The Modernist City: An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia

193 Pages·1989·13.24 MB·English

by  James Holston

THE MODERNIST CITY
AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL CRITIQUE
OF BRASfuA
JAMES HOLSTON
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO AND LONDON
Univerzitni knihovna
Contents
7.apadoceske univerzity v p]zni
KN100007978
List of illustrations vii
James Holston is assistant professor of anthropology at the List of Tables xi
University of California, San Diego. Acknowledgments xiii
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 PART 1: THE MYTH OF THE CONcRETE 1
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
1 Premises and Paradoxes 3
© 1989 by The University of Chicago Anthropology and Modernism 5
All rights reserved. Published 1989
The Idea of Brasilla 14
Printed in the United States of America
The Instruments of Change 20
98 97 96 95 94 93 5432 The Negation of the Negation 23
2 Blueprint Utopia 31
Library of Congress Cataloging·in·Publication Data Brasilia's Pedigree 31
The Modernist Project 41
Holston, James.
The modernist city : an anthropological critique of Brasflia I 3 The Plan's Hidden Agenda 59
James Holston.
Plan Mythology 60
p. cm.
The Hidden Agenda 74
Rev. ed. of thesis (doctoral)-Yale University.
Bibliography: p. Brasflia's Development Inversions 77
Includes index. The Exemplary Center 85
ISBN 0-226-3497B-0. -ISBN 0-226-34979-9 (pbk.) Niemeyer's Social Architecture 88
1. New towns-Brazil-Brasma. 2. City planning-Brazil
Modernism and Modernization 93
Brasflia. 3. Brasnia (Brazil)-Social conditions. 4. Urban
The Counter-Brincadeira 98
anthropology-Case studies. 5. Architecture-Human factors.
6. Architecture, Modern-20th century. 7. Social aspects-Brazil-
Brasma. I. TItJe. PART 2: THE CITY DEFAMILIARlZED 99
HT169.57.B62B634 1989 89-33482
307.76'B'09BI74-dclO CIP 4 The Death of the Street 101
The Architectural Context of Street Life 105
The Solid-VoidlFigure-Ground Convention 119
The Street in Ouro Preto: Private Property and
Public Display 127
The Modernist Inversion 133
Transforming Civic Discourse: The New Public of
Brasilia 136
5 Typologies of Order, Work, and Residence 145
§ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Zoning the City: A Typology of Form and Function 146
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for The Monumental Work Sectors 154
Printed Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
v
Contents
The Superquadra Solution 163
The Apartment Plan
The Apartment Fm;ade illustrations
PART 3: 1HE RECOVERY OF HISTORY 197
6 Rights to the City 199
Populating an Idea: Differential Incorporation 201
The Recruitment of Pioneers 206
Discourses of Participation: Reinventing the Nation
The Labor Market
Maps
Recruitment
1.1 Population density of the states and the Federal
Rights, Privileges, and Powers 225 District of Brazil, 1980 15
From Interests to Actions 24B
1.2 Distances between Brasilia and state capitals 19
7 Cities of Rebellion 257 1.3 Plana Piloto, satellite cities, and administrative re-
The TIlegal Periphery 259 gions of the Federal District, 1980 27
The Legal Periphery 272 5.1 The organization of urban functions in Brasilia, 1975 152
Political-Administrative Organization: 5.2 Sectoral organization and traffic plan of the Plana
The Climate of Tranquillity Piloto, 1980 155
Space and Sodeh): An Absolute Predominance 5.3 Traffic zones and sectors of Brasilia, 1975 194
of Public Servants 7.1 Growth of urban areas in the Federal District,
1960-75 258
S The BraziIianization of Brasfiia 2B9 7.2 Urban settlements and administrative regions of the
The Periphery in Time and Space 290 Federal District, 1956-65 261
