Lecture 1: brazilian colonial architecture. A perspective of urban planning history in Brazil

Hi rita,
Here are the summary notes for Lecture 1.
Regards,
Monica.

BRAZILIAN COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE _ A PERSPECTIVE OF URBAN PLANNING HISTORY IN BRAZIL


Urban planning is the result of the relationship between architecture and politics
Here architecture is always an ideological construct
Metropolis politics consists of two elements:
Strategies (government), and
Participation (inhabitants)

Urban planning and design: consider the strategies to address the specific requirements of State (infrastructure/ investments) and population (culture and everyday life expressions)
History and urban history are made up of everyday life; culture can be identified as a separate structure

Curitiba Case Study
Jaime Lerner identifies the difficulties with the political positions in architecture
There is no formula for getting through red tape. It requires a specific action and a specific process of innovation, hence there is no pré-determined method for urban planning action
The premise of urban planning is that it is an ongoing and changing condition
Lerner also discusses the specific problems of transportation, environment and education
To address these problems a comparison must be drawn between developed and undeveloped countries and also of the similarities or the persisting problems they face
The idea of children knowing, drawing and being educated about their city; so it is not just the architect that understands the city but the people that dwell within it
He also describes urban planning as a political and not as a physical premise – his fundamental application of the principle:
“space is always political – politics is always spatial”
Design must result in some action, the Marxist approach and understanding:
Urban life depends/ exists upon social life, here the Marxist approach is a reference for planning
São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Salvador are among the most dense and significant cities of Brazil. Curitiba in this sense is a secondary city and therefore was able to develop its urban planning
However Curitiba has an important relationship with Sao Paulo; where Curitiba is developed economically, culturally and socially within itself, its development has effected all the cities around it .

The Production of Space
Urban planning and design efficiency depends upon the commitment between the inhabitants and the builders
Inhabitants Demands
Not only economics but mainly culture; an understanding of cultural demands
There needs to be education for people on how to use their cities; how to inhabit, experience their own city and understand the logic of space – to discuss architecture not just at a academic level but a social level
There needs to be a connection in the cost of architecture and the architecture itself, especially in countries that need architecture but does not necessarily have the money for it. Different clients (private and public) make for rich urban sectors. Architecture needs to address this difference with a sense of equality and in the end it is about how to make such private architecture available as public spaces.
A mixture of people and spaces make the city useful

Developing Country
Low to middle income countries in which most people have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than do most people in high income countries
A developing country is defined as a country that is relatively poor. Developing is a euphemism for “poor”. It conveys the idea that developing countries are not locked into a state of poverty but are accumulating capital and building up an industrial and commercial sector. But a number of so called developing countries are in fact regressing; getting poorer rather than richer.

The idea of the Brazilian city now is how to make people use the whole city; its about having the architectural monuments in its place but not forgetting the significance of all other spaces and structures that form the urban planning of the city.