Beyond Curitiba: The rise of a participatory model for urban intervention in Brazil

Abstract

This article uses the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte as a case-study to show that beyond the centralized planning model that prevailed in the 1970s, a new model of urban intervention has developed, based on the participatory budget and focused on the most vulnerable portion of the Brazilian urban population: the favela dwellers. While larger Brazilian cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have a deeper history of intervention in the favelas, this article focuses on Belo Horizonte as the polar opposite to the well-known model of Curitiba. If we agree that any real sustainable urbanism should be built upon a participatory community, the favela's interventions carried on in Belo Horizonte might rise to the occasion as a promising alternative. URBAN DESIGN International (2010) 15, 119-128.

Governing in the digital age: The emergence of dynamic smart urban governance modes

“…The same political group governed the city with a strong connection with the technicians for over thirty years. The military regime also considered Curitiba a development model city (1964 to 1985), hence the governance tools and policies are described and sometimes criticised as technocratic, where the citizens are considered consumers of good public transportation services (Irazábal, 2017;Lara, 2010;Mercier et al, 2015). In 2023, the city hall has 16 secretariates and approximately 25,500 employees.…”

Questioning Beliefs Surrounding Urban Sustainability: The Need for a Contextual Urban Model

“…A strong institution that will sustain their vision with "a group of well-trained specialists controls the process of land use and transportation very much in tune with developers in order to provide a 'comfortable' environment for a population that in exchange would have no reason to challenge the political status quo" contributed to the city's achievement towards sustainability as well (Lara, 2010: 119). Lara (2010) further notes that this aspect of professionalism was the reason why the city has become celebrated as a model city in the First World.…”

“…Lara (2010) Many years of serving as the mayor of the city as well as the president of the IPPUC for a long time are undeniable factors in the city's recognition as a sustainable city -this strength in leadership can be seen as fostering the city's urban transportation system as one of Curitiba's best-known planning achievements, an international model for implementation of wellintegrated systems with environmental benefits. Considering that transport is one of the traditional sectors that are thought to require central provision with appropriate infrastructures (Gilbert, 2006), it seems that the success could have been difficult without such a sense of powerful leadership.…”