Urban Brazil: Visions, Afflictions, and Governance Lessons By Iva ...

In contrast to São Paulo, the residents of Curitiba, who in the past suffered from an inferiority complex due to the city’s lack of infrastructure and the perception that it would simply remain a provincial big town, now have a much improved view of their city, and its national reputation has grown. A majority of respondents in a 2001 national public poll cited the capital of Paraná as the place where they would like to live.²¹ Curitibanos have developed a healthy obsession with the idea of maintaining what the city has achieved, and there is active public involvement in decisions about the future of the metropolis. Probably like almost nowhere else in Brazil, the notion of “thinking the city” is quite often heard in Curitiba, and it means to plan for the future and to avoid the traps of uncontrolled urbanization. Curitibanos believe they have to be vigilant and keep their government on track.

Despite the successes that have been achieved, Curitiba is not a model city or urban utopia. The city itself, with a population of 1.8 million, is at the center of a sprawling metropolitan region with 26 autonomous municipalities and 3.5 million residents. The area has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the country, and it is one of the main final destinations for peasants escaping rural poverty. However, through a governance strategy that has guided urban development for decades, Curitiba, as stated by Peter Evans, has found imaginative ways to attack the problem of livability, whereas other Brazilian cities remain unable to cope with it.²² Curitiba’s evolution shows the benefits of integrative public planning as government intervention has altered and improved the city’s physical and socioeconomic profile.