Editing Brasília (section)

==History==
{{see also|History of Brasília|Timeline of Brasília|History of Brazil|Planaltina, Federal District|Juscelino Kubitschek|Lúcio Costa|Oscar Niemeyer|Joaquim Cardozo|Burle Marx}}

=== Background ===
[[File:Pedra fundamental.jpg|thumb|left|The foundation stone of Brasília, Centennial Hill, erected in 1922 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of [[independence of Brazil|Brazil's independence]]]]
Brazil's first capital was [[Salvador, Bahia|Salvador]]; in 1763 [[Rio de Janeiro]] became Brazil's capital and remained so until 1960. During this period, resources tended to be centered in Brazil's southeastern region, and most of the country's population was concentrated near its Atlantic coast.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Epstein |first1=David G. |title=Brasília, Plan and Reality: A Study of Planned and Spontaneous Urban Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nSMrAQAAMAAJ |publisher=[[University of New Mexico Press]] |access-date=5 April 2017 |page=26|date=1980 |isbn=9780826309594 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405170705/https://books.google.com.au/books?id=nSMrAQAAMAAJ |archive-date=5 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Brasilia's geographically central location fostered a more regionally neutral federal capital. An article of the country's first [[Brazilian Constitution of 1891|republican constitution]], dated 1891, states that the capital should be moved from Rio de Janeiro to a place close to the country's center.

The idea of relocating Brazil's capital city was conceived in 1827 by [[José Bonifácio]], an advisor to Emperor [[Pedro I of Brazil|Pedro I]]. He presented a plan to the [[Empire of Brazil#Parliament|General Assembly of Brazil]] for a new city called Brasília, with the idea of moving the capital westward from the heavily populated southeastern corridor. The bill was not enacted because Pedro I [[History of the Empire of Brazil|dissolved the Assembly]].

According to a legend, Italian saint [[John Bosco|Don Bosco]] in 1883 had a dream in which he described a futuristic city that roughly fitted Brasília's location.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.santuariodombosco.org.br/bosco.asp |title=São João Bosco |language=pt |work=Don Bosco Sanctuary website |access-date=8 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130321112351/http://santuariodombosco.org.br/bosco.asp |archive-date=21 March 2013}}</ref> In Brasília today, many references to Bosco, who founded the [[Salesian]] order, are found throughout the city and one church parish in the city bears his name.<ref>[http://www.brazil-travel-northeast.com/brasilia-brazil.html About Brasilia Brazil] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002043901/http://www.brazil-travel-northeast.com/brasilia-brazil.html |date=2 October 2013}} {{in lang|en}}</ref>

=== Costa plan ===
[[File:Lúcio_Costa,_1970.tif|thumb|left|Urban planner [[Lúcio Costa]] was the winner of the competition for the construction project of Brasília and played a key role in the city's landmarking.]]
[[File:Brasilia - Plan.JPG|thumb|left|Plano Piloto]]
[[Juscelino Kubitschek]] was elected [[President of Brazil]] in 1955. Upon taking office in January 1956, in fulfilment of his campaign pledge, he initiated the planning and construction of the new capital. The following year an international jury selected [[Lúcio Costa]]'s plan to guide the construction of Brazil's new capital, Brasília. Costa was a student of the famous modernist architect [[Le Corbusier]], and some of [[modernism]]'s architecture features can be found in his plan. Costa's plan was not as detailed as some of the plans presented by other architects and city planners. It did not include land use schedules, models, population charts or mechanical drawings; however, it was chosen by five out of six jurors because it had the features required to align the growth of a capital city.<ref name="Brasilia: Plan and Reality">{{cite book |last=Epstein |first=David |title=Brasilia, Plan and Reality: a study of planned and spontaneous urban development |date=1973 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=0520022033 |oclc=691903 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/brasiliaplanreal0000epst}}</ref> Even though the initial plan was transformed over time, it oriented much of the construction and most of its features survived.

