The plan for Brasilia did not foresee such uncontrolled demographic growth,” said 35-year-old waiter Raimundo Nonato who lives in Arapoanga, one of the many poor neighborhoods on Brasilia’s outskirts.Ī real estate boom priced many poorer residents out of central areas and drove the expansion of satellite cities populated by many of those who work for the capital’s wealthy civil servants. While its sterile atmosphere is not for everyone, some are drawn here by its relatively traffic-free streets, its large open spaces and a feeling of security compared to other big Brazilian cities such as former capital Rio de Janeiro and its business capital, Sao Paulo.īrasilia’s economy has grown briskly in recent years, spurring a new class of rich whose members face a daily battle to keep the city’s iconic red earth off their designer clothes.īut hopes that the modern capital would engender a new Brazil have largely fallen by the wayside as development has brought with it the plagues of other Brazilian and Latin American cities: overpopulation, inequality, violence and corruption. REUTERS/Ricardo MoraesĪs Brasilia turned 50 years old on Wednesday, vestiges of that dream live on in Oscar Niemeyer’s soaring architecture, the uniform residential apartment blocks, and the plane-like city shape that legend has it was meant to signal the Latin American giant’s take-off.
The Brazilian National Museum, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, is seen in Brasilia April 7, 2010.