Brasilia: Modernist disaster or deceptively brilliant?

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Brasilia, Brazil's planned capital city, is a product of the 1950s, with its dedication to car use and modern architecture. It also has some surprisingly complex ideas about how to live in a 20th century city.
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Resources on this topic:
Book: The Modernist City: An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia by James Holston, 1989 (page 14 - 22)
The Spirit of Brasilia Modernity as Experiment and Risk by James Holston, 2001: escholarship.org/content/qt19...
Workplace travel in Brasilia organizations : factors that influences employees to practice sustainable mobility, 2020. repositorio.unb.br/handle/104...
Great Streets by Allan Jacobs, 1995
A Study of Brasilia: From Master Plan to Implementation by Paulo de Melo Zimbres, 1974 (Thesis Paper)
The Evolution of Urban Spatial Structure in Brasília: Focusing on the Role of Urban Development Policies, 2019: www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/553
(Ir)regularities: Patterns of Urban Growth in Brasilia’s Satellite Cities - The Case of Sabradinho II, 2020
Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Co-authored by Hannah Woolsey.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.
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Produced by Dave Amos and the fine folks at Nebula Studios.
Co-authored by Hannah Woolsey.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.

[@GuilhermeBorgesCunha]

One of the controversies regarding the built of Brasilia is the speculation that it has been built exactly to keep the gross of the population away from the capital in order to prevent riots to reach the federal powers. Brasilia was built in the center of Brazil in the middle of nowhere, it's hard for most people to get there since more than 80% of our population live in cities near the coast and there are some historical reasons for this.

[@vitorboldrini6337]

Well, it didn’t work. Four years later there were fascist demonstrations followed by a military coup. Kubitscheck might have wanted to end the possibility of a regime change after the 1955 countercoup, but all it did was delay it.

[@steemlenn8797]

Have a look at Egypt's new capital. You don't need to speculate there.

[@Riyoshi000]

@@steemlenn8797 egypts new capital is a joke in terms of wanting to be away from people… literally just cross the Nile and your government is there so you can riot. The majority of the Brazilian population have to fly at least 3h to get to our politicians lmao if Egypt was serious about not wanting to see their citizens like Brazil was, they’d build in the middle of the desert, not other side of Cairo 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@steemlenn8797]

@@Riyoshi000 Well, it's quite impractical to build a huge city into the middle of a sand desert. It's less the distance itself but the seperation. And the little fact that there seems to be an awful lot of places reserved for military.

[@masenformen]

Is that speculation though? As a brazilian, I always took that as a well established fact lol

[@nindy4368]

Walking through the administrative center of Brasília can be really exhausting, the buildings are too sparse from to another

[@sohopedeco]

And it is a veeeery hot and dry city. You'll get very tired and burned by doing your tourist stroll on the Monumental Axis.

[@whophd]

Spoken like a typical American? Most other people are fitter than that, but honestly, this is where e-bikes make life so easy and relaxing to get around.

[@ulizez89]

@@whophd No, Brasilia it's pretty crazy, of it's own category. I have never walked so much visiting a city, something like 20k each day just visiting the tourist places, it's by far the most empty city I have ever seen and size wise it's huge!

[@ianhomerpura8937]

At least you can achieve 10,000 steps daily with ease.

[@luciansimionescu365]

Indeed

[@diogosens]

I'd like to add that the construction of Brasilia was intended not only to move Brazil's capital to a new, more modern city. The purpose was also to better integrate the enormous territory of Brazil through highways stemming from a center point where Brasilia is. The city is pretty equidistant from every major region of the Brazilian territory: a 2-day trip from Brasilia by car can get you to almost any regional capital city (the exception is the North region, where is the Amazon Rainforest).

[@ChasmChaos]

The more I hear about cities outside of Europe and Asia, the more I believe that trains were the best invention by humankind.

[@RenanFelicianoOn]

Goiânia só é uma métropole com milhões de habitantes hoje por conta disso.

[@otavioviegas]

And now Brasilia's airport is the main hub for air traffic from north to south. It's Brazil's third or second most busy airport.

[@cwlcxx]

The trip from Brasília to Belém or vice versa is estimated at 2,000 kilometers on the Belém-Brasília Highway.

[@diogosens]

@@cwlcxx Good point. And we have a land connection also with Porto Velho and Rio Branco in a (much) longer trip. All roads lead to Brasília indeed.

[@caetanonunes4623]

I lived in Brasilia for 15 years, and it is really car-centric and segregated. But it’s a product of its time: among the 26 proposals submitted for the new capital, only one didn’t follow the modernist principles. In fact, Lúcio Costa’s plan wasn’t the most absurd (you should check Rino Levi’s plan, almost a copycat of ville radieuse). On a side note: I lived in the superquadra right next to the comercial street shown in 2:49!

[@atropatene3596]

Did you like the superquadra itself? Because that is the only thing from this video that I really thought was interesting and potentially awesome. I'd love to know how it was to live in one!

[@pedrocruz-ds6bj]

@@atropatene3596 is realy cool, you can't everything just by walking. But you usally can do at least groceries and everyday stuff. Every superquadra has a playground and a sports area to play, I remember playing with my friends there, really cool having that kind of space and green area right in the center of the city

[@pedrocruz-ds6bj]

Other thing that was not told in the video, the population of plano piloto not only became more wealthy but now they are also aging, so the playgrounds and sports areas are not being as used than in the past. Also a generalized fear of violence (but I think this is anywhere in the world).

[@ojl5055]

@@pedrocruz-ds6bj Definitely not everywhere in the world

[@leftdude1]

Very interesting! Do you know a source where I can check all the other proposals for Brasilia?

[@ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031]

Brazilia is like a soviet city for the rich. I was creating an alternate, denser, less fully car-oriented version of Brasilia in Cities Skylines, but my laptop is broken now.

[@marciocorrea8531]

Indeed, this perception of Brasilia as a "big soviet city" is well known in Brazil. It´s an irony that, today, the original city space offer a very confortable life, very green, safe, excellent infrastructure, while the "proletariat" has to live in the suburbs.

[@guilhermesavoya2366]

I tried to do the same. I kinda have a dream of creating a Brasilia that is functional, walkable, bikeable, and easily traversible by public transportation.

[@gabrielandradeferraz386]

​@@marciocorrea8531 é aquele meme né cara, o mundo é controlado por empresarios e politicos ricos e autocratas... ~de esquerda~ *trovoadas dramaticas*

[@rahulmore4584]

My pc fly over my studio roof and legends says it is still flying..

[@davidferguson6507]

I had the good fortune to have visited Brasilia several few years ago. At the time, I was an architecture student and my very first impression was how the city was built for the car first; the architecture, second; and people, third. But that architecture was mind-blowing. Every. single. building.

[@augustodeazambuja365]

It's a giant piece of shame what they did there, created to prohibit a social pressure in politicians from the hungry people and allow a giant influx of corruption based on international loans taken out by the government to beneficiate is own "friends" meanwhile the whole country would be still payng off an enormous debth for decades to come (essencially like an anti-Robin Hood, taking from the poor to give for the rich).

[@virtahepo]

Mind-blowingly bleak modernism that would look dystopian without the tropical environment. It's sad architects' tastes are so different from the most people and unforgivable that buildings are designed for them and not the people.

[@daveweiss5647]

Only an architect would find modernist architecture anything but repulsive.

[@thepedrothethethe6151]

@@daveweiss5647 How can you hate cubes?

