15th INTERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY CONFERENCE
PATHS AND URBAN FORM SHAPING THE CITY: JUIZ DE FORA, BRAZIL
COLCHETE FILHO, Antonio (Architect and Urbanist; Doctor in Social Sciences; Professor);
TASCA, Luciane (Architect and Urbanist; Master and Doctor in Urban Planning; Professor);
NASCIMENTO, Victor (Architect and Urbanist); CAIXETA, Camila (Student of Architecture).
Address: Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Brazil. UFJF / FENG / PROAC University Campus, Martelos, JF/MG, Brazil.
CEP: 36.036-330. Telefax: +55.32.2102.3405
E-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT:
The aim of this paper is to present the urban history of Juiz de Fora, a city with some 500,000 inhabitants in south-eastern
Brazil, and discuss how strategic decisions about the planning and construction of roads and highways can determine ways
of life in a city. While “paths” (Lynch, 1960) may integrate landholdings and territories, they may also segregate
communities and environments, causing deep rifts in the fabric of urban and land areas. The growth of Juiz de Fora is
particularly marked by the construction of paths. The opening in 1711 of what was known as the “New Way” (Caminho
Novo) led to the development of the then village of Juiz de Fora, which was located on the main artery that connected the
gold mining region in the state of Minas Gerais to the port of Rio de Janeiro. Shortly after the road opened, competition
in local transportation arose with the construction of the Dom Pedro II railway line that made Minas Gerais state easily
accessible to Dom Pedro’s Court (based in the city of Petrópolis). Rail transportation significantly reorganized the city of
Juiz de Fora, increasing the value of land and elevating residents’ status and social class. Ease in accessing the city,
combined with growing numbers of people moving in and around Juiz de Fora, came to define the modern city and shaped
its public spaces. Continuous growth and improvement in the main highway – that today connects Rio de Janeiro to the
national capital, Brasilia – resulted in one of the country’s busiest transport routes, known as BR-040. However, the
construction of the BR-440 highway, which interconnects BR-040 and the BR-267, has led to the city being divided; impact
assessments were produced only once the highway was under construction. In downtown Juiz de Fora, on the other hand,
the pedestrianization of the main shopping area, including Halfeld Street, has given residents a public space that they can
enjoy all day long. Aside these opposed examples, there are many different typologies of roadways; some define their
surroundings, while others have simple and functional roles. This article reviews the local urban history of Juiz de Fora
from the establishment of paths in the city, to an analysis of the major impact and benefits they have had, notably on the
local economy and demographics, as well as on the conservation of the local environment - issues that are frequently
relegated to a secondary role in the cost-benefit analysis of the city’s planning decisions.
1 – PATHS, MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION AND URBAN LIFE
“Paths are channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally, or potentially moves. They can be streets,
boardwalks, traffic lines, channels, railways. Because people realize the city while they move along the paths, they
not only structure the experience, but also structure other elements of the city’s image.” (Lynch, 1960, 47).
From colonial times until the beginning of the railways, animal-powered transportation played an important role in
moving cargo around Brazil, using the likes of the “donkey troop”. With the domestication of animals, people and
goods were largely transported in urban areas by animal-powered carts or carriages; for a long period of time, this was
the predominant means of transportation. However, with the rise of the industrial city, urban spatiality suffered an
overturn. Fast changes in the economic, politic, social and cultural spheres led to a new structural organization of the
old European cities.
Major urban redevelopment projects, such as Haussmann’s renovation of Paris between 1840 and 1860, and Barcelona
post 1859, highlighted how the physical structure and the ways of functioning of the traditional city were being shaped
by the new demands of the modern city. As Françoise Choay (1979, 4) states:
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We can schematically define this new order by a certain number of characteristics. First, the rationalization of
communication, with the opening of great arteries and the creation of train stations […] Finally, the suburbanization
assumes growing importance: industry establishes itself on the outskirts, the medium and working classes move to
the suburbs and the city loses its status of a clearly demarcated spatial entity.
With the growth and expansion of cities, followed by electrification of the railways during the last decades of the
nineteenth century, it became inevitable and necessary to live with locomotives. The use of trains as mean of
transportation started to influence changes in urban structures and gradually to replace other means of transportation,
such as: carriages, carts, and animals. Ease of individual transportation combined with the increased movement of
people came to define the modern city and shaped its public spaces.
While the centralizing forces of steam power molded the initial patterns of urbanization in the United States (US), the
discovery of electricity and the invention of the inner combustion engine had a dispersive effect. While steam exerted
a centripetal force, electrical power came to exert a centrifugal force. The invention of the electric trolley, used for
the first time in 1888 in Richmond (Virginia), inverted the so far dominant tendency, allowing the common worker to
live further away from the workplace (Palen, 1975, 75).
