Overview

My research question aims at highlighting the way in which city planners in Latin America view public space has changed. During the beginning of the twentieth urban planners were remodeling Latin American cities after Paris in order to obtain this concept of civilization. In doing so they began to privatize public space, ridding of lower socioeconomic people in their social circles, pushing poor families out of the city. My research will then call attention to a newer concept of urban design that was adopted in the late twentieth, that aims to work with communities to create the most effective urban plans. Overall, my research will demonstrate the way in which urban design has changed in Rio de Janeiro, thus Latin American.

Research:

From the dawn of their existence, cities have been models for change. Whether it be social change and the unwritten rules that govern society or for technological advancement, being that the heart of business and therefore the economy rests within urban areas. Urban spaces are areas where diverse individuals come together to live and grow. Oftentimes in the present day cities are regarded as places of endless opportunities that all people have access to simply by living there. Unfortunately this concept of opening up cities are areas of opportunities for the public domain was not always a thing. At the beginning of the 1900’s the ruling classes of many Latin American cities, specifically in Rio de Janeiro, began to implement projects to privatize public space (in this case the public space being cities themselves) in attempts to modernize and further advance their community.

The start of the 20th century is significant of a time in which many technological and industrial advancements were being made. The city of Paris, France was at the heart of this concept of modernizing urban areas landscapes. During this time period the rest of the world regarded Paris as a model for eliteness and class. At this time it was thought that “a change in cities’ public spaces was to represent (or induce) the change in the public consciousness,” as said by Jeffrey Needel. Furthermore, representing this greater belief that the first step in advancing society is to advance the physical spaces within cities, since cities were models of existence for the rest of the world to follow after, slowly but surely overtime the rest of the world in more suburban and rural areas would exhibit this change as well. This concept of the Parisian model of progress was brought about through the Elites of Brazil traveling to Paris and bringing back these ideas to their own cities. 

In Paris, any buildings that were regarded as “backward/ shameful” were demolished in order to make way for more modern architecture that would promote this idea of a social square. Social squares were areas in which people within the community could gather and enjoy their neighborhood through social interaction as well as multiple forms of entertainment such as the opera or parks filled with greenery that one could walk through with companions. The Bourgeoisie and legislative officials of Rio implemented the practice of ridding any buildings that were in simple terms old and seemingly ‘ugly,’ but they took this concept to extremes. In this process of following the Parisian model of progress to bring about an elite and ‘civilized’ community, urban planners completely disregarded the lower-classes who could not afford to live in this new Rio they were envisioning. The concept of community that they envisioned was not a community at all, but instead an exclusive club.

Urban planners in Rio de Janeiro during the early 1900’s wanted to redesign a more modern landscape in order to be regarded as more civilized by the rest of the world. In order to reinvent Rio and build new infrastructure modeled after Parisian architecture, they would have to tear down pre-existing buildings. Much of these pre-existing buildings that were to be demolished consisted of low income housing and slums. During the late 1890s to the early 1900s violence, crime and diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever began to run rampant through the city, especially in slums, which was Elite’s worst nightmare. The entire concept of redesigning the city was so that the rest of the world would regard Rio in a brighter light, disease and crime were only countering their progress and they needed to do something about it. It would be unjust to just go about tearing down people’s homes without any sort of explanation, so city officials teamed up with the public health sector and began labeling these low income apartment buildings as ‘unsafe’ to live in. Proposing explanations that not only were the infrastructures unsound but they were also contaminated with vast diseases and because of this the safest option was to rid them entirely. 

Oswaldo Crux, the Director General of Public health at the time began to ‘order the demolition of unsanitary housing’ aka buildings they wanted to rebuild to promote this idea of modern architecture and the city square. The people affected by these demolitions finally had enough of these reforms that were continually pushing them out of the city when Crux mandated a required smallpox vaccine. Mass riots broke out among the lower classes, which at first glance may seem as though they were in response to the mandated vaccines, but in actuality they were the result of something much deeper. Impoverished people were continually being pushed out of their communities, not just physically but also socially. Urban planners and the bourgeois were designing communities that were catered to the rich, not just in terms of physical space (elites residing close to city squares) but also in terms of social space.

 These new and upcoming social squares that were composed of social activities were not just out of reach for poor people because of the vast physical space that now divided them from these areas, but also because of monetary reasons. These social squares may have been thought to be open to all since anyone could go if they truly pleased, but they were truly closed spaces. In order to genuinely enjoy any of these places one had to have the financial means to do so, not everyone could afford to attend the opera or a play, or go to a bar/ cafe, and if once could not afford any of these activities there was no point in going to these social squares and capitals to simply just stand around and gawk at the experiences they could not afford. 

