As cities strain under a growing population and demand for resources, Brazil will provide a test case for how politicians, architects and urban planners can work together with local stakeholders to improve living conditions in informal settlements without upsetting their social structures. Against the backdrop of recent and exemplary developments in Brazilian public policy and slum-upgrading practices, 'Building Brazil!' suggests a proactive approach to the favela that opens up the existing urban fabric to architectural and urban interventions. Shifting between micro and macro levels of analysis, 'Building Brazil!' investigates the way forward for the favelas of Jardim Colombo, Heliópolis, Cidade Ipava and Rio das Pedras. Practical design solutions for informal, risk-prone areas are situated within overarching urban strategies; and context-specific projects are complemented by editorials on the spatial, social and financial dynamics of the informal Brazilian city.

Architecture of Brazil: 1900-1990 examines the processes that underpin modern Brazilian architecture under various influences and characterizes different understandings of modernity, evident in the chapter topics of this book. Accordingly, the author does not give overall preference to particular architects nor works, with the exception of a few specific works and architects, including Warchavchik, Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, and Vilanova Artigas.

"Oscar Niemeyer, born in 1907, is widely considered this century's leading Latin American architect, as well as one of the pioneers of modern architecture. This volume explores the major themes and sources of the most important works from all phases of Niemeyer's career, from the early collaborations of the 1930s and 1940s with Lucio Costa, the spiritual father of Brazilian modernism, to the 1989 Memorial da America Latina in Sao Paulo, a complex that reveals the maturation of Niemeyer's free-form style in the service of his utopian vision. A central theme of Niemeyer's work has been its reflection of the Brazilian jeito, a sinuous and improvisational style manifested in everything from the country's sensual, undulating landscape to its attraction to spontaneous impulses, best known through its vibrant music and dance. The jeito and the milieu of Rio de Janeiro lie at the heart of Niemeyer's free-form style, which emphasizes the inherent plasticity of the native curve over the rigid rectilinearity of the International Style in Europe. A second theme treats the influence on Niemeyer of the poetic style of Le Corbusier. Also considered are Niemeyer's attraction to surrealist biomorphic forms and his desire to express a sense of the fantastic in architecture. A final theme is Niemeyer's search for an aesthetic utopia that would resolve social dilemmas by wishing them away through architecture. Herein lies Niemeyer's strength, for as his architecture reflects the multiple dichotomies of the Brazilian experience, it projects an emotive universality that few architects have been able to achieve."--Publisher.

"The book constitutes a unique presentation of the major Modern buildings in Brazil in their historical context. Prompted by the contemporary revaluation of Modernism and the renewed interest in Brazil, this book examines how the buildings came into being, how they came to be so highly regarded, and the changing reactions to them in Brazil and abroad."--Jacket

This guide to modern Brazilian architecture takes us on a tour of over 125 projects designed between 1928-1960. There are works by 33 architects, and each entry gives a brief description, photographs, drawings, and information on visitor access.

A big and bold book by a leading Brazilian public intellectual and scholar-practitioner. Whether or not one agrees with his conclusions, Bresser-Pereira reaches deep into the history of the turbulent twentieth century to set the terms for a new debate on Brazil¿s development in the twenty-first. --Matthew Taylor, American University Spanning the period from the country¿s independence in 1822 through early 2015, Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira assesses the trajectory of Brazil¿s political, social, and economic development. Bresser-Pereira draws on his decades of first-hand experience to shed light on the many paradoxes that have characterized Brazil¿s polity, its society, and the relations between the two across nearly two centuries. Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira is professor emeritus of politics and economics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. In addition to his long academic career, he has served as Brazil¿s minister of finance, minister of federal administration and state reform, and minister of science and technology, and also as secretary of the government of the state of São Paulo.

Activist Biology is the story of a group of biologists at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro who joined the drive to renew the Brazilian nation, claiming as their weapon the voice of their fledgling field. It offers a portrait of science as a creative and transformative pathway. This book will intrigue anyone fascinated by environmental history and Latin American political and social life in the 1920s and 1930s.