The result was urban expansion, although an uneven one, in belts, accompanying the tram tracks. The land that was
between the “radiuses” formed by the tracks was still inhabited. As such, cities assumed the shape of a star, with its
ends aligned to the tram tracks. The cities would maintain this shape until the arrival of the car. Cars gave a new
means of mobility to city dwellers and allowed - or encouraged, even - the occupation of regions which were
previously inaccessible, on the peripheries and outskirts.
According to Jane Jacobs (2001, 389), the period during which the car evolved as the everyday means of transportation
corresponded precisely to the period in which the ideal of antiquity was architectonically, sociologically, legislatively
and financially fomented. It was after the Second World War that a change in the parameters of the road was noticed.
The focus of the North American planner, Robert Moses, was no longer concerned with the insertion of the road in the
constructed path, rather with the efficiency and safety of car drivers. And, thus, the highway emerged and became
the symbol of urban modernization.
A similar situation happened in the city of Boston (US). I-93 (Central Artery) was an elevated, six-lane highway with 2.4
kms of extension, running above the downtown area. It was built to alleviate the heavy traffic that congested the
criss-cross roads in the city’s historical center, an area that was developed long before the invention of the car. The
highway took six years to build, made hundreds of families homeless, and went nowhere. Far from relieving the
massive traffic jams, I-93 made them bigger and more dangerous. City councilors, local citizens, the city mayor, as
well as the state Governor believed the construction of this road was a big mistake. The road remained in disuse for
many years and was widely hated; it was seen as an example of the excessive zeal for road construction in the 1960s.
Mayor Kevin White’s transportation assistant suggested that it should be closed to all traffic.
In 1991 a project, known as the Tunnel Project, was initiated. It set out to replace the disused Central Artery (I-93),
with an underground Interstate highway of between eight to 10 lanes. Popularly known as the “Big Dig”, it is
considered the world’s most complex urban civil engineering project and the most expensive public construction
project in the US – reaching a total construction cost of US$ 15 billion.
Cities, be they big or small, or in the north or south hemisphere, keep absorbing and surviving the effects caused by a
continuous and ongoing change in means of transportation – from carts and carriages, to trains and then the massive
spread of road transportation. Paths, as Kevin Lynch argues, structure a good part of our city experiences, and help us
to understand more about urban projects that are designed and planned for surrounding land. In Brazil, research about
the relationship between paths and urban planning are already well established (Villaça, 2001; Balbim, 2003 and Salvi,
2005), such as in the history of the city of Rio de Janeiro (Abreu, 1987) or São Paulo (Campos et al., 2004), only to
mention a few examples.
It was within this framework that we chose to look at the history of Juiz de Fora, placing emphasis on the various
projects of “pathways” that have been developed in the city. Similar to so many other cities, our case study presents
itself as a city that is a polarizer of functions and fluxes within the surrounding region. With up to 1.5 million people
that transit the city daily, Juiz de Fora has a population of some 517,000 inhabitants according to the latest census
(2010). The most recent “pathway” project to get underway here, with the support of the federal government, is the
construction of BR-440, a divided highway, which will cut across the city in a southwest-northwest direction, passing
through Cidade Alta (west portion) and interconnecting the two main roads that already pass through the city: BR-040
and BR-267.
In this article, we reveal how the establishment of “pathways” has resulted in shaping and contouring the city of Juiz
de Fora, as follows.
15th INTERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY CONFERENCE
2 – JUIZ DE FORA, A CITY BETWEEN PATHS
Occupying a total area of 1,427 km2, the city of Juiz de Fora has four districts, as defined by the Urban Development
Master Plan (Prefeitura, 1996): Distrito-Sede, Torreões, Rosário de Minas and Sarandira. It is stated (Prefeitura, 2004)
that the city’s current form has been shaped by geomorphological conditioning, by political decisions about the
establishment of growth vectors, and by economic strategies to connect the city to other municipalities, such as the
Zona da Mata Mineira, as well as to other states, like Rio de Janeiro. Urban occupation, since its origin, developed
along the Paraibuna river valley, an historical axis in the movement and exchange of people and goods between Minas
Gerais and the ocean port of Rio de Janeiro, and the harbor town of Paraty.
The city’s original linear shape restricted its growth. The path traced by the main axis of transportation later suffered
when undergoing a widening process, forcing the creation of new, star-shaped pathways, with spaces opening up
between corridors of development and extending in projection. Today, Juiz de Fora is a 93.5 km2 urban sprawl, of
which more than 23% is occupied, while almost 77% of the defined urban area remains unoccupied (Prefeitura, 2004).
The origins of the city of Juiz de Fora go back to the opening of the “New Way” (Caminho Novo). The construction of
this road established the city’s first phase of structuring, and remained in place until the 1970s, when a change to the
layout of the old roadway, already called BR-040, led to a process of urban reformulation.