Due to urban planners in Rio de Janeiro catering to the desires of the bourgeois, what in theory was ‘public space’ became privatized because many people within society did not have the means to afford enjoyment in these public sectors, and therefore stayed away from them. This concept of privatizing public space through urban design began to change in the 1990’s when urban planners started to implement studies to redesign cities to make them truly accessible to people of all social and economic classes. Through the Favela-Bairro project city officials and urban designers began to survey urban areas to gain insight into not only their physical but also social dimensions. In doing so they studied infrastructure to gain insight into its level of safety and further gather what needed to be improved, in addition to giving out surveys to civilians so they could see what needs were not being met in terms of accessibility, safety and sanitation.

A select few within the community were picked to be ‘community leaders’ who were in charge of communicating with the people within their neighborhoods to find out what plans they had to improve their community. These community leaders would often meet with the Favela-Bairro project managers to discuss the needs of their community, for example what ways did they like to spend their time? What sorts of social activities did they enjoy? How could they make the city safer and overall more accessible? The project managers had the expertise of city planning and the community leaders had the expertise of their urban landscape. The two disciplines combined to create the most effective plans for the redesign of the city, that would then allow for civilians to get the most out of their communities.

When planning cities it is extremely important to revolve the designs around the concept of accessibility to all. It is evident that a massive change in urban planning occurred throughout the twentieth century in Rio de Janeiro. At the beginning of the twentieth century, city planners were heavily influenced by this idea of elitism being significant to civilization and everyone wanted to be regarded as civilized. But this prior notion of civilization was anything but, following the Parison model of progress, Rio de Janeiro left many of its civilians in the shadows, forced into slums where they did not get to enjoy city life because they did not have access to it. Eventually towards the end of the twentieth century city planners began to implement practices to make urban spaces more inclusive by working with disenfranchised communities to accumulate them into urban society. 

The true success of cities lies in its ability to include everyone in social spheres, as previously mentioned cities are composed of many diverse individuals. Individuals that belong to not only different racial and ethnic groups but also socioeconomic. To benefit the wealthy elite is to benefit the minority. The true glory of a city lies in how many people are staying, enjoying and taking up the space that their community has to offer. The best way to ensure people are taking up space is by hearing their voices, truly listening to what they have to say. Many unique individuals live within a city which is why there needs to be a multitude of opinions from varying disciplines that will foster the creation of many different designs and opportunities throughout the city, so that there is something for everyone instead of one thing for everybody. 

Glossary Terms:

• Parisian model: Paris was always seen as a model of sophistication and modernism to the rest of the world in the 19th and 20th century, Latin American Cities began to remodel their cities after the composition and design of Paris as a way of bringing Latin American cities to a higher standard in the worlds eyes, as well as local elites. 
• Social urbanism: the concept of reimagining public space/spheres for the benefit of civilians, working with communities who will be directly impacted by changes to get a better idea for what plans/ models will be most effective
• Urban: geographic location, city, center of commerce and business, place in which many diverse individuals live.
• Urban planning: process of planning/ designing the physical landscape of a city
• Bourgeoisie: social class composed of wealthier people, people of which tend to be granted power through their wealth. These classes often have a heavy influence on society.
• Architecture: artistic discipline involving the design/ construction of buildings
• Privatization: the act of making something that is available to the public domain private, aka it is not longer accessible to the majority of people.
• public square: public social space typically at the center of cities, where people gather to socialize and participate in commerce

 

Here are several links to primary sources of media that will allow you to see what exactly Paris looked like when it was thought to be a model of progress, in addition to pictures and documents from the Health Riots of 1904 and lastly a video of Rio de Janeiro in 1932:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Q1kITY168

//Www.youtube.com/Watch?v=rxha1Uwi0lQ, 2021.

https://library.brown.edu/create/fivecenturiesofchange/chapters/chapter-5/modernization-in-rio/

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/paris-reborn-and-destroyed

 

Annotations

             University , Brown. “Brazil: Five Centuries of Change.” Brazil Five Centuries of Change. Accessed November 22, 2022. https://library.brown.edu/create/fivecenturiesofchange/chapters/chapter-5/modernization-in-rio

This page published by Brown University includes a multitude of primary sources from the Vaccine Riots of 1904, including not only political cartoons that allow for one to understand the overall societal feelings of the situation, in addition to including a newspaper article detailing the battle of civilians versus Brazilian troops and as well a pictured of the public sphere is added that shows a city bus turned over, demonstrating the severity and violence exhibited during these riots. It is one thing to hear and read about an event but it is another to see actual images from the event, allowing for one to get a better grasp for the situation at hand

            Hustwit, Gary. Urbanized. San Francisco, California, USA: Film First Corp., 2018.

This Documentary takes a look at a multitude of cities across the globe including Bogota and Rio de Janeiro, two cities in Latin America. This was my first introduction into urbanization and the concept of redesigning urban spaces to make them more accessible to the public. Implementing projects to promote other methods of transportation, for example developing back paths connecting the entire city of Bogota. Allowing people who do not have the means to afford a car, to navigate the city through more affordable means. The documentary also introduced me to the overall concept of urban planning and the grave importance that lies in people staying instead of passing through it. Demonstrating this notion that civilians should be guaranteed the right to not only take up space but to enjoy it, which has brought up collaborative community projects to gather information on ways to design the city that people will get the most use out of.