[@daveweiss5647]

@thepedrothethethe6151 I only like the Ice ones.

[@R2_the_lime]

I know Brasilia is not very loved by city planners and urbanists, mainly by being designed around the car, but as a resident and native, I really enjoy living here. On Sundays, the big highway in the center close to the cars and become park space for people to interact. The gigantic park, where the amusement park is, is full of amenities and landscaping. The lake has multiple piers for people to gather around. Each suburb has it’s own identity and cultural places for people. It might be the city of the future past and have boring places to be, but I love living in the airplane in the middle of the little rectangle in the heart of Brazil.

[@ChasmChaos]

Living in the core downtown of most cities is really fun. The problem is that it's not possible for 99% of the city + suburb's residents.

[@larissacarvalho1748]

Eu que sou cria de Brasília fico pensando como alguém ousa falar mal de brasília, lugar lindo demais. Eu q já fiz intercâmbio e tudo mais não trocaria Brasília por nenhuma cidade do mundo, é meu lar.

[@escola83]

@@larissacarvalho1748 Sou de Goiânia (mas atualmente moro em Belo Horizonte) e ouso criticar Brasília. Cidade artificial totalmente voltada para o carro, terrenos centrais subutilizados, prédios extremamente espaçados, absolutamente nada convidativa ao pedestre (basicamente tudo o que ele disse no vídeo). Ruas monótonas, planejamento sem sentido, urbanismo não natural. Andar no Eixo Monumental é quase impossível, é tudo muito longe. Você realmente fez intercâmbio? Já foi a Nova York? Paris? Londres? Roma? Não precisa nem sair do Brasil, conhece a Av Paulista? Já andou pelo Leblon? Copacabana? Esses sim são locais de verdade, cidades naturais, pedonais, onde você pode andar, onde as pessoas circulam nas ruas e enchem as calçadas, isso junto a bares, restaurantes, lojas, e cafés que acompanham o boulevard, coisa que praticamente não existe em Brasília.

[@larissacarvalho1748]

@@escola83 Eu fiz intercâmbio em Washington, D.C, eu fiquei no campus da George Washington University. E a cidade é muito parecida com Brasília até que em uma das aulas, o professor comentou que Washington foi planejada tanto que Washington fica dentro do distrito de columbia assim como Brasília fica dentro do DF. Cada um tem sua opinião, mas eu acho esse cara q se diz planejador urbano um tanto arrogante, quais projetos q ele fez. Muito fácil falar, quero ver fazer. Eu amo justamente como Brasília tem essa amplitude de espaço quando aparece no vídeo aquela foto de Paris q agonia daquilo dá a sensação de um cortiço, tudo amontoado. Eu tenho pavor a muvuca. Como eu estudava na UnB, eu estudei engenharia civil então entendo um cadinho de arquitetura e tenho lá minhas preferências. Eu amo andar pelas quadras, passar por baixo dos prédios, ver todo aquele verde. Sei lá, eu não troco Brasília por nenhuma cidade do mundo. Pra mim ela é perfeita, ela não é aquela coisa poluição sonora e aglomeração de grandes cidades e ao mesmo tempo tem tudo pq não é uma cidadezinha no fim do mundo

[@escola83]

@@larissacarvalho1748 Tá aí, você não conhece o outro lado da moeda, Washington D.C apesar de ter um pequeno centro caminhável (incluindo os arredores da Universidade aí) como você mesma disse é muito parecida com Brasília. Eu diria que 90% das cidades americanas são parecidas com Brasília, totalmente idealizadas e voltadas para o carro. A grande exceção deles é Nova York, uma cidade extremamente pedonal (assim como outras no Brasil e no mundo). E se você tem pavor de muvuca deveria se mudar para o campo, cidade é concentração de pessoas, e Brasília de jeito nenhum muda isso, só torna tudo pior, menos prático, mais monótomo e mais difícil. E não precisaria tirar o verde pra deixar a cidade mais eficiente, bastaria melhor aproveitar os espaços. O Eixo Monumental por exemplo, como eu falei, ele é um imenso espaço subutilizado, descampado e vazio, cabe uma cidade inteira ali dentro praticamente. É um crime você empurrar a população pra pqp enquanto o centro da cidade meia abriga só meia dúzia da elite em um local sem nenhuma vitalidade urbana e praticamente morto que serve só de passagem para o carro.

[@lastsanitystreak8443]

Things i liked about Brasilia: 1) it is impossible to get lost in plano piloto, as long as you know where you are (and that is fairly simple since every quadra is labeled) you can get to anywhere because everything is numerically named 2)the city maps orientation: In Paris, for exemple, all the city maps are oriented N/S no matter their actual position in the street, so you have to know which way you're facing and mentally rotate the map so that you interpret it correctly , but in Brasilia every map on the street is oriented from the point of view of the viewer . 3) because of the low rise buildings and vast emptiness the sky feels really low 4) the earth is red.

[@josiasroig8622]

something that is so much said around Brazil is the all-famous Sky of Brasilia, with its unique colors.

[@akunekochan]

*dirt not earth

[@lastsanitystreak8443]

@@akunekochan i think 'soil' would suit best.

[@DaviRenania]

The soil in the entirety of the Brazillian Plateau is red.

[@MTheoOA]

The sky feels low because the clouds really are. The city is above 1200m the sea level.

[@guilhermemavignier]

Another planned brazilian city that would be great to explore is Belo Horizonte. It was planned to have a ring road all around it and it would be self suficient inside that ring. Needless to say that plan failed hard, but the inside ring part of town is still a great place to live.

[@sohopedeco]

And the inside ring is pretty walkable, despite being somewhat hilly.

[@ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031]

I am from BH.

[@jonnyso1]

The interesting thing about Belo Horizonte is that a lot of its most glaring problems were not due to poor planing but because all the ideas the city was built upon were thrown out the window in the future, especially, but not only, during the dictatorship. The car centric and short sighted way of thinking slowly ruined the city over the years.

[@Violant3]

well, let's change the subject then, let's talk about Curitiba, a city that got planning right

[@vulpes7079]

Sou de BH e muito a favor!

[@rod.lustosa]

Another Brazilian planned city is Palmas, the youngest planned city of the 20th century (and younger than Brasilia). Many of Brasilia problems were fixed in Palmas. It's one of the only cities that have less people than its planned capacity. It's the capital of Tocantins state, and the public buildings are much more mixed with other buildings than in Brasilia.

[@eduardof7322]

Oscar Niemeyer: "I want to make a more human city". Also him: "So yeah, no sidewalks, just highways, everything is designed for cars, and 100 buildings that look all like boxes."

[@studiocg942]

Oscar Niemeyer never really designed Brasilia, only a couple of buildings. Lúcio Costa designed the city.

[@MTheoOA]

Just search for Niemeyer works, there's everything but boxes.

[@elizabethdavis1696]

Two light rail lines would be a great addition to the planned area!

[@joadic]

There was a project to build one connecting the central bus station (smack dab in the center of the city) and the airport but construction was halted due to irregularities and corruption charges. Instead, we got a separated bus lane that supports these extra-long triple buses. It's ok, I preferred the light rail project. The city also has a very nice metro, but it's very small with only 2 lines, both of which go south.

[@healord51]

A tram can always be added, it is up to the people living in the area to demand it, idk...

