A Modernist Plan to Utopia

Considered a coastal and smaller version of Brasilia, Barra da Tijuca is the second large-scale modernist masterplan executed by Brazilian architect Lucio Costa: Two perpendicular intersecting axes set across the middle of a virgin territory as a response to economic growth, development of the car industry and real estate speculation. Barra was promoted as a new way of living, far from the chaos of the urbanized south zone of the city, and a promise of refuge and better quality of life for the upper classes. However, the neighborhood built in the second half of the 20th century is a failed utopian division of land that turned into a series of gated communities, lack of public spaces, social injustice, and has no flexibility. A place where order and efficiency turned into constant traffic and a hostile environment for pedestrians - who are now hardly seen - and where urban sprawl became unavoidable. 

The two main axes are each composed of an average of sixteen car lanes. Weaved around them, shopping malls and gated communities privatized public space - driven by real estate speculation - and programmed the majority of the ground level. This necessity modern architects felt defining how space would be used reflects a post-war mentality of rationality and order. Drawing a parallel to the architectural scale, Brazilian late architect and FAU USP professor Flavio Motta argued for “meaningful and nameless spaces”: non-programmed places rich in experiences and unexpected events, which in opposition to common belief, should not be generic or empty. Architects and urban designers should provide those spaces from the scale of a building to the one of an entire neighborhood. After all, cities thrive where the unexpected occurs. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Barra da Tijuca. The lack of those spaces makes urban encounters and interactions rare, and access to leisure and entertainment restricted to those who can afford it. Therefore, social justice became a crucial issue in the “new south zone” - as Barra propaganda announced in the 70s. 

When the third reality - as Lacaton & Vassal would define these unexpected events - is not possible, consequences escalate. The lack of pedestrians, public spaces, and social interaction leads to fear, insecurity, and chaos. In a sequential turn of events, residential areas isolate themselves with walls, gates, and fences. One could see this as a vicious cycle where insecurity leads to walls and fences and vice-versa. The question is how to escape from this hostile environment. Would it require all buildings and condos to remove their gates simultaneously? 

Appealing to utopia as a way to deal with one that went wrong would probably fail too. However, the current transportation system will likely be replaced a hundred years from now. Our highways and bridges will reach the end of their lifespan; the population within gated communities will reach a plateau, or disappear; shopping malls are already in decline, especially when COVID made us rethink indoor spaces as a go-to place for leisure and entertainment. One way or the other, a lot will change in half a century, and what brought order and efficiency sixty years ago probably will not do so in a not-so-distant future. One could only expect - and hope - that car-driven urbanism will give place to new city dynamics and configurations: where pedestrians are the core of urban life, access to public space is not related to your income, and fear is not a constant feeling amongst residents. 

Drawing back to the formal analysis of Barra, just as grids and patterns, its lines are easily extended. Considering the emptiness of the territory that stretched to the West of Barra da Tijuca, urban sprawl was expected and unavoidable. New residential high-rises puncture the landscape at an ever-growing pace, intertwined with mansions and exclusive leisure spaces. Relatable to American suburbs, the upper-class distancing from the city center is harmful to the entire urban fabric. Firstly, services and infrastructure can not follow the rhythm of private developments, so cars become even more essential. Secondly, the gated communities employ a whole network of workers: the distancing of these new developments to lower-income clusters results in long commuting distances and deteriorating life quality for this part of the population - or into the establishment of more informal settlements where commuting is easier. Last but not least, to meet real estate speculation and the housing market, green areas deteriorate where once was a preserved ecology. 

Barra da Tijuca makes a great example of why architects and urban planners need to restrain their desires to control space and dictate uses. Projects will likely not live up to ideas and expectations, as societies are unpredictable. There is an urgent need for flexible public spaces, community engagement in design, and a rethinking of urban hierarchies. No matter the scale, projects should consider processes and change over time equal as - or more important than - the physical form. Lucio Costa’s master plan is the opposite: defined geometries and zones, infrastructure over citizens, and a utopian vision based on economic and political factors. And this is where the problem lies. After all, utopia, as an idea and a word, draws a fine line between a perfect place and a place that does not exist.

Bibliography

LACATON, Anne; VASSAL, Jean-Philippe. Freedom of use. Shantel Blakley (ed).. Cambridge, MA: Sternberg press, 2015. 

LEFEBVRE, Henry. The right to the city. Translation Rubens Eduardo Frias. São Paulo: Centauro, 2001. 

AGUEDA, Rodrigo C. A housing of the elite in XXI century Rio de Janeiro: an analysis of Barra da Tijuca’s “city-condominiums” and their implications on space, daily life and actions. GeoPUC. Rio de Janeiro, BR, 2019 

http://geopuc.geo.puc-rio.br/media/v12n23a6%20AGUEDA,%20R.pdf 

Romullo Baratto. "Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Carla Juaçaba e GrupoSP among the participants of the FREESPACE exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2018" 02 Mar 2018. ArchDaily Brasil. https://www.archdaily.com.br/br/890022/paulo-mendes-da-rocha-carla-juacaba-e-gruposp-entre-os-pa rticipantes-da-exposicao-freespace-da-bienal-de-veneza-201 

BARBOSA, Antônio Agenor. Barra da Tijuca, a terra dos condomínios. Meandros da urbanização. Drops, São Paulo, ano 05, n. 009.03, Vitruvius, set. 2004 

<https://vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/drops/05.009/1631> 

JAULINO, Daniel Delvaux. Barra da Tijuca e o custo do urbanismo moderno. Minha Cidade, São Paulo, ano 06, n. 066.01, Vitruvius, jan. 2006 

<https://vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/minhacidade/06.066/1955>