The Squatter Settlement of Vila Chaparr.l
Center Street, Sobradinho
The City Familiarized 30B
Figures
Concluding Remarks 314 2.1 Ludo Costa, master plan of Brasilia, 1957 33
Notes 319 2.2 Ludo Costa, perspective sketch of Brasilia, 1957 33
Bibliography 349 2.3 Le Corbusier, A Contemporary City for Three Mil-
Index 359 lion Inhabitants, perspective sketch, 1922 33
2.4 Le Corbusier, A Contemporary City for Three Mil-
lion Inhabitants, perspective, 1922 34
2.5 Le Corbusier, A Contemporary City for Three Mil-
lion Inhabitants, perspective, 1922 34
2.6 Aerial view of the South Wing, Brasilia, 1981 34
2.7 Aerial view of the crossing of the Residential and
Monumental axes, Brasilia, 19B1 34
2.B Monumental Axis, view of Congress and Esplanade
of the Ministries, Brasilia, 19BO 34
2.9 Le Corbusier, model of the Radiant City showing
residential sector, 1930 35
2.10 Le Corbusier, model of the Radiant City showing
residential sector, 1930 35
2.11 View of the Residential sectors of the South Wing,
Brasilia, 19B1 35
vii
vi
Illustrations
Illustrations
2.12 View of housing blocks and playground of Super 4.12 Jean Baptiste Debret, Plan of the City of Rio de
quadra 108 South, Brasilia, 1980 35 Janeiro, 1839 110
2.13 Aerial view of South Wing Superquadras 308, 307, 4.13 Jean Baptiste Debret, View of the Largo do Pahicio,
108, and 107, Brasilia, 1981 35 Rio de Janeiro (1816-31) 112
2.14 Le Corbusier's second project for the Ministry of 4.14 Jean Baptiste Debret, The Acclamation of Dam Pe
Education and Culture, Rio de Janeiro, 1936 37 dro 11, Largo do Pahicio, Rio de Janeiro, 1831 112
2.15 Le Corbusier's second project for the Ministry of 4.15 Jean Baptiste Debret, The Refreshments of the Largo
Education and Culture, Rio de Janeiro, 1936 37 do Pahkio, Rio de Janeiro (1816-31) 114
2.16 North elevation of the Ministry of Education and 4.16 Jean Baptiste Debret, The Barber Shop, Rio de
Culture, Rio de Janeiro, 1937-43 37 Janeiro (1816-31) 114
2.17 Le Corbusier, Plan Voisin for Paris, 1925 54 4.17 Jean Baptiste Debret, The Folia of the Emperor
2.18 Hilberseimer, project for central Berlin, 1927 54 of the Holy Ghost, Rio de Janeiro (1816-31) 116
3.1 Example of a speculative apartment building, St. 4.18 Jean Baptiste Debret, A Bureaucrat Promenades
Petersburg, 1913 61 with His Family, Rio de Janeiro, 1820 116
3.2 L. Alexander and V. Vesnin, dom-komnzuna, 'commu 4.19 Giuseppe Zocchi, Uffizi, Florence, 1754 121
nal house' , Kuznetsk, 1930 (proposal) 61 4.20 Figure-ground relations 122
3.3 M. Barshch and V. Vladimirov, axonometric draw 4.21 Figure-ground plan of Parma, 1830 124
ing of dom-kommuna proposed by Stroikom, the 4.22 Figure-ground plan of an east-west section of the
Building Committee of the Russian Soviet Feder South Wing, Brasilia, c. 1960 124
ated Socialist Republic, 1930 61 4.23 Figure-ground plan of Munich, 1840 126
3.4 Perspective drawing and plan of dom-kommuna type 4.24 Figure-ground plan of Turin, 1840 126
F developed by Stroikom 61 4.25 Nolli plan of Rome, 1748 126
3.5 Llicio Costa, competition sketches for the Master 4.26 Figure-ground plan of New York, 1930 126
Plan of BrasHia, 1957 63 4.27 Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin for Paris, figure-ground
4.1 Largo do Pelourinho with a view of the museum of plan, 1925 126
the city and the fanner slave market, Salvador, 4.28 Rua Coronel Alves, looking toward the Igreja de
1980 102 Nossa Senhora do Canno, Qura Preta, 1980 130
4.2 Plaza of the Three Powers with a view of the 4.29 West elevation of the Igreja de N.S. do Carmo, Ouro
Planalto Palace and the museum of the city, Bra Preto, 1980 131
silia, 1980 102 4.30 West and north elevations of the Igreja de N .5. do