[@vitorporto3603]

The south wing has a metro line that ends in te center of the plano piloto

[@rosampa1980]

It has a metro line

[@peterj.francisdunleadebarr4367]

I got to visit Brasilia last year for a few days. As an architect it was thrilling to see such an example of mid-twentieth century modernist urban design. Modernist city plans like these generally only stayed on paper, so witnessing in the flesh the huge avenues, the set-piece buildings, the monumental vistas and the rigidly ordered zones was remarkable - you can see how exciting this must have been for architects and urban designers of the time. Coming from increasingly overcrowded and overpopulated cities, in the aftermath of a destructive world war, the sense of optimism and the faith in human progress expressed by Costa's plan must have been intoxicating. But for all the reasons outlined in other comments, it's a bit of a failure. Viewed from afar it's an iconic city, which still manages to project exactly the sort of progressive, modernist vision of itself that it's designers sought. But up close it's a dreary place, one with no real centre, and one that's increasingly scruffy. Most Brazilians I met elsewhere in Brazil were mystified as to why I went to Brasilia, and what I wanted to see there. For them it's a boring city associated with political corruption and tainted by the cynicism that comes with it. Most Brazilians have never been there, and few have any interest in visiting. That being said, it could have been so much worse. In a museum there I saw an exhibit of the other competition entries submitted when the design competition was held. And they're all god-awful, Villa Radiuse-type proposals, that approach city design like it's a problem that can be solved by engineering and geometry alone. For all it's faults Costa's plan was the only one that had some sense of place, some sense of urbanism, some sense of something that would make a city. And for that at lease we should be thankful.

[@pgps02]

Why did you think that there is no center? Did you visit Setor Comercial Sul and that whole region around? (Setor Bancario Sul, Setor Comercial Norte, Setor Bancário Norte) It's not the most exciting place on earth, but it feels like a center to me and people refer to it as the center, not the Eixo Monumental

[@larissacarvalho1748]

I as someone who was born in Brasilia is thinking how dare you talking bad about Brasília. I just love the city, you have such a good quality here and I feel so safe. Safety is one of the reasons many brazilians leave the country and I have this right here in my hometown.

[@diogenesoliveira6473]

@@larissacarvalho1748 as a brasiliense myself, the English word that best describes your comment is "cringe".

[@larissacarvalho1748]

@@diogenesoliveira6473 obrigada pela correção. Agora como low profile q eu sou, não faço a mínima ideia do q vc quer dizer com cringe. Então vou fingir q é elogio, sigo linda e bela por aqui.

[@smogunner]

@@larissacarvalho1748 I lived six years in Brasília and I agree with every word he said. Brasília is a dreadful place. And about safety, it's the only place in the world I was mugged at the point of a gun.

[@Cleeves358]

That's exactly what I hate about city planning games like Sim City or City Skylines: If you just take one architect's vision - brilliant as it be-, you'll end up with monostructure. Nothing may be as democratic and vital as a city to which hundreds and thousands of people collaborated by building, changing, adapting it. It's nice to see one ingenious idea in an important structure, but tiring to find it everywhere, while it's fascinating to walk through a city spotting different ideas, styles, history leaving its marks everywhere. Details! Something that doesn't work in macroscopic models but only through everyone who lived there adding a piece of their influence.

[@themask6301]

Brasilia's urban planning also raises the question of whether or not it affected the social aspect of the city. By Brazilian standards, people of Brasilia are more reserved and don't tend to make friends after high school. So, if you move to the city after 18, you will have a tough time going out and making new friends, and when you do, chances are they're from another state. Brasilia is notoriously known for being the anti-social capital of the country, lmfao. Whether this is true or not is up for debate, but the city does carry this sad reputation. So, because the city is largely car-depended, and so friends and family live all over town, making it more difficult to meet-up, I wonder if the city's urban planning is also at fault here for the lack of social connections, ironically, considering the city was founded under collective-based ideals. Yes, it generally gets harder to make friends the older you get no matter where, however, it still would be interesting to look into whether or not Brasilia's car-depended, urban planning plays a role in the difficulty of crafting friendships, compared to other Brazilian cities.

[@fresagrus4490]

Is it? I always heard that about Curitiba or Sao Paulo. A large, disproportionate of famous musicians and actors come from Brasilia. Not to say there aren't problems with Brasilias design but I am not sure this applies to it

[@beatrizmedeirosnoleto9391]

@@fresagrus4490 The actors and musicians forge close bonds with others because they are native to the city, and make friends at school. They are usually of a upper-middle class, with lots of disposable income and not many places to spend it, so they buy musical instruments and other materials to make their own fun. Otherwise, you don't hear about anybody who goes to Brasilia to pursue an artistic career. It is either São Paulo or Rio. Edit. That was the story of 80's rock bands, at least.

[@fresagrus4490]

@@beatrizmedeirosnoleto9391 i live in Sweden and everything you two described sounds exactly how things are here. I can very well picture what you are saying.

[@smogunner]

I can say by myself: If you move from another city to Brasília it's almost impossible to make casual friends in the city. The few I've made were from my workplace. And I must add, Brasília people are really misanthropic. I've read once about the assumption that, as Brasília is a compartmentalized city that made people more distant from each other and less able to socialize.

[@larissacarvalho1748]

People in São Paulo are cold as well, it's what happens when people are always in a hurry as it they don't have time to stop and talk to anyone. And regarding to Brasília, my theory is because people have a mindset towards work and being a government's employee in the future. Public transportation has to be enhanced here, but we can navigate the city through it.

[@ViniciusSC10]

The baddest thing about Brasília is how influential it was in other Brazilians cities. That’s why even today we still have a very limited public transit in most big cities in the country. To be fair it wasn’t just Brasilia fault, but the car-centric model was adopted and replicated around the country in the same time Brasilia was inaugurated and then both were Kubitscheck plan’.

[@matthewisthebest]

That seems common in the Americas. Canada, USA, and Brazil are huge countries with lots of empty land. We don’t really have to optimize it…I don’t think it’s so good in the end.

[@iopohable]

that's not why. the why is USA Ford and crapitalism

[@megalonoobiacinc4863]

@@iopohable maybe its a bit of both though? Mathew do bring a valid point in that basically the whole of North America was constructed out of nothing in relatively few years, unlike pretty much the rest of the world. That leaves a lot of opportunity for unconventional city building.

[@soundscape26]

@@matthewisthebest Brazil always had more than a fond affection for American stuff... building a federal capital, having states, the structures of power themselves at the different levels... it all mirrors the US in a big way. Only the Electoral College was left out.

[@jonnyso1]

@@matthewisthebest Actually I think its just a marker of its time. I believe that when cars were relatively a new thing people hadn't realized the problems they would bring. Even cities like Amsterdam were once car riddled nighmares, but they were among the first cities to take action and began rethinking their city. Here in the Americas we're stuck in the past, there's also a culture and car indutry lobby preventing changes. As for Brazil itself, I doubt it will improve in my lifetime, nothing gets better here.

[@ALROD]

I'm from Brasilia and I live in the suburbs, where everything is more "bundled together". I used to live in Plano Piloto when I was a teenager, and what I liked about it was how green it is, but eveything is too distant, making you need to use a car. Actually, as the surrounding cities that were organically created around Plano Piloto came to be, we can see they're not so close to each other, except for a few of them, which makes the car the best and worst option.