Brasília's accession as the new capital and its designation for the development of an extensive interior region inspired the symbolism of the plan. Costa used a cross-axial design indicating the possession and conquest of this new place with a cross,<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite thesis |type=Master of City Planning, 1988 |last1=Wong |first1=Pia |title=Planning and the Unplanned Reality: Brasilia |date=October 1989 |publisher=University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Urban & Regional Development |series=IURD Working paper series|volume=499 |oclc=21925988}}</ref> often likened to a dragonfly, an airplane or a bird.<ref name="Brasilia: Plan and Reality"/> Costa's plan included two principal components, the Monumental Axis (east to west) and the Residential Axis (north to south). The Monumental Axis was assigned political and administrative activities, and is considered the body of the city with the style and simplicity of its buildings, oversized scales, and broad vistas and heights, producing the idea of Monumentality. This axis includes the various ministries, national congress, presidential palace, supreme court building and the television and radio tower.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The Residential Axis was intended to contain areas with intimate character and is considered the most important achievement of the plan; it was designed for housing and associated functions such as local commerce, schooling, recreation and churches, constituted of 96 {{ill|City block#Superblock|lt=superblocks|pt|superquadra|display=1}} limited to six-story buildings and 12 additional superblocks limited to three-story buildings;<ref name="Brasilia: Plan and Reality"/> Costa's intention with superblocks was to have small self-contained and self-sufficient neighborhoods and uniform buildings with apartments of two or three different categories, where he envisioned the integration of upper and middle classes sharing the same residential area.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The [[urban design]] of the communal apartment blocks was based on [[Le Corbusier]]'s [[Ville Radieuse]] of 1935, and the superblocks on the North American [[Radburn design housing|Radburn layout]] from 1929.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Deckker |first=Thomas |title=Brasília: Life Beyond Utopia |journal=[[Architectural Design]] |volume=86 |number=3 |issn=1554-2769 |doi=10.1002/ad.2050 |pages=88–95 |date=2016 |quote=Brasília was not, in fact, planned in any meaningful way. The Brazilian architect and planner Lúcio Costa's entry for the design competition for the new city in 1956 was a series of sketches of ideal urban forms of communal apartment blocks loosely based on Le Corbusier's Ville Radieuse of 1935, and 'superblocks' of single-family houses based on the North American Radburn layout (1929). He subsequently elaborated these into the Plano Piloto (Pilot Plan), and added the satellite city of Taguatinga.}}</ref> Visually, the blocks were intended to appear absorbed by the landscape because they were isolated by a belt of tall trees and lower vegetation. Costa attempted to introduce a Brazil that was more equitable, he also designed housing for the working classes that was separated from the upper- and middle-class housing and was visually different, with the intention of avoiding slums (''[[favela]]s'') in the urban periphery.<ref name="Brasilia: Plan and Reality"/><ref>{{cite book |page=58 |title= Rethinking the Informal City: Critical Perspectives from Latin America |series=Berghahn Series:Remapping cultural history |volume=11 |editor1=Peter William Kellett |editor2=Felipe Hernández |editor3=Lea Knudsen Allen |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-1845455828}}</ref> The {{lang|pt|superquadra}} has been accused of being a space where individuals are oppressed and alienated to a form of spatial segregation.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=el-Dahdah |editor-first1=Farès |title=Lucio Costa: Brasilia's superquadra |series=CASE |isbn=3791331574 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Prestel Verlag]] |oclc=491822493}}</ref>

One of the main objectives of the plan was to allow the free flow of automobile traffic, the plan included lanes of traffic in a north–south direction (seven for each direction) for the Monumental Axis and three arterials (the W3, the Eixo and the L2) for the residential Axis;<ref name="ReferenceA"/> the [[cul-de-sac]] access roads of the superblocks were planned to be the end of the main flow of traffic. And the reason behind the heavy emphasis on automobile traffic is the architect's desire to establish the concept of modernity in every level.

[[File:Levantamento aerofotográfico de Brasília em junho de 1958 - BR RJANRIO PH 0 FOT 00743 0004, Acervo do Arquivo Nacional.jpg|thumb|Brasília in 1958. Only Asa Sul is already leased, and [[Monumental Axis|Ministries Esplanade]] is also visible.]]
[[File:0741 NOV B 05 Esplanada dos Ministerios Brasilia DF 03 09 1959.jpg|thumb|Construction of the [[Monumental Axis|Ministries Esplanade]] in 1959]]
[[File:Brasília-em-1964.jpg|thumb|Brasília in 1964]]

Though automobiles were invented prior to the 20th century, mass production of vehicles in the early 20th made them widely available; thus, they became a symbol of modernity. The two small axes around the Monumental axis provide loops and exits for cars to enter small roads. Some argue that his emphasis of the plan on automobiles caused the lengthening of distances between centers and it attended only the necessities of a small segment of the population who owned cars.<ref name="Brasilia: Plan and Reality"/> But one can not ignore the bus transportation system in the city. The buses routes inside the city operate heavily on W3 and L2. Almost anywhere, including satellite cities, can be reached just by taking the bus and most of the Plano Piloto can be reached without transferring to other buses.