4.3 Pra,a Tiradentes with a view of the former Pah,cio Carmo, Ouro Preto, 1980 131
Municipal and jail and the monument to 4.31 Rua Tiradentes, Ouro Preto, 1980 132
Tiradentes, Quro Preto, 1980 102 4.32 Superquadra apartment block, SQS lO8-Block E, Bra-
4.4 Plaza of the Three Powers with a view of the sflia, 1980 132
National Congress and the statue The Warriors, 4.33 Oty center, Ouro Preto, 1980 134
Brasilia, 1980 102 4.34 Monumental Axis, Brasilia, 1981 134
4.5 Aerial view of the Plaza of the Three Powers and the 4.35 Commercial Sector South, Brasilia, 1981 134
Esplanade of the Ministries, Brasilia, 1981 102 4.36 Residential Axis South, Brasilia, c. 1960 134
4.6 Residential street in the neighborhood BaITa Funda, 4.37 Llicio Costa's original proposal for a prototypical
Sao Paulo, 1988 106 local commercial sector, from the Master Plan of
4.7 Residential Access Way Ll, Brasilia, 1980 106 BrasHia, 1957 140
4.8 Rua Boa Vista, downtown Sao Paulo, 1988 106 4.38 Local Commercial Sector 102 South, Brasilia, 1980 140
4.9 West Residential Highway Axis, BrasHia, 1980 106 4.39 Store "fronts" of Local Commercial Sector
4.10 Illustration of stereotypical pattern of rural land use 108 South, Brasilia, 1980 140
and building 108 4.40 Store "backs" of Local Commercial Sector 308
4.11 View of the Largo do Pelourinho, Salvador, 1980 108 South, Brasilia, 1980 140
ix
viii
Illustrations
4.41 Local Commercial Sector 204 North, Brasilia, 19BO 142
4.42 Local Commercial Sector 205/206 North, cailed
Babylonia, Brasilia, 19BO 143 Tables
4.43 Local Commercial Sector 107/10B South, called the
Street of the Little Church, Brasilia, 19BO 144
5.1 Listing of place names and abbreviations from Bra-
silia's telephone directory, 19B1 151
5.2 Neighborhood unit of four superquadras 16B
5.3 Two examples of copas and kitchens 174
5.4 View of Superquadra South lOB and typical floor 1.1 Employed Population by Monthly Income: Brazil,
plan, by Oscar Niemeyer, Brasilia, 1959 175 Sao Paulo, Federal District (1980); Sobradinho, DF
5.5 Model of Superquadra South 30B and plans of (1980); Sao Miguel Paulista, SP (1977) 26
entrance level and typical apartments, Brasilia, 5.1 Distribution of Employed Population by Sector of
1959 176 Activity, Federal District, 1970, 1975, 1980 188
6.1 Advertisement for the inauguration of Brasilia, Esso 5.2 Structure of Employed Labor Force by Subsector,
Oil Company, 1960 212 Federal District, 1970, 1975, 1980 188
B.1 Center Street, Sobradinho, 19B1 302 5.3 Distribution of Jobs by Locality and Sector, 1975 189
B.2 Popular demonstration for direct presidential elec- 5.4 Spatial Distribution of Tertiary-Sector Jobs ·in the
tions, Pra~a da Se, Sao Paulo, 25 January 19B4 312 Plana Piloto, 1973, 1975, 2000 (Summary) 1B9
B.3 View of the Pra~a da Se, Sao Paulo, 25 January 19B4 313 5.5 Distribution of Businesses in the Federal District by
Locality, 1974 190
Graphs 5.6 Relations between Work and Residence: Commutw
5.1 Primary sector share of Federal District income, ing between the Satellite Cities and the Plana
1960-69 15B Piloto, 1970 191
5.2 Secondary sector share of Federal District income, 5.7 Commuter Trips by Motive and Locality, Federal
1960-69 15B District, 1975 191
5.3 Tertiary sector share of Federal District income, 5.8 Urban Population by Locailty, Federal District, 1960,
1960-69 15B 1970, 1975, 1980 192
5.4 Government share of tertiary sector income, Federal 5.9 Urban Population Change by Decade, Federal Dis-
District, 1960-69 15B trict, 1960-80 192
B.1 Center-periphery distribution of Federal District 5.10 Residential Sectors: Population, Dwelling, Density,
population, 1960, 1970, 1980 291 Green Areas, Income 193