[@josephj6521]

Now with e-bikes your problem of avoiding car usage is solved. 😉

[@larissa6732]

Same, I live in one of those satellite towns and it’s annoying having to plan to leave two hours before I go to Plano piloto no matter if I go by car or metro. And I personally hate how bland everything looks, it holds very little cultural significance. Only the Esplanada has a unique appearance to it, but all the residential areas look so outdated and not in a historically cultural way. There’s many aspects of how Brasilia currently is that creates a sense that they don’t want people from the satellite towns to have access to Plano piloto. The gardens people boost about are also full of desire paths on them, even in the main uni, because of how badly done they walking paths were made, like they don’t want you to walk they want you to drive everywhere.

[@bartomalatesta5652]

@@josephj6521 they would need to build safe cycling infrastructure and they have almost no cycling infrastructure at all to where most people live. Right now it would be dangerous and the extremely dry and hot weather in the summer is an issue. Brasilia needs fast and efficient public transport. More trains, subways, and BRTs.

[@josephj6521]

@@bartomalatesta5652 agree. Build the rail. Otherwise the cheapest and possible option is to build cycle ways to encourage e-bikes that require less peddling. Instead of talking just do what is necessary now.

[@serafinacosta7118]

You meant exurbs.

[@gustavofonseca8437]

It's funny, how in the beggining Brasilia seen to be hard to live. But in the last few months, I have become so fond for those big spaces and the logical way in wich the city is organized. They give you the opportunity to pause throughout the day, to perceive how small you are. In fact, the wings have bike paths in almost all of its extension (I do everything in bike), and the solitute and contemplation Brasilia proportinate, is insane. The government buildings, reflects power and you call feel this in your day to day life. Except for the public transportation (it's awfull) Brasilia offers a quite interesting experience, and I can see myself growing old here.

[@MauroMavro]

Gostei da sua meditação

[@PHRCpvh]

Some of my relatives live in Brasilia since the 70s, when Brazil was living a massive urban exodus; they are working-class people who, like many at time, left the poverty-ridden Northeast region to start a new life and build their families, so they witnessed the city expansion. They explained that Brasilia never had space of the "average Joe", so they had to live in "sattelite towns" very far away from the Pilot Plan, which was a total headache for those who couldn't afford a car; the worst part was the lack of decent infrastructure in those boroughs until the 90s. Only high-class people live in Downtown (usually businessmen and high-level civil servants), while the super wealthy live near Lake Paranoá; the mass-transit system is "acceptable", but the time you spend in traffic just to get to work is ludacrous, just like any U.S metropolis. In contrast, the city of Maringá, a place with 450K inhabitants where lived in, is 15 years older than Brasilia and also had some serious urban planning, but the main difference is that the zoning laws are more flexible and the street grid more rational, but still endorsing the presence of green belts, so it was waaay more livable than Brasilia. In my utilitarian view, Brasilia should have never been built; is a place that is more looks than function, a monument that causes too much problems and was made just to look pretty. A local comedian once put it: "Brasília is just like Vegas, built in the middle of nowhere for those who seek easy money".

[@marcgtsr]

Vou falar em português pra não acharem que sou estrangeiro mas... Brazilian is a disgrace it cost so much money, they used retirement funds to back it and a lot of debt that took decades to pay. It's a tragedy to be honest. It should never happened. The simple fact that they build a city in the middle of nowhere thousands of miles from any large city says a lot. Why put the central government away from the peaple? And not make space for working people live?thats by design and is pretty clear. So many people work to build this place, so many died... Is a tragedy.

[@GuilhermeBorgesCunha]

And look, we are not even discussing all the corruption involving the built of Brasilia. Many of the companies that were involved in corruption in the latest years were the same companies that were corrupt during the built of Brasilia. There are many reasons why Brasilia should have never been built.

[@larissacarvalho1748]

@@GuilhermeBorgesCunha E como vc acha que foram construídos grande parte das linhas ferroviarias dos estados Unidos? Com muita corrupção. O problema não é a corrupção e sim a má administração. Meu vô também foi um dos homens que construiu Brasília, no seu auge tinha 40K deles no canteiro de obras, eu como uma engenheira civil ficando maluca só de imaginar um troço desse acontecendo, devia ser muito insano. Muita gente saiu do Nordeste e de outras partes do país e tiveram boas oportunidades aqui, quem teve força de vontade de trabalhar tinha trabalho de sobra e era fácil e barato comprar um terreno nas cidades satélites. Para ser funcionário público bastava saber ler e escrever na época. Brasília foi importante sim trazer um pouco da densidade demográfica para o interior do país.

[@marcelo497]

@@larissacarvalho1748 Essa coisa de trazer a densidade demográfica pro interior é uma lenda, até hoje 90% do país vive perto da costa. Brasília é uma espécie de oásis num vazio demográfico. Todas grandes cidades da região iriam se desenvolver mesmo sem Brasília. Goiânia, Campo Grande e Cuiabá vivem da agropecuária, logo Brasília não tem um papel nisso. Essa construção maluca só serviu pra afastar os políticos do povo

[@larissacarvalho1748]

@@marcelo497 Olha, Marcelo eu nunca pesquisei exemplos de casos em que isso foi feito. Deve-se pesquisar na literatura onde isso foi? Em que países? Quais resultados obtiveram? Já foi feito em algum estado do país? Os políticos executivos estão próximos das pessoas teoricamente , os prefeitos, vereadores e governadores. Todos eles ficam nos respectivos estados. Só o legislativo que ficou longe e ainda assim se mudar pra Brasília não é obrigatório. O político pode ficar no próprio estado. Os caras que administram o dinheiro público, os do executivo, quem vcs podem cobrar para onde vai ser alocado o dinheiro público. Estão bem pertinho de vcs. O legislativo não é responsável pela elaboração do orçamento, no máximo, eles só aprovam ou criam emendas. O afastamento entre políticos e elite brasileira e o resto da população são mazelas inerentes a Brasília. Mas não posso negar que criação de Brasília e a inflação andam juntas, JK imprimiu muito dinheiro para bancar as obras. Mas aí já é outra conversa e eu não sei falar muito sobre administração pública.

[@zazezul]

One of the major reasons to build Brasília was to move the capital to an inland area so It would be protected of a naval attack and to help to develop the central area of Brazil that was mostly inhabited at the time. Additionally the city was created for cars because the automobile industry was booming world wide and Brazil was trying to create its own industry. People also used to think that the automobiles were going to be the future and everyone would haver its own car. so the walking areas were considered to be the supperblocks.

[@marciocorrea8531]

Most people in Brazil does not know that the plan to move the capital city from Rio de Janeiro to the interior of the country was firstly discussed in the 1830s (even the name "Brasilia" was defined at that time). Later, in the 1890s, engineers were sent to the interior of Brazil to set the city limits of the future capital. In the 1940s, another team was sent, and, finally, in 1957 the civil works began. This timeline has the purpose of debunking the stupid version that the new capital was built as a result of a "night dream" of the acting President in late 1950s.

[@ryan_galvani]

Thanks for showing my country's capital! 🇧🇷♥️

[@tomjohnston3393]

Not a good looking city 😕

[@vladimirtepis]

@@tomjohnston3393 Its a pretty shit one.

[@tavroaar8173]

Beautiful city

[@torrecillas999]

@@tomjohnston3393 we know that, looks like too empty, but is very authentic

[@robertalmeida228]

@@tomjohnston3393 true, all car centric cities are ugly this one is no exception

[@D.S.handle]

For the people who are interested how Brasilia looked at the time of it’s founding, watch The Man From Rio, an awesome French thriller that has a lot of scenes taking place there.

[@luis.fcaldeira]

Been to Brasilia once, I was impressed on how empty the city looks, yet it takes forever for you to get anywhere. Definitely a place to see on TV instead of in person.

