GOIÂNIA, BRASÍLIA AND BELO HORIZONTE: SENSITIVE VIEWS AND CULTURAL IMAGES

Abstract

Transformations are happening all the time in the urban world that affect aesthetics and culture. Changes of behavior in a society lead to innovations in urban landscapes and artifacts, as well as their uses and the ways of feeling and relating to them. Goiania, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte were planned to be the seats of their state governments. Now, they accumulate effects of the passage of time on top of their original plan, and became contemporary metropolises. We seek to examine how these cities break with the predominant image of modernity and constitute post-modern landscapes. The focus of this research consists in understanding the cultural landscapes of these cities and their relationship to the imaginary. As they transform through the passage of time, these cities present cultural changes that pertain to their identities. Goiânia, Brasília and Belo Horizonte break with the modern idea of the eternally new by consolidating their heritage through the establishment of urban memory in the physical space. These new metropolises, with their own practices arising from their landscapes, cultural spaces, and new modes of engaging with the cities, shelter a growing number of residents avid for an urban cultural landscape.