Garcia Rodrigues, who was son of Fernão Dias Paes, a resident of São Paulo city, opened the Caminho Novo in 1711.
The road connected the gold mining region of Minas Gerais to Guanabara state with a journey time of 15 days. Serving
for around 200 years as an artery for the transportation of goods and commodities between the port of Rio de Janeiro
and the state of Minas Gerais, this road replaced the old axis, known as the “Old Way” (Caminho Velho), which cut
through Paraibuna valley between Guaratinguetá and Taubaté, connecting the village of Lavras with the harbor town
of Paraty in 45 days, tripling the journey time along Garcia Rodrigues’ alternative Caminho Novo (Carvalho, 2010).
As mining declined in the second half of the eighteenth century and the coffee economy rose, Caminho Novo
essentially became a transportation axis for agricultural goods and products, notably coffee. During this period, the
Portuguese Empire ruling Brazil granted and distributed land – to people of nobility – to assist with the settlement of
coffee estates. Between these coffee estates was situated Juiz de Fora, along the left bank of the river, and this was
the name given to the city that grew there (Oliveira, 1966).
Around 1830, the narrow roadway that was Caminho Novo worked well, with a great many goods being transported and
moved along its length of 480kms that connected Ouro Preto (the main city in the mining region) with Rio de Janeiro.
Principal among the goods being transported was coffee, which was on an exponential rise, as well as precious metals.
Even though mining was on a decline, there were still significant amounts of metals being extracted from the region.
As such, the government decided to transform the “tortuous, century-old, slippery path into a good, navigable road,
compatible with needs” (Lessa, 1985, 78). A German engineer, called Henrique Guilherme Fernando Halfeld, led the
construction of the new road; in 1836, he was appointed the province’s leading engineer. The Paraibuna road
(“Estrada do Paraibuna”) actually consisted of a series of modifications to the layout of the Caminho Novo.
The opening of the road in 1861 established an important axis for communication and trade between Juiz de Fora and
Petrópolis (known as the Imperial City), and was strategic in the development of the city of Juiz de Fora. The primary
objective for constructing this roadway was not only to bring coffee and cotton from inland states to the Court, but
also to transport products for consumption in the opposite direction. Along with the construction of the road itself, the
engineer Mariano Procópio set up an entire support structure along the route: warehouses, depots for coffee and food,
administration offices, housing for employees, brickyards, sawmills, and carpentries, according to the New Highway
magazine (Revista Nova Rodovia, no date).
The construction of the Don Pedro II railroad in 1858, and the opening of the Union and Industry street (Estrada União
e Indústria) in 1861, established the right bank of the river as the main articulating axis of the urban development,
and the outline of the current central area of the city, set by the Avenues Barão do Rio Branco, Independência and
Getúlio Vargas (the so-called central triangle).
Shortly after the Union and Industry roadway opened, competition in local transportation arose with the construction
of the Dom Pedro II railway line that made Minas Gerais state easily accessible to Dom Pedro’s Court (based in the city
of Petrópolis). When the railway was extended to reach the city of Três Rios in 1876, previous routes for transporting
goods were abandoned, and this marked the beginning of the Industry Union roadway’s decline. The region of Minas
Gerais could be easily reached by rail (Carvalho, 2010).
However, by this time, the city’s management was not compatible with the growth of the urban fabric. Oliveira (1966)
states that the first map of Juiz de Fora was only produced in 1860, by the engineer Gustavo Dodt and with approval of
the Provincial Government. Due to problems that arose between Dodt and the city’s public works commission, this
map was not adhered to by city administrations between 1861 and 1864. Nonetheless, according to Oliveira, what had
been a village was now evolving into a modern city, and acquired in 1870 a plan for the marking out and leveling of
streets. In addition to the city having a bank, a telegraph system, tramways, the first brewery, and the first telephone
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exchange, a new loan was established (Provincial Law No. 1393, 1876) to pay for paving Direita Street (current Barão
do Rio Branco Avenue).
Other important public works at this time included initiatives to improve the city’s basic sanitation and hygiene
conditions, to pave Halfeld Street (the second street in the city), and to construct canals and bridges, as well as drains
and culverts.
During this period, the city’s public lighting was improved. In 1888, the Mineira Electricity Company (Companhia
Mineira de Eletricidade) was founded, bringing to Juiz de Fora electricity and the consequent industrial prosperity.