[@averegeyoutuber9133]

"yet it takes forever for you to get anywhere" Without a car, yeah.

[@BlueNightZX]

@@averegeyoutuber9133 even with a car, the distances can be pretty bad

[@fredericperrin3279]

Excellent video. Most of my Brazilian friends hate Brasilia. I have been there quite a few times, and despite the fact that, as stated in the video, it looks and feels a bit outdated today, I find Brasilia actually quite nice. The climate is very comfortable (high altitude, high latititude), crime is less of an issue than in most other large Brazilian cities. It feels a bit dull and old fashioned, but at the same time quite relaxed a slow pace, unlike other Brazilian cities. Not an exciting place to visit, but probably quite a nice place to live.

[@pliniojunior9208]

I like living here, specially in Plano Piloto. I find commuting to be shorter than the national average if you live and work there. It has its ups and downs and I personally have a love and hate relationship with it regarding those. It is slow-paced and definitely a city/capital that sleeps 😄

[@Narutonando]

@@pliniojunior9208 é engraçado que o Plano Piloto é totalmente diferente do resto do país, mas quando você vai pra Taguatinga, Águas Claras, Guara, etc é como estar em qualquer outra capital do país.

[@MrCaiobrz]

Nice? you mean the Plano Piloto, big maybe. Confortable climate? let's talk about 6 months of dry weather where for usually 2 months the whole state is on red alert for low humidity . Crime is less than other large Brazilian cities? you are kidding me right? outside of Plano Piloto it is similar to Rio de Janeiro (and that is where 80% of the population is), and in the recent years its getting worse inside too. All public services are complete failures, outside of the "airplane" there is a huge lack of green areas (due to the need of irrigation to keep them alive past the dry season) and everything everywhere turns red due to dirt because this is essentially a savana. And things won't get any better, climate change is stretching the dry season for longer and drier. But sure, you "visited" a few times. People giving opinions about cities without actually living on it are fun

[@fredericperrin3279]

@@MrCaiobrz You are absolutely right. I have only visited a few times, and therefore have a pretty narrow perspective. You live there apparently, and you know much better. Thank you for your comment, I learned something.

[@Narutonando]

@@MrCaiobrz ta brincando??? kkk a taxa de homicídios do DF é de 12 homicidios pra cada 100 mil habitantes e 90% do DF não mora no Plano Piloto, seu comentário não tem o menor nexo. Por exemplo Taguatinga, que fica fora do Plano Piloto tem taxa de homicídios de 7 homicídios pra cada 100 mil habitantes, mas quando vc pega todo DF a taxa de homicídios é de 12/ pra 100 mil habitantes.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

I have not been to Brasilia, I only know it from photos, but to me it looks much improved by time. The trees make a huge difference, I think. Thank you for the video!

[@driss3946]

It would be nice to see a video about Bogota, Colombia. The Andes mountains limit the extension of the city west, so the city had to grow like a line. The city "centre" is rather south of the city but there's also avenues that transverse completely the city. It's really chaotic on the micro scale but urbanistically speaking it's well planned.

[@DanielFenandes]

I worked 10 years in the brazil congress. It is really a car centric city, but you also have a public transport system that works. You can pretty much go to anywhere from the suburbs using buses and there is also a metro system that, although not too big, is still very useful for lots of people.

[@MrCaiobrz]

Seems almost like a joke to say the public transport system works when it is nearly inexistent and broken. Very few Bus lines, very few busses, metro system is obsolete and too small, the city can't handle rain without multiple flooding, the traffic is infernal on all avenues almost at all times. There IS a reason why it is still called car-centric despite existing bus and metro lines.

[@AssBlasster]

There was literally no mention of public transit...how lovely designing a city around the car. I guess that was the mindset of the 1950s unfortunately

[@kaiquecf]

There's a 42km long metro system with 2lines south and westbound, in a Y configuration. The central station is located at the crossing of the two main axis. At the same place there's a multistorey bus terminus. At the opposite edge from the 3 powers' sq. there's a train station. However, trains declined in the country from the 70's on. Cars, land speculation and market dynamics made ineffective lots of features designed to promote walkability.

[@joadic]

Hey, native Brasiliense here! great video! The city has 2 faults imo: being too car-centric, it is very pleasant to walk and bike in your own wing of the airplane but going to any other neighborhood requires crossing 3 lane-roads; And the short-sighted, mostly politically driven, planning of most satellite-cities (suburbs and conjoined city center) which not have the same amenities and quality of life as the central city and most are only connected to the city center by roads. Nonetheless, I consider Brasília a great city to live overall, but especially in Brazil. The green spaces and open blocks in the city make it safe and pleasant to walk from one end of a wing to the other all under the shade and surrounded by trees. There are always shops nearby and the superblocks act like a miniature neighborhood with their own little community. Finally, since the colonization of the region is still relatively recent there are so many lakes, parks, waterfalls, and just incredibly pristine nature all around, it's a savannah tropical paradise for outdoorsy people like me. Regarding the modernist architecture, I used to hate it growing up, but after living in many places and coming back it's grown on me, at the very least you gotta agree it's unique.

[@hugoazeredo6995]

Loved the video! It's all true. I know we're in a urbanism channel, but many Brazilians believe that the government built a new capital so that they could be so far away from the people, that the politicians would not fear or care anything. That's kind of true, but it also developed our country. Anyway, I'm from Rio, so I'm biased...

[@leonardocp21]

For me the major Brasília flaw is to be not pedestrian friendly. But if you come here, love it or hate it, you have to agree that is a unique city. Nice video!

[@marcelo497]

Maior problema de Brasília foi terem criado uma cidade que não é autossustentável economicamente, tem o maior PIB per capita do Brasil vivendo apenas de dinheiro público... enquanto Goiânia é uma espécie de hub do agro, nunca conseguiram passar algo de produtivo pro DF

[@fabiolimaunb]

As someone who lives in Brasília, gotta say you're on target. The plano piloto is a great place tô Live, lots of green and open spaces along with good schools, Jobs, markets and entertainement, also expensive and excludent.

[@andre-cmyk]

i remember visiting brasilia once with my family (we lived close by) and we wanted to walk around, as tourists do. it was honestly quite hellish, when walking to the national museum from the national library we had to cross a HUGE plaza that was basically all concrete, and I remember thinking "I wish I could use a golf cart to get there", which is the no1 sign a place isn't walkable. most cities here are sort of walkable, even if the roads are wide and things are kinda ugly, so this was a very formative experience and i thankfully have never felt like that again! (currently living in São Paulo)

[@JBNL1]

This came in perfectly! Currently doing a course on High Modernism by studying the book Seeing like a state - James C. Scott. Using Brasilia to explain the faulty of city building. It's an interesting read, putting Le Cobusier side to side with Jane Jaocbs.

With all my respect, finally an American who researched and made concrete analyses, without stereotypes and suggestions in the correct way, to talk about a power like Brazil. Excellent video!

[@MolhoBarbecue]

I graduated in architecture and urban planning in Brasilia, and lived there for 10 years. It might look dated, but it is still stunning. I’ve never been to a place that can emulate Brasilia, so even though it’s very controversial and it is has failed it’s own principles as a city that was supposed to be for everyone, it’s really worth a visit just by being very odd😅. The city deserves all of the criticism around its design, it’s absurd social segregation and how driving rules over everything. But it also deserves to be praised by its beautiful views, how nature blends in around the buildings and by its architectural gems. We say it’s a place that you will absolutely love, or absolutely hate. (As for myself I love it)

[@NightKnight347]

"Architectural gems." This is why everyone pillories architects.