B.2 Spatial distribution of average income in the Federal 5.11 Spatial Distribution of Average Income, Superquad-
District, 1975 295 ras, 1975 195
6.1 Population by Type of Settlement, Federal District,
1959 251
6.2 Plana Piloto Residences Constructed by Federal
Autarkies for the Inauguration of Brasilia, April
1960 252
6.3 Structure of Employed Labor Force by Subsectors,
Federal District, 1959 253
6.4 Migration to the Federal District by Birthplace, Di-
rectness of Migration, and Region of Last Resi
w
dence, 1959 253
6.5 Recrultrnent Category of Pioneers: Economically Ac-
tive Members by Class, Occupational Field, and
Income 254
xi
x
I
.1
Acknowledgments
Several institutions generously supported my study of Brasilia.
I conducted the fieldwork in Brazil on which it is based between
1980 and 1982 with research grants from the Organization of
American States, the Tinker Foundation, and Yale University
under the auspices of the Concilium on International and Area
Studies and the Williams Fund for Anthropological Research.
From 1983 to 1985, I was fortunate to join the staff of the Helen
Kellogg Institute for International Studies as a junior faculty
fellow. This fellowship allowed me to concentrate on writing the
first version of the study, which I presented as my doctoral
dissertation to the Department of Anthropology at Yale Univer
sity. To these organizations and their members I gratefully give
my thanks.
Through all stages of the doctorate, I had the great privilege of
receiving criticism and encouragement from Professor M. G.
Smith, who was my dissertation director, and Professor Guill
ermo Q'Donnell. Whatever merits the dissertation may have
had are due in no small measure to the inteIIectual standards
they set and to the opportunities they provided for me to
attempt to reach them. I am also indebted to the other members
of my dissertation committee, Professors Alan Colquhoun and
Harold Scheffler, for their suggestions on early drafts of the
manuscript. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the
contributions of Professors David Apter, Albert Fishlow, Fredric
Jameson, and Emilia Viotti da Costa. I am particularly grateful to
Professor Paul Rabinow for his suggestions on the first version
and to Professor Terence Turner for his comments on the revised
manuscript.
One voice especially has been my guide not only in writing
this book but also in surviving it, that of fellow anthropologist
Teresa Pires do Rio Caldeira. To recount the times her judgment
improved mine, to teII of her labors in producing the first draft,
to talk of her patience and skill in considering my doubts would
all be to say that her companionship has been essential.
In this work, as in my other efforts, I have been fortunate
indeed to have had the sustaining support of my parents Ruth
and Marc Holston and my brother Rand.
xiii
Acknowledgments
PART ONE
My debts are great to the many in Brazil who have given me
hospitality and assistance. In particular, I want to thank Profes
sor Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira, who kindly accepted me as a THE MYTH OF THE CONCRETE
research fellow in the Department of Social Sciences of the
Universidade de Brasilia; Professor Helio Jaguaribe and the
directors of IUPERJ (Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas do Rio
de Janeiro), who provided me with a vital foothold in Brazil
when I first arrived; Dr. Mariza G. S. Peirano, whose friendship
was invaluable; Dr. Jayme de Assis Almeida, who generously
allowed me to use material from his personal archive on the
early history of Brasilia; and Rodrigo Bhering Andrade, Milton
Feferman, Gustavo Lins Ribeiro, and Antonio Augusto G. S.
Silva.