          Needell. (1995). Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires: Public Space and Public Consciousness in Fin-de-Siècle Latin America. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 37(3), 519–540. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417500019794

In this article, author Jeffrey Needell, examines how in the late 1800s to the early 1900s much of the world looked to Paris as a model for great and effective city building. Needell then details how in an attempt to be regarded as civilized, the elites of Rio de Janeiro disenfranchise poorer communities by destroying slum neighborhoods, in order to create a city that was built for themselves and others of the bourgeois class, and them only. This article gives me an introduction into the topic of Latin American cities making public space private by making it inaccessible to underprivileged communities and therefore pushing them out of the city because they could no longer afford to live there.

               Meade. (1986). “Civilizing Rio de Janeiro”: The Public Health Campaign and the Riot of 1904. Journal of Social History, 20(2), 301–322. https://doi.org/10.1353/jsh/20.2.301

 In this article, the author highlights specific social class warfare in Rio de Janeiro following mandated vaccines and the demolition of slums. Lower class citizens of Rio had enough of being phased out of their own home, a place they had just as much of a right to as the elites that were pushing them out, and rioted in mass protests throughout the city. The importance in this example of the riot of 1904 is that it sets forth the precedent that all people should have the right to enjoy their own neighborhood at the least, that cities are meant to be enjoyed by the public. A concept that I am highlighting in my research, specifically looking at how urban planners are working to make cities places in which everyone not only has the right, but the means and desire to take up public space 

             Stiphany, Kristine. 2019. “Latin American Urbanism after a Right to the City.” Latin American Research Review 54 (4): 1072–80. doi:10.25222/larr.1019.

This article is a review by Kristine Stiphany, expanding the ideas proposed by Medellin in regards to social urbanism. The importance in this article is it gives an additional perspective onto an article I had already been researching, which is essential in further expanding my own research by gaining further insight. Stiphany chooses to highlight points that I would have otherwise disregarded, one important point being how cities from the beginning of their existence have been centers for social change. To make cities more accessible through new urban design is to make the world more accessible for all. The rest of the world often looks to cities as a model of innovation, a model of how to live, demonstrating how this change in urban design in Latin America us actually significant of a change in urban design/ design everyone, if not yet then soon. 

              Werthmann, Christian. Informal Urbanization in Latin America : Collaborative Transformations of Public Spaces. New York, NY: Routledge, 2021.

This Chapter Rio de Janeiro- Equality Through Public Space from the book Informal Urbanization in Latin America by Christian Werthmann, details the step by step process that legislators within Rio de Janeiro in the 1970’s followed in order to enhance the quality of life in Rio de Janeiro. The chapter goes on to describe how city planners and officials worked with people from the slums in Rio, to collaborate with them and their neighbors, in order to find effective ways to redesign their community. The importance in this is that the case study details how the people of Rio had productive ideas for how to enhance their community but did not have the means to do so and vice-versa city planners were unsure as to how to go about redeveloping this area. Demonstrating just how powerful collaboration of not only people from a multitude of disciplines (architect, historian, political science, economist,etc) is to the process of urban planning, but also the joint effort between someone who will be affected by these plans (civilian) and someone who has the power to affect others (urban designer) is because it ensures the most successful designs are put into place.

             First Look – Paris 1900: The City of Light.Https://Www.youtube.com/Watch?v=rxha1Uwi0lQ, 2021. 

This youtube video published by MHz Choice gives a better understanding of what the Parisian model of urban progress was. It is one thing to read about a topic, but a whole nother thing to visually see something, allowing for different sorts of learners to have an equal opportunity to grasp a topic. My research begins by discussing how Paris was seen as an elite Urban center of progress that the rest of the world was studying to remodel their cities after. This video provides distinct visuals of what the buildings looked like as well as the forms of entertainment present within Paris that I discuss in my research kit. In addition to going into detail as to why and how Paris was a model of progress because of its advancement in technology and urban design.

             Rio the Magnificent 1932. Travel Film Archive, 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Q1kITY168

This clip published on youtube takes a look at primary sources from Rio de Janeiro in 1932. The video shows various black and white clips of the landscape, people, and urban areas. Much of my research focuses on how Latin America was looking to Paris as a model of Urban design/ success, this video provides actual visuals of the way in which the city changed to follow a more Parisian/ modern landscape. The most important aspect of this video is the purpose behind it, to paint Rio de Janeiro as a modern and elite place in order to gain a more respectable worldview and attract more people of the bourgeois class. Rio the Magnificient 1931 provided a form of propaganda, ultimately demonstrating that new ideologies at the beginning of the 1900’s in Latin America were aimed at benefiting the wealthy. Nowhere in this film are slums or lower classes highlighted, despite having a prevalent existence. Displaying this concept that there was no room for poverty in this new vision of Rio, that urban planning at the time aimed to benefit the rich.