[@titajanson]

As you said about the similarities to US suburbs, the super blocos were actually intended to resemble them so that the middle and upper classes would accept living there

[@ricardocima]

That makes no sense whatsoever.

[@LucasCosta10]

In Brazil we eat bread every day, it's a cultural thing, and we buy fresh bread every day. Ever since I was like 11 my parents would give me a dollar and tell me to go to the bakery to buy some bread. I remember the first time I went to Brasilia the first thing that I thought was "where is the bakery?". I was a teenager and had no idea about the concept of urban planning, but I felt in my bones that that was a horrible place to live. There was nothing to do at a walking distance and buses were nowhere to be seen.

[@LeprosuGnome]

Living the US dream in Brazil, I'm now glad that I wasn't born in Brasilia

[@TheoTattaglia]

O plano piloto é porco mesmo.

[@gabrielandradeferraz386]

Não poder comprar um pãozinho fresco decente é debilitante. Se não da pra andar até a padaria não da pra viver no lugar

[@forffef877]

Lembro qdo criança que desci do ônibus na rodoviária e falei: - nossa essa cidade é de Lego!

[@flaviohollanda242]

Great video, man! I'm in my last semester at Universidade de Brasília (UnB), where I study Management of Public Policies, and the theme of my graduation research is the bike policies in Brasília and how it's implementation can foment Urban Vitality (Jane Jacobs) at the Areas of Neighborhood, that are the unities of 4 Superblocks put together by Lúcio Costa. Hopefully we can mix contemporary urbanism with Brasília's structure, but we need to keep in mind that the majority of nowadays problems in the region happen exactly because the military dictatorship (1964-1985) ignored Costa's plans for the growth of Brasília, that ended up happening wiith sprawling.

[@axellyann5085]

@Zaydan Alfariz We have a test that happen twice a year called ENEM that can give you a pass to basically any Uni, u just need to top score the shit out of it. Of course idk if it changed lately because the last time i did the test was 9 years ago.

[@Chocolate-wb1bu]

Everytime you see a futuristic city with those large patches of grass, massive highways and monolithic buildings, you can tell it's the child of an architect who is completely detached from reality. It's like those fantasy artwork cities on a cliff, they always look amazing but no one likes to walk a million stairs, just like no one wants to walk miles fom one concrete blob to another.

[@gabrielyudi5109]

Eu amo o fato de so ter brasileiro nesses comentários gastando as suas habilidades em inglês 😆

[@u3u36]

Hi Lorena

[@samuelroveda9706]

@@u3u36 rai, rau are iú?

[@d3x7r0]

The irony of showing that particular shot of Lisbon and saying people would rather live there is that, on that shot, there's not one single residential building! It's all offices, shops and hotels! :(

[@nfrschmitz]

Here in the Netherlands, the capital of Amsterdam hasn't tradionally housed the government and most likely never will. The Hague has almost continuously served that purpose since 1584. By the way, there's a common saying here in Rotterdam that goes: "our money gets earned in Rotterdam, divided in The Hague, and spent in Amsterdam."

[@0raProNobis]

😂🤣😅😂🤣😅

[@oscarbosio9881]

Hace mucho tiempo hicimos un viaje desde Argentina con un grupo de compañeros de la Facultad e Arquitectura de Santa Fe. Me llamó la atencion la amplitud de los espacios, como estaban sectorizados los barrios de la ciudad de acuerdo a sus funciones, la zona de la terminal de ómnibus y el centro comercial circundante, la ciudad universitaria donde nos alojamos, la gran avenida sobre la que se levantan los edificios oficiales y la plaza de los tres poderes, el diseño innovador para la época, etc. fue una gran experiencia,al igual que el extenso viaje a través de la region selvática.

[@rupen42]

Hi, I'm Brazilian and I would like to volunteer for adding subtitles to this video. Are you interested in that? How should I go about it? KZbin removed that option for viewers.

[@kellsonmarcus]

Thank you for featuring Brasilia 🇧🇷 💚. I lived there for some time and it might not seem like it at first, but it is a really great place to live. It is definately not walkable (when going long distsnces) but there's almost too much green space. Even though it is a big city you get a felling of a neighborhood inside your own block, and the mixed use commercial in every single superblock is insanely convenient. Great video, I just think you got a picture wrong. Instead of showing the Palácio do Planalto (presidential offices) you ended up showing the Palácio da Alvorada (presidential residencias). The first one is located close to the National Congress, the secons one is closer to the lake.

[@atropatene3596]

That sounds like if someone were to plan a city the same way, but includes public transport and bike infra, it'd be absolute paradise!

[@sohopedeco]

@@atropatene3596 On sundays, they close the middle avenue of the wings so you can walk and bike like it were a public park. It's very fun (but don't forget your suncreen).

[@atropatene3596]

@@sohopedeco that does sound fun! And as a redheaded white person, I never forget my sunscreen. I'd probably burn alive in spite of it. OK so on second thought it doesn't sound fun at all 😅

[@kellsonmarcus]

@@atropatene3596 You're absolutely right. And yes, everyone that lives in Brasília gwts their own, exclusive, Sun 😅. I don't think I've ever gotten so sunburnt in such a short period of time.

[@brentparker7359]

In the musical "Merrily We Roll Along" (1981), there's a song about events in the year 1960, "There's Xerox and lasers, the Twist and the pill. A city in Brazil...that no-one wants to fill." I always wondered what that line referred to until I saw this video.

[@MRRookie232]

Nebula is great but I miss the comments function YT has. I often find myself watching the same creators on YT rather than Nebula despite having a subscription. The UI is also not as good which is such a shame as I want to keep on supporting creators

[@ChasmChaos]

I want to support creators and watch on Nebula. But if it weren't for supporting independent creators, I wouldn't use Nebula. Not having comments erases the soul of such content. Look at how Brazilian people are sharing the inside dirt about Brazilian politics and on-the-ground reality. This wouldn't be possible on Nebula.

[@LucasMartins-dz6jx]

I’m so glad to see someone talking about my town :)

[@floplucena]

Nice video, there certainly are more aspects about Brasília which you could have gone in deeper detail (and are worthy of doing so), but it does a fair job in being a brief overview of the city layout. Just a quick correction, at 5:12 it shows the presidential residence, Palácio da Alvorada, instead of the president's office, Palácio do Planalto. Hope you might consider making some follow-ups videos about the city. Best Regards

[@Someone-cd7yi]

The super blocks (although I'd pick a more modern design) and wide, green spaces are a fantastic idea but they should be connected by public transit, not highways...

[@rafaelcpatrao]

As someone who was born and raised in Brasília, it is always interesting to see other people's perspective about it. Only when I moved to Europe I truly realised the good, bad and ugly about my home city. Also interesting to notice what a privilege and curse to have a city as UNESCO world heritage. Thank you a lot Dave for mentioning that, great content as usual!!!

[@jspihlman]

Thank you for this video. I had no idea Brasilia was so beautiful. You should definitely continue this trend with Washington DC, another planned capital. In the future you can do one on Egypt and Indonesia's planned new capital cities.

