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BRASILIA.

Overview of Brazil's capital. National significance, culture, politics, history, geography, planning, problems, socioeconomics.

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The capital of Brazil is Brasilia, a city bulldozed from the wilderness in 1957. This city holds a special place not only because it was a planned city but because it has become the focus for various groups that see the region as mystic in nature. Brazil is a gigantic country that offers startling geographic and socioeconomic contrasts. The culture that has developed in this area, constituting the fifth largest nation in the world, is marked by the use of Portuguese as the official language and the mixture of Portuguese and Brazilian cultures makes this area subtly different from its neighbors with their Hispanic heritage. Brazil is also the largest Roman Catholic nation in the world. The nation is also made up of many immigrant groups from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including millions of Italians, Germans, Slavs, Arabs, Japanese, and others, all of

Thisfurther means that the Brazilian market comprises about 59 million peoplelocated in various "islands of wealth" on the coast and in the south-east.The equality of life improved greatly after World War II, but basic socialindicators are unfavorable when compared with those in Western Europe orthe United States. Outsiders see Brasilia as mixing both the ideal and a certain darkerelement because of the way the city intrudes into a wilderness region.Brasilia is first of all wedded to the landscape. There are sixsatellite cities grouped around Brasilia, and from the beginning morepeople lived in the satellite cities than in Brasilia proper (Murtinho 7). After 193 the regime changed to a populist dictatorship, and amore liberal federal republic emerged after 1945. Each state has its own administration, legislature, andjudiciary. Brasilia was structured in a different way from most cities andallowed for the modernists to perform certain designs they had not beenable to crate elsewhere. Those who are in the city work in theconstruction and service industries and then leave for the favelas wherethey live. A capital city is the seat of government for a state or nation. The architecture speaks of nature, but the city and its roadsconstitute the first major incursions into the Amazon: The capital's political founders meant the city as the symbolic spark for massive development of Brazil's interior--development which has had fearful consequences for the rain forest, the Indians, and the lower classes that trusted an economic miracle in the wilderness. The region considered for the capital was alwaysthe same--the central uplands, a vast, unpopulated region. Theregion is considered architecturally beautiful, but it has had troubleattracting people to live there. Social inequality in Brazil is seen in a widevariety of ways. This city holds a special place not only because itwas a planned city but because it has become the focus for various groupsthat see the region as mystic in nature. He may instead issue provisionaldecrees that are enforceable for 3 days pending approval by Congress. The city is notclaustrophobic but involves widely-spaced panoramas flowing into the publicspaces. Brasilia is thus a city of contrasts, a modern city in the midst of anear-wilderness, a city dedicated to nature yet destructive of nature, acity intended to attract people and yet often more empty than not. The infant mortality rate has fallen greatly, as noted,but it remains nearly three times higher for those in lower socio-economicgroups than for those in higher social groups. Brazilian statesmen longbelieved it necessary to move the capital to the center of the country andaway from the seaboard. Brasilia has been received differently by different groups. Bureaucrats and politicians live in the model "pilotplan" part of the city and were lured there by 1 percent salary hikes andbig apartments. The highway axis is slightly curved and runs throughthe residential, commercial, and recreational areas. Theconstitution also severely limits the possibility of land reform andprotects the jobs of state employees. The Federal District brings the upperand lower classes together during the workday and then sees them separateto their respective corners at night and on weekends, leaving the cityitself largely deserted on those weekends. Riode Janeiro was the capital of Brazil when work was started on theconstruction of Brasilia, which then became the capital in 196 . The planners couldcreate an ideal city and believed that they had (Cornish 29-3 ). Thegovernor of the Federal District is a presidential appointee, and Brasiliaalso has an elected, 2 -member legislative council with a four-year term.The region also has its own system of courts (Nyrop 248). Political parties have changed greatly since 198 , and theyhave increased in number as well (EIU Country Profile 1991-92 3-5). Regionalism has also characterized Brazilian culture, and numerousbarriers existed that discouraged communication among the far-flungsettlements of colonial-era Brazil that helped create this regionalism.The varied history and diverse geography of the nation are reflected incontemporary social, political, and economic cleavages. and for thesame reason--it is the seat of the federal government and as such asseparate from the states that surround it, each of which has its own stategovernment while still being subordinated to the federal government. The country is beset by a lack of resources and theinefficiency of government agencies responsible for health and educationprograms so that a difficult social situation is being made worse.