Contemporary Urbanism in Brazil: Beyond Brasilia (review)

In US design curriculums when international case studies are incorporated from Brazil we are often limited to the classic modernism of Brasília, and if two case studies are included then we might also add environmental sustainability in Curitiba. Not only are we usually provided with only these two cities, we are also often left with little more than caricatures with Brasília being admonished for its modernism and Curitiba being praised for its progressiveness. This book seeks to undermine this fallacy by offering words of caution on Curitiba and opening possibilities with Brasília. Contemporary urbanism in Brazil goes some way to move the relevance of Brazilian cities beyond the frozen in time and space caricatures the words Brasília and Curitiba have come to signify in textbooks. This text is an invitation to get to know Brazilian urbanism as it is: a living work in progress. In this sense it might be valid to amend the title to read "Beyond Brasília and Curitiba."

The book is organized into three parts around the themes of late modernism, revitalization and social inclusion. It is designed to provide a snapshot of current issues in Brazilian urbanism. Late modernism presents Brasília beyond the Pilot Plan, the recently planned city of Palmas and two studies on São Paulo discussing the proliferation of shopping malls and the verticalization of urban structures. In Part 2 case studies on preservation and revitalization in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Belém and Porto Alegre are discussed. The final section on social inclusion focuses on a diversity of projects in Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and São Paulo. Each part contains four individual case studies approximately 20 pages long. All together, eight different Brazilian cities are covered by eighteen mostly Brazilian researchers in the twelve chapters.

The strength of the book is in allowing a glimpse into current issues in Brazilian urbanism in a very portable and accessible format. It is hard to know where to start when delving into Brazilian urbanism and this text offers the reader a menu with a good general introduction and background on the state of Brazilian urbanism in a diverse set of cities. The reader will not be overwhelmed by a one sided ideological perspective; a wide enough range of issues are covered that enable one to ask specific questions and dig a little deeper, researching beyond the text and into the cities covered. While an asset in the right context, the text's potential weakness is also related to the amount of material that is left out because of its relatively compact format when considering the case studies presented are supposed to be representative of a country larger than the continental United States. Undoubtedly, a book the same size as this one could easily be dedicated to each of the cities discussed with plenty of material for skillful editors to exclude.

To frame the discussion on Brazilian urbanism and modernism the editors essentially take the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas which lasted from 1930 until 1945 as their substantive starting point. A good a place as any to start perhaps, but if the text is being used as a platform for further research -- and in this context to teach the basics to students new to Brazilian urbanism-- additional material will have to be sought out to fill in some gaps on the origins of city planning in Brazil. Some examples might include a case study on Belo Horizonte, a significant planned city inaugurated in 1897. An over-view of the planning involved with the decidedly un-modern baroque colonial city Ouro Preto would offer an interesting contrast to the cities in discussion in this text, as well as provide additional insight into the revitalization theme in Part 2. As an introductory text it would also be useful to highlight that Brasília itself did not emerge out of thin air in 1960...