This page on Brasília examines some of the reasons why Brasília was built and describes what has come of this modernist city since it was completed in 1960. My research covered four main topics on Brasília:
"Between the 15th and 20th parallels, where a lake had formed, a great civilisation will be born." (Forster, 1986) This was the vision the Italian priest, Dom Bosco, had in a dream in 1833, referring to the future site of Brasília, the new capital of Brazil. The idea of moving the capital of Brasília was not new when Bosco had this dream, the first recorded request for an inland capital came in 1789. Jose Bonifacio de Andrade e Silva said in 1821 that an inland city would encourage the development of the Brazil empire.
Brazil became a republic in 1889 and wrote its first constitution in 1891. Article three of the new constitution stated, "From now on, an area of 14,400 square kilometres will belong to the government for the creation of a new capital."(Forster, 1986). This new area was to be called the Federal district, and would eventually by home to Brasília. Article three had set the stage for the construction of the new capital of Brazil.
Very little action was taken towards building a new capital for many years. A symbolic cornerstone was placed in 1922, but nothing more was done at that time. In 1953, President Getulio Vargas laid out the site for the new capital. The city was to be located from 15°30' to 17° South and 46°30' to 49°30' West.(Forster, 1986) Unfortunately, Vargas commited suicide the following year. Vargas' successor, Juscelino Kubitschek, would be the man who would finally fulfill Dom Bosco's prophetic dream.
Kubitschek won the election on his promise to "implement the constitution"(Forster, 1986), meaning he would build Brazils new capital. His campaign slogan was "FIFTY YEARS PROGRESS IN FIVE" This slogan reflected the need for Kubitschek to complete the city within his term as president, since whoever came into office after his term would not be obliged to continue work on Brasília.
Once Kubitschek was in power, he formed NOVACAP, or the Company to Urbanize the New Capital of Brazil. Kubitschek nominated architect Oscar Niemeyer to head NOVACAP, whose goal was to get Brasília built. Niemeyer would go on to design most of the government buildings for Brasília. Before the city could be built, a plan to build the city needed to be adopted. NOVACAP sponsored a competition for a master plan for the new capital. Most of the major architects and urban planners in Brazil submitted plans for Brasília, but in the end, the simple plan of Lucio Costa, submitted on five medium sized cards with no technical drawings whatsoever, won the competition. Costa's plan soon became known as the Pilot Plan.
This page and its contents were written for Professor David Lanegran's 1996 World Urbanization Class at Macalester College in St. Paul. If you have any questions or comments, please email me at Jmoerschel@macalester.edu.
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