I owe a special debt to the people of Brasilia, to the many who
befriended me, who graciously accepted me and my incessant
questioning, and who responded passionately about their city. If
they had not insisted that I understand their experiences in
Brasflia, my research would have amounted to nothing. I want
especially to express my deep respect for the pioneers of the
new capital. I should like them to know that although I have
made a critical assessment of their city, they have my admiration
for the courage and dedication with which they built it. Simi
larly, I would like to record that although I criticize their work in
Brasilia, architects Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer also have
my respect. With great skill and commitment, they have taken
the risks of making public their vision of a new Brazil.
xiv
ONE
Premises and Paradoxes
The journey to Brasilia across the Central Plateau of Brazil is one
of separation. It confronts the travel er with the separation of
modernist BrasiIia from the familiar Brazil: from densely packed
settlements along the coast to the emptiness of the interiori from
layers of congestion and clutter in the big cities to the silent
horizons of the plateau; from small town squares with their
markets and conversations to the empty spaces of Brasilia
without squares or markets; from civilization to the frontier;
from underdevelopment to the incongruously modem. Mi
grants make this journey mainly for economic gain. They seek
jobs, higher wages, rapid advancement, and speculative oppor
tunity in Brazil's new capital. Yet, however diverse their mo
tives, they all share a sense of the city's separation from the rest
of the country that this journey represents. For the migrant, it is
this passage that establishes the identity of BrasUia as frontier
city, development project, utopian experiment in modem ur
banism, detached center of political power, Eldorado of oppor
tunity.
It is also this passage that contrasts the old Brazil with a plan
to develop the new. As one travels across the desolate plateau
toward the city, the landscape abruptly changes about 40
kilometers from the capital. The highway widens. Billboards
announce lots for sale in future residential havens with names
like New Brazil, New World, and New America. A gigantic,
modem sculpture appears out of nowhere to suggest that
something is about to happen. Still without visible signs of
settlement, one is suddenly swept into a cloverleaf intersection
of superspeedway proportions. At one carefully choreographed
moment, Brasflia begins: a 14-lane speedway roars into view
and catapults the traveler into what is hailed as lithe New Age
of Brazil."
Brasflia was built to be more than merely the symbol of this
new age. Rather, its design and construction were intended as
means to create it by transforming Brazilian society. This study
analyzes the paired premises of this inversion in development
an inversion in which urban form and organization are consid-
3
ONE
Premises and Paradoxes
The journey to Brasilia across the Central Plateau of Brazil is one
of separation. It confronts the traveler with the separation of
modernist Brasilia from the familiar Brazil: from densely packed
settlements along the coast to the emptiness of the interior; from
layers of congestion and clutter in the big cities to the silent
horizons of the plateau; from small town squares with their
markets and conversations to the empty spaces of Brasilia
without squares or markets; fram civilization to the frontier;
from underdevelopment to the incongruously modem. Mi
grants make this journey mainly for economic gain. They seek
jobs, higher wages, rapid advancement, and speculative oppor
tunity in Brazil's new capital. Yet, however diverse their mo
tives, they all share a sense of the city's separation from the rest
of the country that this journey represents. Far the migrant, it is
this passage that establishes the identity of Brasilia as frontier
city, development project, utopian experiment in modem ur
banism, detached center of political power, Eldorado of oppor
tunity.
It is also this passage that contrasts the old Brazil with a plan
to develop the new. As one travels across the desolate plateau
toward the city, the landscape abruptly changes about 40
kilometers from the capitaL The highway widens. Billboards
announce lots for sale in future residential havens with names
like New Brazil, New World, and New America. A gigantic,
modern sculpture appears out of nowhere to suggest that
something is about to happen. Still without visible signs of
settlement, one is suddenly swept into a cloverleaf intersection
of superspeedway proportions. At one carefully choreographed
moment, BrasfIia begins: a 14-lane speedway roars into view
and catapults the traveler into what is hailed as lithe New Age
of Brazil.lI
Brasilia was built to be more than merely the symbol of this
new age. Rather, its design and construction were intended as
means to create it by transforming Brazilian society. This study
analyzes the paired premises of this inversion in development
an inversion in which urban fonn and organization are consid-
3
The Myth of the Concrete Premises and Paradoxes
ered instruments of social change. The first premise is that the fundamentally altered the urban environment in which nearly
plan for a new city can create a social order in its image; that is, half the world's people live. Postmodern critics tell us today that
one based on the values that motivate its design. The second this modernism is now finished, its creativity exhausted. Yet, I
premise projects the first as a blueprint for change in the context would suggest another aspect of the problem: if modernism is
of national development. It proposes that the new city should be dying, it nevertheless remains dominant, at the very least in the
a model of radically different social practices. It argues that if third world. A study of Brasnia therefore offers an opportunity
this model could serve as an exemplar of progress for the rest of to evaluate its dominant assumptions in a context in which they
the nation, then it would be passible not only to generalize its are expressed with particular clarity.
