What is my city for?

Growing up in Rio, I had a chance to see how the ideas of a strong modernism movement were applied. I also saw how new neighborhoods and their connections were designed and located.  Modernism had a great influence in Brazil because it happened during a time when the country was searching for a national identity. This search allowed these ideas to be applied in the historic district of downtown Rio de Janeiro. Some of these ideas were to move poor downtown neighborhoods to the outskirts of the city and to create new roadway overpasses.   Because of that, large parts of the historical areas in Rio de Janeiro were either destroyed or abandoned as a consequence of these designs.  I agree with the text of Giancarlo de Carlo. When there is no input from the population, or lack of understanding, designs can be a fiasco. After building these new connections and overpasses, businesses along these structures died or left the region. The problem was so overwhelming that a couple years ago these overpasses had to be destroyed in order to incentivize the businesses and good neighborhoods to come back. These decisions had a large input from the population. Today, these areas are very desirable and vibrant locations.

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