(EIU Country Profile 1991-92 7-8). Distances in the cityare considerable, and walking is avoided. Brazilgained its independence in 1822, and from the first there was a proposal toerect a new capital in the center of the country. The informal economy has grownduring the 198 s, meaning that there has been something of a cushion butthat the distribution of income is still such that about 6 percent of thepopulation is considered to be living outside the modern economy. Works CitedCornish, Edward. As noted, thepopulation and the ethnic background in the various regions are verydifferent (Nyrop 97-98). Themaster plan for Brasilia was different because the planners did not have tocut and trim their vision to fit preexisting land uses. There is a bicameral legislaturewith representatives from the 26 states and the federal district ofBrasilia. The culture thathas developed in this area, constituting the fifth largest nation in theworld, is marked by the use of Portuguese as the official language and themixture of Portuguese and Brazilian cultures makes this area subtlydifferent from its neighbors with their Hispanic heritage. Brazil. It is hot, and there are notrees for shelter. The new constitution reduces thepresidential term from six to five years and prevents the president fromruling by decree laws as in the past. The nation is also made upof many immigrant groups from the late nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies, including millions of Italians, Germans, Slavs, Arabs, Japanese,and others, all of whose descendants today speak Portuguese (Nyrop xxi). Singapore: Lonely Planet, 1996.The Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU Country Profile, Brazil (1991-92).Healy, Catherine. The site chosen was not farfrom that selected in 1822. It was first a constitutional monarchy and then a loosely federatedrepublic. Most still leave the city every weekend and go to Rio orSao Paulo, areas seen as less, sterile, less organized, and less vapid thanBrasilia. Critics say the city was built forautomobiles and air conditioners but not for people. "Report: Back to Brasilia." Progressive Architecture (October 1991), 96-97.Murtinho, Wladimir. It is acapital city that has trouble pleasing those who are forced to live thereand attracting those who have a choice. There is a gulf between thehaves and the have-nots that is reminiscent of the township system in SouthAfrica (Draffen, McAsey, Pinheiro, and Jones 356). Brazil is alsothe largest Roman Catholic nation in the world. They call these towns "anti-Brasilias," and the favelas are asfar as 3 km from the center of the city. In 1956,President Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira came to power and decided thatit was time to make the old dream come true. Brasilia reflects the social divisions in Brazilian society and showsthem more clearly because they are concentrated in this one region. On the main axis are the government buildings, all designedby Oscar Niemeyer. The capital of Brazil is Brasilia, a city bulldozed from thewilderness in 1957. The plan for Brasilia was along two main axes that intersected toform a cross. Washington, D.C.: The American University, 1983.----------------------- 1 Brazil is a gigantic country thatoffers startling geographic and socioeconomic contrasts. "Introduction." In Brasilia, Marcel Gautherot, 5-9. "Building Utopia: Lessons from Brasilia." The Futurist (July-August 1991), 29-32.Draffen, Andrew, Chris McAsey, Leonardo Pinheiro, and Robyn Jones. Brazil has been an independent country since1822. The common view was that cities are the productsof passive habitats of the people who inhabit them, and this meant that anybasic changes in a city had to be on the basis of changes in society. A national competition was held to select thepilot plan by which the capital would be laid out, and in 1957 a jury ofBrazilian and foreign architects and town-planners judged the 26 entrantsand decided in favor of Lucio Costa, the creator of modern Brazilianarchitecture (Murtinho 5-6). Poweris centralized in the federal authorities in Brasilia (Nyrop 237). The political structure of the country also reflects its culturalattitudes and institutions. The progress that gave Brasilia life has devastated nature (Hess 97). Disparities in income have become greater sincethe 196 s, and particularly since 198 . Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1966.Nyrop, Richard F., Brazil: A Country Study. Between 1964 and 1985the country was dominated by a collective military leadership, and afterthat the "New Republic" was started, led by civilians, and with a newconstitution promulgated in October 1988. Brasilia is also one of the most expensive cities in Brazil.The poor cannot live in the city. Income inequality remainshigh and is probably greater in Brazil than in any of the newlyindustrializing countries. Many who live in the city today see it as a predestined place thathas been built on a geologic foundation of energy-generating crystals, andcultists have set up towns nearby in the belief that from there they canchannel into special crystal forces (Healy 24). "Brasilia: A Fantasy City in the Wilderness." The Business Journal (July 5, 1993), 24-25.Hess, Alan. In1991, the population of Brasilia was 1.6 million, making it the sixthlargest city in Brazil. Brasilia is a federal district much like Washington, D.C.

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