Brasília [1963]: Video shows the capital three years after its inauguration

Inaugurated in 1960, Brasília is perhaps the city in the world that most closely followed the principles and guidelines of modern architecture and urban planning in its design and construction. A synthesis of the vision of some of the most respected figures in the history of Brazilian architecture, its layout and buildings drew the world's attention to the nation's economic growth and Brazil's expansion into its own interior.

"Brasília is the dream come true of architects and urban planners. It is the only city in the world built where there was nothing but the cerrado, in central Brazil, and where the builders had complete freedom to apply the principles of the most modern urban planning without restrictions." 

In 1963, France's Institut National de l'Audiovisuel — INA—produced this short film (above) introducing the Brazilian capital to the French public. Designed and built according to "the most modern principles of urban planning," in the words of the film's narrator, the broadcast also highlights issues that would later become inseparable from critiques of modern architecture: aridity, disorientation, and a scale ill-suited to human beings.

"How do the inhabitants of Brasília live? It is still too early to pass judgment on a city that is not yet finished. Nevertheless, we cannot help but notice a clear impression of disorientation." 

Images of the modern dream are accompanied by a narration that contrasts the rigidity of the urban and architectural design with the needs and everyday tactics of city dwellers that ultimately subverted the order of the Pilot Plan. In its design, Brasília prioritizes the automobile, providing cars with the appropriate infrastructure to ensure the flow of traffic. "What would a pedestrian do here, if this is not their place?" asks the narrator.

The film's conclusion leaves no doubt that if the idea of the modern city was to establish order in space once and for all, the success of Brasília must, at the very least, be qualified. 

"[...] old habits are not so easily destroyed, and this is true even in Brasília. Look at this street; it is called W3. It is the only one that, in its liveliness, recalls the classic street. The street of every city in the world. And yet, not a single cafe or shop was supposed to be found here, and pedestrians were not supposed to walk on these sidewalks. In the urban planner's design, it is not a street, but a highway running the length of the city, where only merchants' warehouses were to be located. But old habits have resurfaced to the point of reversing what the planner had envisioned, reintroducing disorder where a precise order was meant to exist." 

Video available on the Vimeo profile Stories Mother never told me.