Notes on Brasilia (III)

There is one aspect of the Plano Piloto that I feel deserves mention. If I recall correctly, when one reads literature on Brasília, one gets the sense that the plano piloto is a cold, inhumane place of governance and uniform concrete residences with no street names (the street names part is true – they’re divided by quadrants and blocks). This was particularly my impression when I read James Scott’s Seeing Like a State, though I read it nearly 4 years ago and my memory could be cloudy.

Still, I was surprised to see that in many ways this is not the case. Yes, each block is based on numbers and location, and not street names. However, each block is not, strictly speaking, a cold place of concrete residences and nothing else. Rather, each is a self-sufficient little community, full of local bars, restaurants, churches, and schools. Yes, they are self contained, and all the bars/stores/restaurants tend to be located on the same strip of land within the “quadrants” themselves (much like a small-town mainstreet). However, this gives the residential areas a vitality that you don’t usually see in the literature on Brasília, where the photographs tend to focus on the main north-south avenue of residential areas, where, it is true, you can only see large, modernist, soul-less buildings. It’s not much, but it’s worth correcting – the Plano Piloto, despite its reputation, is a lively place with its own personality and sense of community. You just have to get off of the main, five-lane-wide-with-no-sidewalks avenues to see it.