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.