[@pedrolra]

OMGGGGG!!!! sou brasileiro e fico muito feliz em ver meu país aparecendo em um dos seus vídeos!! ❤️

[@planestrainsdogsncars4336]

Yes .....I suppose I could be unkind and say Brasilia is one giant exponent of Googie architecture , because the landmark buildings haven't aged well ..some looking like the controls on your kitchen oven from the late 1950's. Others looking like pavilions from a world expo and temporary, that's the trouble with totally designing something within a specific period. It's a magnificent site and just goes to show that creating a city with character and soul is no easy task and only comes with time. Block after Block of regimented apartments in never going to give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.. Surely a bit more individuality could have been introduced into these areas A case of Architecture controlling people rather that people controlling Architecture.

[@themask6301]

Adding on to your point about the apartments, to make matters worse, most of their layouts are all the same and have the same size along the North and South Wings (≈48m2), which I guess reflects the communist ideals at the time, "everyone is equal." Yes, everyone must have basic humans rights, however, not everyone meets the exact same needs. What if you're on a wheelchair or you're tall? Apartments those sizes are not ideal for those people who fit those criteria. And some would like to have different apartment layouts, some like to have more space, others don't, which is fine, but it goes to show how they didn't care for variety. Although, I'd argue it had more to do with corruption: the smaller the apartments in a condo, the more tenants you have and the more money the owners make.

[@davidbowie1200]

I have friends from other regions of Brazil who visited, and all of them complain about the humidity, that is inexistent lol, you'll get lots of nosebleeds at first, and they recommend having a bucket or basin full of water in your room, and a wet towel next to your bed, to avoid the nosebleeds and discomfort

[@phtito9877]

yea , its true ... air umidifiers are really usefull too ... on some days you get school canceled due to such low air humidity .... but thats only during dry season

[@ctalcantara1700]

Fantastic video! I've always admired the design and architecture of Brasilia. Can you please do a video about downtown Toronto? Toronto does not get much love in Canada, let alone the world, but it's downtown is so pragmatic. Within the borders of 5 x5 km you will find Canada's prominent post secondary education, hospitals, headquarters for its largest banks, museums, galleries, sports venues. This area also has Cathedrals of various denominations, a variety of ethnic neighborhoods. Downtown Toronto has the Provincial Parliament building, city hall and square, and numerous little parks.

[@CaminhadaMedica]

Obrigado pelo vídeos, sensacional!!! Um abraço vindo de pernambuco, Brasil Thank you for the video, it's fenomenal! A hug from Pernambuco, Brasil

[@justinwarthen]

Love your Great Cities content!!!!!! So good!

[@realhawaii5o]

You mentioned Lisbon in this video. This is also a famously planned city. Would love it if you would analyze it some day!

[@ricardocima]

Just a tiny part is planned.

[@mateymedialunas]

You could do more videos about planned cities on latin america. For example you have La Plata (the only city in latin america with a house designed by le corbusier) , Ciudad evita (a neighborhood with the shape of eva peron), Belo horizonte in Brazil, etc

[@Jonny_Justice]

I am travelling to Brasilia in January (from England), and it’s my first time in S America, visiting a friend. Can’t wait! Insightful video, thanks 🙏🏼

[@ObrunoDF]

I live here, thanks!! I don't know if you said this, but one thing that makes me cry is about the 6 floor residential buildings. The landscaper Lúcio Costa states this high is enough to a mother call his kids for lunch or dinner.

[@CryingAutumn]

Could you do a video on how cities, And towns in Newfoundland are so different from the rest of the country, Especially St.johns?

[@davidcarvalho5003]

What a funny coincidence ! My girlfriend went in a work trip to Brasilia a week ago, and her comments about how distant everything is in the city and how auto-oriented it is intrigued me, since it is a planned city. Thankfully, City Beautiful showed up just in time with this video to explain it to me haha

[@mariogogh]

Hi. I'm from Brasília. Thanks for this great and really accurate video ~ including the poverty situation. very well described how people live here. Tks!

[@MrVitorao]

Finally a video of yours covering a developing country ❤️ about time

[@anneonymous4884]

He has a video about Medellín as well.

[@CityBeautiful]

I also have a couple of videos on India. I'd like to do more, too!

[@MrVitorao]

@@CityBeautiful that's good. Countries in latin america has so much to show about public transport efficiency. Specially Colombia and Brazil.

[@haaa6236]

@@CityBeautiful will you ever do a video on Stockholm? 🇸🇪

[@GenericUrbanism]

@@MrVitorao the KZbinr Micheal Beach has a bunch of videos on Latin American cities.

[@bugsbunny3518]

Yeah, Brasilia might not have been the greatest urban planning success story of all time, however, I think the city holds some charm. The city has a 360º view of its surroundings depending on where you are, especially if you're on the highways, crossing the bridge over Paranoá Reservoir, if you're able to live in the North or South Lake, where the upper middle and upper class live, especially if your home faces the Paranoá Reservoir or by its shore, the sightseeing is truly breathtaking. There are multiple spots to watch the sun rise and sun set, like in Pontão (my favourite), and it truly is a beauty to behold. I think this 360º view was possible due to residential buildings being max. six stories high and there are large spaces between them, and taller commercial buildings are only built between the North and South Wings (the city doesn't really have a downtown or a city centre, really). A 360º view is something the state capitals don't have, because a lot of high rise commercial and residential buildings have sprung up all over, without putting too much thought on the view. So, if you live in, say, São Paulo or Belo Horizonte, chances are your apartment will face another building across the street, blocking your view. In the case of Belo Horizonte it's pretty ironic, considering its name means "Beautiful Horizon."

[@dumbgameboys618]

So.... Only 360 stuff? That's sad. Even Brussels has that.

[@bugsbunny3518]

@@dumbgameboys618 bru, u think just having a 360º view is sad? Comparing Brasilia to Brussels is like comparing apples to oranges. They're completely different. Brussels is ancient, so naturally it has a rich history and more things to do there overall. Also, their buildings are more clustered together, so you'd only get that 360º view if you live in the upper floors, meaning not everyone is fortunate enough to have a 360º over there. Meanwhile, Brasilia is not even 100 years old yet, lol, so of course it doesn't have much history and culture. However, the city has been growing a lot since the last decade, and so a lot of cultural events have sprung up, sure it doesn't compare to São Paulo's, but I'm just saying, the city does have some charm, you just need to dig a little bit deeper to find them. The 360º view was one example.

[@logansymmes2193]

Countries that moved their capital cities are so interesting to me

[@atropatene3596]

I'm loving all the comments from people who are from Brasilia!

[@ss9O]

That would actually love to visit Brasília one day, definitely seems like a unique city.

[@diogoforesticastro9752]

If u ever do lmk, I live here and would love to give u tourist tips:)

[@ss9O]

@@diogoforesticastro9752 Thanks may I really appreciate that, if you ever want to get in touch with me let me know.

[@davidkee2363]

It does makes me happy seeing my birth city being covered on a channel I'm a fan of!

[@ErebusRox]

0:52 The city shape is actually a "bird". Next to the "wingtips" we find big crossroads shaped like "dragonflies" and close to the city blocks there are small crossroads shaped like "butterflies". The "head of the bird" is the three powers (Justice, Congress and Presidencial palace). The "heart of the bird" is the intersection between the monumental avenue and the North-South highway, where the main bus station is located: "pumping the blood to the city", its people.

[@isabelaalvesribeiro7579]

This is a very japanese metabolism way to see it! But no, the airplane is the actual plan of the city. It’s not our neo tokyo, i’m afraid

[@tiagosousa5723]

Loved your video! just to let you know: that really giant lake that shows at 7:42 is artificial, it's called Lago Paranoá and it has an area of 48km². It was created to increase air humidity around the lake, since Brasília have very bad seasons of low humidity and 0 rain for months.

