions of the country. The land is "ideal", in fact, Oscar Niemeyer and his team had to build Brasilia as a Brazilian cerrado. The cerrado is an open field. Oscar Niemeyer says: "In Brasilia, we were away from everything. There were no cars, not even roads. [...]
[...] Is the realization of Brasilia consistent with the original utopia? Is Brasilia an urban Utopia? To answer this question it is necessary first to examine the initial projects and then analyze the facts. Led by the progressive Brazilian authorities, Brasilia was built in record time, from 1957 to 1960. Elected in 1955, Juscelino Kubitschek, president of Brazil, launched the project to transfer the capital. Brasilia is primarily a planning marvel, and it is in this context that Oscar Niemeyer, the Brazilian architect, took the lead architectural operations of Brasilia. [...]
[...] except the enthusiasm and desire to build. "Indeed, the land, located on the Central Plateau of Brazil, at 1200 m altitude, is to be the crossroads of three Brazilian states: Goias and Minas Mattao Grosso. The cerrado was chosen in 1922 as the project of a new capital was issued at the end of the seventeenth century. The initial project has Brasilia as a city perfectly organized, planned and established between the houses and the workplace. The project proscribed factories and industrial eras (whether inside or outside the city). [...]
[...] On the outskirts of Brasilia slums accumulated and green spaces and hygienism receded. Today, Brasilia is a fragmented agglomeration in places which are unstructured unfulfilled. There are many environmental and social dysfunctions Brasilia is today facing the degradation of reserves and resources in water, sewage problems, poverty, inequality between social classes etc . Although UNESCO has tried to overcome these problems by placing the perimeter of the Plano Piloto city as world heritage, this decision has jeopardized the goal of Brasilia: the concentration of political and economic centers of the country. [...]
[...] A single town and city monument, Brasilia is one of the few cities in the world which was born of a utopia and was totally planned. However, if this utopia has been achieved, this achievement is partial and defective. Brasilia today can be described as dystopia. The City faces a deep social crisis that fails to substantiate its population to its heritage. Oscar Niemeyer, in the lack of time, made dystopian utopia, but can a totally planned city really escape an urban and social history? [...]
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