Visions of the Modern and Progressive City in Post-World War II São Paulo

Built in 1954 to celebrate São Paulo’s 400th Anniversary, Ibirapuera Park was designed to project the city nationally and internationally as progressive and cultured. But while São Paulo’s new symbol of modernity ushered in an aesthetic renovation, the Park’s impact on the city’s social fabric raises questions about the alleged success of the project. By focusing on the circumstances surrounding the construction of Ibirapuera Park, the first major publically-funded modernist structure in São Paulo, this paper traces the path through which modern architecture went from stigmatized to official during the post-WWII period and examines how this structure contributed to larger patters of social-spatial segregation in São Paulo. The paper pays close attention to a group of local architects and their efforts to promote the cause of modern architecture in São Paulo. I argue that the officialization of modern architecture in São Paulo was aided by the ability of local architects to align themselves with influential city boosters and draw upon conservative ideas about Paulistano identity that stressed São Paulo’s aptitude for progress and modernity while rejecting all other architectural styles, from neoclassical buildings to favelas which were framed as the antithesis of São Paulo’s aspiring identity. In exploring the impact of Ibirapuera Park’s construction on the city’s social fabric, this paper highlights the plight of more than two hundred families of so-called “favelados” who were forcefully relocated to the outskirts of the city after their homes were destroyed to make way for Ibirapuera Park. By exploring the tensions surrounding the making of Ibirapuera Park and how the vision of São Paulo as a progressive and cultured city promoted by leading Paulistanos was conceived in terms of space, class, and race this paper seeks to reframe the often-celebratory way in which São Paulo’s encounter with postwar modernity is understood.