Public Spaces in Minas Gerais State, Brazil: A chronology on planned visions in the city of Belo Horizonte

The article explores distinct appropriations of public spaces beyond the planned visions in Minas Gerais, particularly in its Capital, Belo Horizonte. The study focuses on certain moments of the development process since its creation as a new planned city in the end of the 19th Century up to current days facing pandemic times. In this process, concepts related to urban planning ideas were sought by governments considering demands imposed. Between ideal versus real even with the intention of control the use of public spaces was defined by communities. The key issue as a contribution to this pre-event of the FUPS 2021 2nd Conference is to reflect about the concepts of public space embedded in the urban proposals since the creation of the city and their materialisation over time in Belo Horizonte. From past to present with a chronological sense, first focusing on the initial plan defined by a commission of technicians was presented. This period began in 1892, with the work of the Study Commission for the new capital, changed to the Construction Commission in 1894, until the inauguration of the city on December 12, 1897. Next the consolidation process of the city as the new capital in the 1930/1940s was explored. At the end of this period a revision of the initial plan was proposed. Between the 1940s and 1970s the ideal was linked to the Modern Movement with the realisation of the Pampulha neighbourhood and other modern urban arrangements. As an inflection point, in the middle of this period, in 1964, the military coup d’état consolidated restrictions of democracy, already since the beginning of the 1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s a new master plan was concepted to the modern metropolis that was constituted. Next during the 1980s and 2000s the concern with preservation of the Cultural Heritage was placed as well a new master plan was developed with community participation. In this period, a new Federal Constitution was implemented, with the end of the military dictatorship, in 1988, and the democracy reinstalled in Brazil. The following passages inserted the ideas of urban planning in the 21st Century with the paradigm of building cities for people in the first place. Another master plan was developed in this period. Currently, these Covid- 19 pandemic times with lockdown, added with several setbacks in the federal government, create new challenges to thinking about public spaces with planning. These issues are addressed in order to continue previous urban studies in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Written with grants from CAPES, CNPq and FAPEMIG.

Keywords: Urban Planning, Urban History, Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Public Spaces.

https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/99031381/FUPS2021_Proceedings.pdf