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The Walking Paths of Brasilia
Streetsblog.net — The City of Brasilia, conceived and built in the 1950’s and 60’s, is the exemplar of modernist urban planning. It’s got it all: extreme separation of uses, access only by motor vehicle, mid-rise boxy buildings set in vast open spaces, and a conspicuous absence of any history before the mid-twentieth century. There are no traffic lights or sidewalks in the city, and almost every four-way intersection is a cloverleaf interchange. The design ensures that motorists will never have to inconvenience themselves by stopping, and pedestrians don’t mind because they theoretically don’t exist. It all fits together like a machine — actually an airplane, by resemblance. But when the city is viewed from above we can see incursions of organic human life superimposed on top of the plan. The picture ...

Brasilia’s Pathways of Desire
Streetsblog New York City — Sometimes you just can't stop human beings from acting like animals. And I mean that in the best possible way. Take, for example, the walking paths of Brasilia, the Brazilian capital city that was planned down to the smallest detail in the 1950s and ’60s -- planned for a populace that would move about exclusively by automobile. But as you can see from the photo posted by Daniel Nairn of Discovering Urbanism this weekend, the people of Brasilia still move about by foot, leaving their mark in the grassy areas between mega-freeways: These rogue pedestrians don't have an easy task. Virtually the only way to access this space is to cross at least six lanes of traffic and then cross another six lanes to exit. The width of the open space is 1/4 of a mile, which is ...

Brasilia’s Pathways of Desire
Streetsblog Los Angeles — Sometimes you just can't stop human beings from acting like animals. And I mean that in the best possible way. Take, for example, the walking paths of Brasilia, the Brazilian capital city that was planned down to the smallest detail in the 1950s and ’60s -- planned for a populace that would move about exclusively by automobile. But as you can see from the photo posted by Daniel Nairn of Discovering Urbanism this weekend, the people of Brasilia still move about by foot, leaving their mark in the grassy areas between mega-freeways: These rogue pedestrians don't have an easy task. Virtually the only way to access this space is to cross at least six lanes of traffic and then cross another six lanes to exit. The width of the open space is 1/4 of a mile, which is ...