Later, as the population of the city increased, the transportation system also played an important role in mediating the relationship between the Pilot plan and the satellite cities. Due to the larger influx of vehicles, traffic lights were introduced to the Monumental Axis, which violates the concept of modernity and advancement the architect first employed. Additionally, the metro system in Brasília was mainly built for inhabitants of satellite cities. Though this growth has made Brasília no longer a pure utopia with incomparable modernity, the later development of traffic management, bus routes to satellite cities, and the metro system all serve as a remedy to the dystopia, enabling the citizens to enjoy the kind of modernity that was not carefully planned.

At the intersection of the Monumental and Residential Axis Costa planned the city center with the transportation center (Rodoviaria), the banking sector and the hotel sector,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> near to the city center, he proposed an amusement center with theaters, cinemas and restaurants. Costa's Plan is seen as a plan with a sectoral tendency, segregating all the banks, the office buildings, and the amusement center.<ref name="Brasilia: Plan and Reality"/>

One of the main features of Costa's plan was that he presented a new city with its future shape and patterns evident from the beginning. This meant that the original plan included paving streets that were not immediately put into use; the advantage of this was that the original plan is hard to undo because he provided for an entire street network, but on the other hand, is difficult to adapt and mold to other circumstances in the future.<ref name="Brasilia: Plan and Reality"/> In addition, there has been controversy with the monumental aspect of Lúcio Costa's Plan, because it appeared to some as 19th century city planning, not modern 20th century in urbanism.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pessôa |first=José |title=Lúcio Costa and the Question of Monumentality in his Pilot Plan for Brasilia |date=Winter 2010 |journal=Docomomo Journal |volume=43, ''Brasilia 1960-2010'' |issn=1380-3204 |url=http://www.docomomo.com/shop/node/3 |access-date=17 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117203326/http://www.docomomo.com/shop/node/3 |archive-date=17 January 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

An interesting analysis can be made of Brasília within the context of Cold War politics and the association of Lúcio Costa's plan to the symbolism of aviation. From an architectural perspective, the airplane-shaped plan was certainly an homage to Le Corbusier and his enchantment with the aircraft as an architectural masterpiece. However, Brasília was constructed soon after the end of World War II. Despite Brazil's minor participation in the conflict, the airplane shape of the city was key in envisioning the country as part of the newly globalized world, together with the victorious Allies.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Denicke |first=Lars |editor-last=Hecht |editor-first=Gabrielle |encyclopedia=Entangled geographies: empire and technopolitics in the global Cold War |date=2011 |oclc=731854048 |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=978-0262515788 |pages=185–208 |title=Fifty years' progress in five: Brasilia—modernization, globalism, and the geopolitics of flight}}</ref> Furthermore, Brasília is a unique example of modernism both as a guideline for architectural design but also as a principle for organizing society. Modernism in Brasília is explored in James Holston's book, ''[[The Modernist City]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Modernist City" An Anthropological Critique of Brasília |author=James Holston |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780226349794 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Syc2y5QhgQgC |via=Google Books |access-date=13 September 2020 |archive-date=21 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121160911/https://books.google.com/books?id=Syc2y5QhgQgC |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Construction ===
[[Juscelino Kubitschek]], president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961, ordered Brasília's construction, fulfilling the promise of the Constitution and his own political campaign promise. Building Brasília was part of Juscelino's "fifty years of prosperity in five" plan. Already in 1892, the astronomer [[Louis Cruls]], in the service of the Brazilian government, had investigated the site for the future capital. [[Lúcio Costa]] won a contest and was the main urban planner<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20632277 |title=Niemeyer's Brasilia: Does it work as a city? |first=Robin |last=Banerji |publisher=BBC News |date=7 December 2012 |access-date=30 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930234539/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20632277 |archive-date=30 September 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> in 1957, with 5550 people competing. [[Oscar Niemeyer]] was the chief architect of most public buildings, [[Joaquim Cardozo]] was the [[Structural engineering|structural engineer]], and [[Roberto Burle Marx]] was the [[Landscape architecture|landscape designer]]. Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to 21 April 1960, when it was officially inaugurated.

{{wide image|BSB 02 2013 Eixo Monumental 5884.JPG|800px|align-cap=center|Aerial view of downtown Brasília (Pilot Plan) along the [[Monumental Axis]], especially the new [[Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha|Mane Garrincha Stadium]] (left), the [[National Congress of Brazil|National Congress]] and the [[Praça dos Três Poderes|Three Powers Plaza]] (right). The entire residential area of North Wing (''Asa Norte'') is seen in the middle of the image.}}