innovations, but also to propel the country as a whale into the In analyzing the second set of intentions-the government's
planned future it embodies. In this way, planners could stimu plan to build Brasilia-I suggest a number of different but
late leaps in the development process itself, causing the nation related points about development. On the one hand, I analyze
to skip undesired stages in its evolution. Subsequent chapters the role of modernist architecture and city planning in develop
demonstrate that bath premises motivated the building of ment projects which require massive state intervention and
Brasilia in 1957 as the modernist capital of a newly industrializ centralized coordination. This issue is especially important in
ing Brazil. However, they also show that as Brazilian society third-world countries, where the modernist aesthetic appeals to
inhabited the built city, these premises engendered a set of governments across the political spectrum. To explain this
social processes which paradoxically yet unequivocally de unusual appeal, I suggest a number of affinities between mod
stroyed the planners' utopian intentions. ernism as an aesthetic of erasure and reinscription and modern
I have two sets of objectives in this demonstration. One ization as an ideology of development in which governments,
concerns the case study of a modernist capital built for Brazil. regardless of persuasion, seek to rewrite national histories.
The other addresses the question of how an anthropologist On the other hand, I examine Brasilia as an example of a
should study modernism and, more generally, the modem common type of development projed founded on a paradox. In
world. The objectives of the case study are several: first, to portraying an imagined and desired future, Brasilia represented
provide an ethnographic account-a description based on my a negation of existing conditions in Brazil. This utopian differ
field research-of the consequences of Brasilia's founding pre ence between the two is precisely the project's premise. Yet, at
mises for the development of its social orders and disorders, and the same time, the government intended it as a means to
second, to analyze the motivations and entaiIments of these achieve this future-as an instrument of change which would,
planning precepts. Thus, when I refer to an analysis of pre of necessity, have to use the existing conditions it denied. My
mises, I mean to include what they intend, their internal point in analyzing this apparent paradox is not to dispute the
coherence, the instruments and conditions they entail in the need for utopia in imagining a better world. Indeed, in the
world, and the interpretations and social processes they engage. course of the book I shall oppose the postmodern abandonment
This study requires that we differentiate between the various of alternative futures. My aim is rather to determine the ways in
components of the planned city: between the architects' inten which, in the construction of the city and the making of its
tions for social change, embodied in its design, and the govern:" society, the paradoxes of utopia subverted its initial premises.
ment's intentions to build and occupy it. In evaluating the On this subversion-on the way in which the people of Brasilia
former, I present Brasilia as an exemplar of the tenets of engaged these premises at their points of contradiction to
modernist architecture and city planning. Proposed by avant reassert the social processes and cultural values utopia intended
garde groups in Western Europe and the Soviet Union and to deny-I focus my ethnographic account.
adopted in Brazil, these tenets constitute a radical recon'ceptu
alization of city life. Brasilia is probably their most complete
realization. Nevertheless, what is found as a totality in Brasilia is 1.1 Anthropology and Modernism
found as fragments large and small in cities throughout the
world because in this century of phenomenal urban growth When I began fieldwork in Brasnia in 1980, one of my
architectural theory, debate, education, and practice have been objectives was to link ethnographic activity with the set of
set in modernist terms. It is therefore not too great a generali critical attitudes known as modernism. By the latter, I refer to
zation to say that the modernist vision of a new way of life has the disenchantments of the avant-gardes-dadaism, surreal-
4 5