BRASILIA - BRAZIL |
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Brasília is the capital city of Brazil and is
located in the center of the country in a federal district created in
the state of Goiás. It is between 15°30' and 16°03' South latitude,
limited by the Preto River on the East and by the Descoberto River on
the West. Brasilia is situated at approximately 1000 meters altitude on
a plateau called the Planalto Central. |
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Population and communications
The city was originally planned for 500,000 inhabitants, but has grown
to about two million (2.016,497 est. 2000), including satellite cities
and the Federal District today. Brasília proper, known as the Plano
Piloto, or Pilot Plan, has a population of around 200,000. Satellite
cities in the surrounding area make up the difference. The population of
the most important of these is as following: Taguatinga-243,000;
Gama--131,000; Sobradinho--130,000; Planaltina--150,000; and Ceilândia--350,000.
Administratively, Brasilia is only one of the 19 Administrative Regions
of the Federal District, whch has an area of 5,822 square kilometers.
"Asa Sul" (Southern Wing), "Asa Norte" (Northern Wing) and the downtown
area of "Plano Piloto" (Pilot Plan) are parts of it. A wider definition
of Brasilia" is also used to mean both the "Plano Piloto" and all
satellite cities. In this case, the urban nuclei of all the 19
Administrative Regions of the Federal District would be included
Brasília is connected to all the major cities by good roads and has an
international airport. There are also railway connections with São Paulo
but train use is sporadic. Distances to Goiânia are: 207 km.; Salvador:
1,531 km.; Belo Horizonte: 716 km.; and São Paulo: 1,015 km.
Education
In education Brasília has the best indicators in the country with a
literacy rate of 93.7%, according to the Human Development Index. The
city has countless secundary schools and several universities. The most
important public university is the University of Brasília (UNB)and major
private universities are the Universidade Católica, Universidade do
Distrito Federal (UDF), Universidade dos Pioneiros Sociais (UPIS) and
CEUB.
Government
Brasília is the center of the federal government and is the location of
executive, legislative, and judicial powers. It is still a city of
government workers, many of whom live in subsidized apartments and
belong to special recreational clubs.
Being part of the Federal District, a state of the union, gives Brasília
a parallel government with a governor and a separate chamber of
deputies. As of 2004, the governor is Joaquim Domingos Roriz.
Design
The city is designed in the shape of an airplane, despite the fact that
Lúcio Costa insists he shaped it like a butterfly. Housing and offices
are situated on giant superblocks, everything following the original
plan. The plan specifies which zones are residential, which zones are
commercial, where industries can settle, where official buildings can be
built, the maximum height of buildings, etc.
In the airplane design the wings--North Wing and South Wing--are each
roughly 7 km. long. A wide high-speed avenue--the Eixão-- crosses both
wings and passes under a central bus station located where the wings
meet. The two wings have the residential areas made up of apartment
blocks (Super Quadra Sul or Super Quadra Norte)of 6 or 3 storeys.
Addresses are practical with 100s and 300s being on one side of the
Eixão and 200s and 400s being on the other. A typical Superquadra will
have eleven buildings, identified by a letter. Commercial streets
separate the blocks and there are schools and churches in areas between
them. Green space and trees make the areas very livable. Residents of
the city affirm that it is one of the best cities in which to raise
children.
There is an avenue between the lake and the wings called either L2 South
or North depending on its location. It has churches, schools, and
hospitals. Another avenue called W3 Sul or W3 Norte has only shops. Near
the bus station there is a banking (Setor Bancário)and hotel
sector(Setor Hoteleiro).
Near the banks of the lake there are embassies and recreational clubs
and on the shores of the lake individual homes, many of them quite
luxurious, have been built.
The fusillage of the plane contains the ministries, government
buildings, a futuristic cathedral designed by Oscar Niemeyer, and the
senate and chamber of deputies. There is a high television tower which
affords spectacular views of the city and the lake.
An enormous park called the Parque da Cidade gives the inhabitants a
much-needed space for cycling, jogging, and contact with nature. There
is also a zoo near the airport with many animals native to the cerrado
area.
One major criticism of Brasília is that it was designed on a
non-pedestrian scale. Since the city was developed at the advent of
motor transport, pedestrians were not taken much into consideration. In
the original plan there were no traffic lights and all cars moved over
overpasses, through tunnels and around traffic circles. Today with half
a million people living in the Plano Piloto - the Pilot Plan - this plan
had to be modified. Distances are staggering and pedestrians have to
walk far to move from one point to another. The high speed avenues are
especially dangerous to cross. Recently a subway has been built with a
line completed for the South Wing and continuing to the major satellite
city of Taguatinga. Public transportation is plentiful but the
automobile dominates life in Brasilia. A popular saying is that the
inhabitants are born with wheels instead of feet.
Another criticism of the city is that the poor were forced to move far
away to satellite towns--Taguatinga, Gama, Ceilândia, Sobradinho--where
they live in conditions that are inferior to those of the Pilot Plan.
Some of these cities, like Taguatinga, are now larger than Brasília
itself. Buses and a surface rapid transit system connect these cities
with the center.
When one talks of Brasília these satellite cities are rarely taken into
consideration, but their population far surpasses that of the Pilot
Plan.
The city construction did not stop with its inauguration and is still
going on according to the original plan which, by law, must be followed.
Unesco has declared Brasília a World Heritage Site. |
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