[@dan_iel_efs]

5:02 actually, that's the "Official residence" Palácio da Alvorada. About "the most people don't interact with Brasilia center daily", it's true, but it happens with many cities, or every of 10M people in Paris pass by the Louvre daily, Covent Garden, in London or the Colosseo, in Rome?

[@gugaalexandria]

I was born and raised here. I have already lived in both sides of the Atlantic and it's true that the city is too spread out, but at the same time is much nicer place to liver regarding safety, shops, and other aspects of life. I believe public transit is a soft spot. There's definitely room for improvement. I have tons of friends, it's a much more sociable space than the suburbs in America or for that matter Europe too. It's hard to compare to the most traditional cities in rich countries with more dense downtown areas. The tourism here is mostly civic or business, but as true brasiliense I can say that it's a great place to live and have a family. I wouldn't trade it for most capitals in Brazil or even some in the US. I'm talking about plano piloto which is the beating heart of the city in economic, social, academic and cultural terms. It's as important to Brasilia as Manhattan to New York and it has close to the same percentage of the population.

[@deathdoor]

As a native tupiniquim I can attest that it's not good. Despite que good intentions for the simple reason that it's car centric. That place should have by now metro below and light rail above.

[@wannacashmeoutside]

My (dads) family originally settled in Goias (Catalao) and parts of Minas. They all slowly started moving to Brasilia as soon as it was established. My dad was born in Brasilia and most of the family lives there now except for the really old relatives live back in the small city. I love Brasilia. It’s Green and beautiful, my grandparents live in a great condo right around the corner is a block of stores and services. One of new hampshire cousins lives along the lake and has a beautiful waterfront villa. My other relatives live in the suburbs (which I love btw). I’ve seems myself living in Aguas Claras…lots of people walking dogs everywhere! I’ve been there 6 times starting at age 4.

[@pixeldunevisualization7458]

Great Vid!

[@celsopdacunha000]

Brasilia has many nice modern buildings and a lot green areas, but as a walking city, it's a disaster. But back then when it was built, it was chic driving around.

[@Pscheunemann]

I've been living in Brasilia for the last 5 years, and yes, the general assumption is that the city is extremely car-centric and that you can't do anything without a car. But that is not entirely true, I for one, don't own a car, and if you happen to live in one the superblocks, you have mostly everything at walking distance, drugstores, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, you name it! Not to mention the crazy amount of nature available, I see animals all the time in the superblocks, and the way it was planned you have fruit trees all year round, mangos, avocados, berries, acerola, amora, plus the genius of lifting all the building on pilotis, the entire 'neighborhood' becomes a walkable park, no obstacles, no gates, just public space. If you are able to find a living close enough to work, you really don't need a car, I ride my bike to work daily, and I don't even need to take the streets, I can use the inner block pathways or the cycle lanes. Even if you do need a car because you work in the administrative center area, it still is only a 15 min commute from anywhere in the 'wings', and traffic rarely gets jammed. The real problem is if you live in the outer satellite towns, then driving to the administrative center, where most of the jobs are, can be a hassle, but nothing like Sao Paulo or LA.

[@LordSesshaku]

A good contrast to Brasilia would be La Plata, Argentina. It was also a planned city capital (for a State, not the whole nation) but focused on the walking citizen. It's vision got shifted though due to cars and economic crisis.

[@muhammadnaimridzuan9903]

Would be great if you can cover Putrajaya, Malaysia's planned administrative center!

[@rafaelcbfc99]

I'm late to the comment section but you asked why official buildings are the way they are and I think I have the answer. My grandpa was an engineer building the water and sewer lines of the city and many of the planning decisions were topic of discussion by the construction teams of NovaCap, the company created to build the city. In short, the whole governmental plaza was build to not disturb official work. When office was in Rio, and let's say, someone was protesting against the education ministry, most other buildings were also impacted, as noise and distraction would hamper any work in the health ministry for example. Lucio Costa wanted to create a place where protests could occur (the inner "plaza" between roads) while not disturbing other governmental areas not involved in the prostests. If you protest against the ministry of education, at most, the next buildings will be disturbed, but on the other end of the plaza, people might not even know something happened. Nevertheless, in our political history nothing was as simple as that and most protests in the country were against congress or the administration, so most protests in Brasilia are usually huge and end up blocking and disturbing more than one single building, but it is an iconic scenery for protestors

[@KnomChomper]

I would love to use nebula more often but I hate the lack of comments, it makes nebula so sad to use.

[@megalonoobiacinc4863]

off-topic but yeah, i don't like a lot of youtube's choices over the years but the comments and fun which is other people keeps me here

[@hcarrer]

I'ive lived in Brasilia all my 23 years of existence and, although things are far to go walking, one thing we can brag about is Brasília has almost NO TRAFFIC JAMS!! Apart from heavy rains and car accidents, you can drive around almost at any time without ever having to wait 5min to cross a short distance like in Rio and São Paulo!!

[@matthewona]

The problem with future oriented design is that it can either be a hit or miss. Future trends in fashion, art, architecture tend to get dated after a stretch of time. The challenge for designers and architects is to create something new but appear timeless and classic.

[@domkakuzu]

Oscar Niemeyer was a communist my friend, he didn't had the inspiration to design something that by ocasion was quite similar to soviet blocks, he actually got the inspiration from them.

[@lucasalckmin2727]

As a brazilian I can say that most of us that know the history behind Juscelino Kubitsheck and his "passion" about cars and roads hate him, he simply caused the railroads to be deactivated little by little and in nowadays we basically dont have trains.

[@j.mieses8139]

Great Content

[@austinfutty5902]

I would love to see a comparison between the super quadra and super block, And then maybe a discussion on how the philosophy can be updated to today. I think it's a really cool concept

[@WilliamSantos-cv8rr]

I think he got a video in the channel about Barcelona superblocks

[@grumpybulldog19]

Omg, really?! All Brazilians from KZbin well appear in 3... 2... 1.... We love videos about our country.

[@shindousan]

I'm from Porto Alegre. I once had the chance to move to Brasília, but after staying there for a week I decided not to. Porto Alegre is well designed, walkable and generally vibrant like many other lesser known Brazilian capitals like Curitiba, Florianópolis, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Fortaleza. (Rio is too unsafe.)

[@maironbrendo]

deu mole kkkkkkkkkkk 1 semana é pouco pra entender o que o DF tem a oferecer.

[@AndreMarques45]

That city is absolutely car-centric and therefore terribly segregated. I've been to Brasilia several times and never once visited the residential areas nor had the opportunity to use public transportation, 80% of the hotels are high rises located in two sectors cramped between the 'fuselage" and the wings, the rest are by an enormous artificial lake east of the "pilot plan" built to mitigate the dry weather.

[@sandrotabidze]

Make a video about Tbilisi, Georgia please! I think you'll find it interesting.

[@DioguinhoYT]

Brasília foi construída para integrar melhor o país além de estar em uma região segura longe do litoral.

[@pedrocruz-ds6bj]

Hey, the problems of segregation in plano piloto and the metropolitan area is very true. But I really like the feel of the lush green area of my superquadra but still being in the center of the city. Is something very rare in other cities

[@Jeffzda]

Ok you've got me on Nebula because you're looking into my home city of Canberra. Well done 👍

[@finegoldstones]

TIL: Verdant! What a great word, can't wait to use it