Episodes of a Great and Modern Brazil 1950–1980

Abstract

The 15 years following World War II were crucial for the transformation of Brazil’s profile. In 1950, 63.9 % of its almost 52 million inhabitants lived in rural areas. In 1970, 56 % of the population of over 93 million people lived in cities. This variation illustrates the demographic pressure suffered by the Brazilian cities in the period.

A certain organ of the Brazilian press has recently defined Brazil, in its headlines, as the country of “Samba, Coffee and Architecture.” I see this definition as a malicious intention to make one still believe that our country is a strange, curious and indescribable land, a land that is also disorderly and unjustifiable. This definition intends to belittle all Brazilians and present architecture as a kind of swelling development, which cannot be placed within national development.

J.B. Villanova Artigas, 1959 (1981, p. 25).