Some thoughts on urban growth in Brazil

How can one regulate urban growth in Brazil? In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the absolute minimum of human rights defined. This also includes a minimum in living qualities, although they differ a lot per country and per region. Logically, in a more developed country the standards are higher then a less developed country. But in any case, tools must be created to control and guarantee this quality. Meaning that a completely self regulating system is unsustainable, if there is no such thing as a common objective and a social involvement with the fellow members of society.

If we apply this thought to the current situation of most Brazilian cities, where the law of the jungle reigns (see post on urban jungle), it seems that some changes have to be made. Since right now it is a socially unfair system which does not protect the weak well enough.

It would be naive to think there are no good-willing people in governments and organizations trying to really change the situation to the better. To the contrary, most of the people do have the very best intentions. But somehow they do not succeed, somehow they do not have the right tools in hand. What seems to be missing is a strong, overall vision. A starting point where everyone can refer to and rely onto.

For this vision, or masterplan, to succeed and come true, it needs to be able to survive individual ideas of a single person. In Brazil majors are chosen every 4-5 years, and every new major wants to prove himself to the people, following his own agenda, many times undoing in a small time what his precedent took years to realize. Considering that a masterplan for a city takes decennia to be realized (if they could ever be regarded as finished) we see one of the sources of the problem. If the masterplan representing the overall vision wants to have any chance of success, it should remain untouched and respected by the passing individuals.

A good example of the successful application of a masterplan in Brazil is Curitiba. A large city in the south of Brazil, counting 2,5 million inhabitants. Thirty years ago a growth scenario was created for the city, supplying a set of rules regulating city growth and infrastructure rather then specifically defining spacial occupation. Nowadays, it is a metropolitan area with (in Brazilian terms) high spacial qualities and good living conditions. For this reason Curitiba serves as an ecological, sustainable example for city planners all over the world.

Law of the urban jungle

The city I am researching, Patos de Minas, seems to be growing in a very informal way. Informal in this sense must be read as non-formalized, non structured, a natural way. I suppose we all agree that an urban environment needs some sort of structure, or a set of rules to define organizational patterns, to be able to provide good living conditions for all inhabitants.

I am saying this because if no such thing as an overall structure is applied, what happens? Well, Brazilian cities show the answer to this question: we fall back to the law of the jungle; the survival of the fittest. If your neighbor suddenly decides to tear down his house, and is going to construct a 25 story apartment building so he can make more money, you can do nothing against it. Unless you have more money as he does and have more influential friends as he does.

Where people live together there exists a need for organization, whether on a physical, social, cultural or economical level. This is equal for every society, every city, every country. The differences therefore, are noticed by the type of system which is applied. The type of the applied organizational system, and the amount of control/freedom of the citizen, depends totally on the governmental system and the philosophy behind it. We can, for example, distinguish monotonous social housing in communist countries with complete governmental control. A social democratic system in the Netherlands, where regulation is meant to protect the citizens rights, which means in practice an almost completely controlled system with little freedom for individual initiatives. And we distinguish the (maybe developing countries) system, where the government just supplies the basic infrastructure and the free market determines the content of the city. A so called self-organizing system.

The result of the system in the Netherlands is that the individual has many ways to protest against developments which could harm the quality of his territory. Even if the development is of great benefit to the whole society, many times the interest of the individual is given preference. In China however is no space for the individual, and complete neighborhoods and villages are replaced if it is in the interest of society. In Brazil is the importance of the individual determined by his position on the scale of hierarchy in society. The higher the position, the more importance and space (=freedom) is given to the individual. Self-organizing therefore, with no control from above.

A few reasons for picking this subject

When I traveled through Brazil some years ago, I ended up in a city called Patos de Minas. It lays in the inlands of the state Minas Gerais in between smooth hills and surrounded by country land and forests. A real provincial town with already nearly 150.000 inhabitants. That is almost the size Almere!
Though almost as big in size, I noticed one big difference: city services. A little two-room cinema, a small theater, a few clubs, a number of bars and restaurants, and that’s it. Apart from that housing (mainly one-family), shops and small companies and a few large factories.So, what surprised me was to see a city of such a size and a city services level of a small town in the Netherlands. No clear, visible city plan, no planned public realm. A church, a square, a park, and nothing more. At the mean time local inhabitants told me new initiatives in the city (like a new club) were embraced really quickly, being the talk of the town for a few moths, and then dropped as fast as they rose.

This phenomenon triggered me strongly, and I got really curious to discover what the causes were, and, more important, what could be done to change it. I wanted to discover what the secret or hidden reason was behind this behavior. And, as a real solution-based TU Delft product, find a way to change things structurally to the better in this city.

The need for city planning in Brazil

In the past 35 years Brazil doubled it’s inhabitants, from 90 million in 1970 to 190 million in 2006 (cia fact book). The growth of the population is shrinking, but is still over 1% a year (almost 2 million inhabitants). Meaning that in 2010 Brazil will reach the number 200 million inhabitants, making it the fifth most populated country in the world, inhabiting nearly 3% of the worlds population (IBGE). In the year 2000, a total of 68 million inhabitants, which is 40% of the total population of the country, lived in metropolitan areas. Meaning that still 60% lives outside of these metropolitan areas. But, like everywhere else, the big cities draw all the attention. Since metropolitans in general provide more possibilities for architectural and urban masterpieces, all the focus lies on them. Also in Brazil, where São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília get like 90% of the credits.

But what about these thousands of smaller cities? They also need development! They also doubled their inhabitants in the past 20-30 years. They also need urban planning to guarantee good living conditions and good architecture to give the city a new identity. Who is going to design these plans?

When I was explaining my plans and ideas to a Brazilian exchange student here in Delft, he said to me: “Brazil needs this. Brazil needs good urban strategies for her cities to develop.” As you could imagine, this little phrase gave me an enormous boost of good energy, for it confirmed me in my feeling that I am doing the right thing.

Hello world!

In this blog I will post all my thoughts, ideas, doubts, and all other relevant or less relevant stuff which have to do with my graduation project. Please feel free to post any comment, recommendation or whatever!