Imaginaries and representations of Brasilians developmentalism tragedy: architecture and urbanism from Brasilia to the re-democratization

• Grant number: 21/03549-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: January 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Technology
• Principal Investigator: Artur Simões Rozestraten
• Grantee: Diogo Augusto Mondini Pereira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This PhD research proposes a critical investigation about the promises of modernity contemplated in the projects and works of architecture and urbanism in Brazil between 1960 and 1980 and its effective results based on the idea of "development tragedy" described by Marshall Berman in the book "All that is solid melts into air". This period of about two decades marked a wide production and diffusion of modernist architecture in Brazilian territory. With a predominance of brutalist aesthetics and a radicalization of the ideas of integration between building and city, these works indicated a broad transformation not only in the field of architecture and urbanism, but also in the country's economic and social conditions, aiming to overcome a colonial, archaic, agrarian condition and rural for a modern, industrial and urban future. Whether through the construction of a new capital, Brasília, or the promotion of public architectures such as universities, schools, bus stations, public institutions, bank agencies, power plants and stadiums in metropolises and inland cities in all regions of the country. Mainly built in the context of the so-called "milagre econômico" (economical miracle), these architectures with a socialist or libertarian bias contrasted with the dictatorial reality of the military regime. In an apparent tragic paradox, the essentially antagonistic state modernizer and architectural modernist imaginaries united around a developmental project, which provided an extensive modernist constructive experience, the result of which did not result in the desired constitution of a modern country. In this context, it is worth investigating how and in what way the projects dealt (or not) with the tragic paradox and what are the results of this modernization process that last until today. (AU)