Later that year, the city’s public works commission contracted the engineer José Barbosa Uchoa Cavalcanti to
undertake a detailed, topographic survey of the city, including the entire urban perimeter. The map that resulted
from the survey (which measured 1.97m x 2.95m) aroused considerable controversy, but was accepted in 1883, though
without naming the person who undertook it. However, it is worth noting how the Trade Journal (Jornal do Comércio)
boasted the city’s accomplishments (Oliveira, 1966,79):
The twentieth century finds this area of Minas [Gerais] transformed into a center of enlightened civilization; and
yet it is only a half-century earlier that human travails made their indelible mark, furrowed on these lands. It has
been a strong generation that rules here and, for that reason, deserves to be remembered down the years. Let the
twentieth-century men inherit the power to initiate, the vigorous ability to emulate, the energy to will desire,
combined together with progressive qualities. What we have are the vows that mark the dawn of a new century.
Until 1916, no city administration had considered using cobblestone paving, with all such proposals presented to the
commission having been dismissed. It was only during the administration of José Procópio Teixeira that this kind of
paving occurred, first on Halfeld Street and then on Rio Branco Avenue, which was transformed into a boulevard. From
then onwards, new public roads were opened, equipped with networks of water and sewage pipes. In addition, new
measures were undertaken, aimed at improving the city’s appearance. It was forbidden by law to construct singlestorey buildings in the so-called central area, but those who built houses of two floors or higher were awarded tax
breaks. This was the start of the city center’s construction along a vertical axis.
It can be said that the route of Rio Branco Avenue determined the city’s north-south direction which in turn presaged
access to areas that today make up the neighborhoods to the north – Grama, Bandeirantes, Bom Clima, among others –
and led to the opening in 1970 of what is locally called Garganta do Dilermando, connecting MG-353 with the central
area, and thus establishing a secondary growth vector in the city.
Another growth vector in the city is the northern neighborhood of Benfica, which is one of the oldest established areas
in the city; it was consolidated by the existence of the industrialized districts I and II. Also drawing on the axis along
the banks of the Paraibuna river, the road between Benfica and the center is shown to be permeated with small- and
medium-sized industries, which resulted in the occupation of new neighborhoods, such as Santa Cruz, Nova Era,
Barbosa Lage, among others (Prefeitura, 2004).
It is worth noting that, up to the origins of Juiz de Fora’s urban structuring, the Caminho Novo began to formalize the
south/southwest penetration, through the neighborhoods of São Mateus, Cascatinha and Bom Pastor, as well as
Independência Avenue, allowing access to Federal University of Juiz de Fora’s campus, which was previously reached
via Martelos region.
The new route of BR-040 in the 1970s influenced the expansion of the city, creating a new dynamic not only in
Independência Avenue but also its continuation, Deusdeth Salgado Avenue (exiting the city on BR-040 and connecting
with the south zone), as well as BR-267 (exiting the city via the southwest section) and Juscelino Kubitscheck Avenue.
The process of occupation of the city culminated in the Central Area and east portion of Juiz de Fora having a more
compact configuration, while other sections remain very sparse. The Urban Development Master Plan (Prefeitura,
1996) shows that, in addition to empty intra-urban spaces within the city’s perimeter, there are some 37,000 vacant
lots with an area smaller than 5000 m2 (according to the 1995 property tax register – Cadastro de IPTU). Thus was
demonstrated potential for growth and densification of the urban sprawl, which still prevails today. However, because
of its peculiar characteristics, the city’s capacity for demographic absorption differs between urban sectors,
establishing its social-spatial feature; planning actions were prioritized in areas of private interest at the expense of
addressing existing problems in the peri-urban areas, thereby playing out the capitalist logic that embodies the
difference in ownership of wealth, as Tasca states (2010).
When in the 1930s the pattern of industrial production started to fall and suffer the consequences of the decline of the
coffee economy in the Zona da Mata, a number of limitations and weaknesses led the municipal government to bring
about various changes to its structure. In 1934, under Menelick de Carvalho, services related to the water supply were
undertaken, in addition to the landscaping of highways and roads, the construction of main squares with the
expropriation of existing buildings, building of bridges, as well as the opening and paving of several streets.
15th INTERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY CONFERENCE
During the 1940s, the city was the focus for other proposals, such as the Saboya Ribeiro plan worked on between 1945
and 1949. The plan, as outlined in the Communication Directory from UFJF (2008), set out a proposal by the city
planner, Saboya, to significantly remodel Juiz de Fora; included in the plan was the demolition of whole city blocks
and the construction of wide avenues.
Figure 1 – Key paths through Juiz de Fora. Author: Nascimento, V. (2012) based on Google Maps.
There were new and profound changes that were taking place at a regional level during the 1950s which exerted an
influence on Juiz de Fora. In addition to the Rio-Bahia highway being built, there was also the Rio-Belo Horizonte road,
as well as the creation of a network of state highways, and a direct connection to São Paulo via the Paraibuna river
valley. All these constructions were to change the relationship that existed between the city and Zona da Mata.
Moreover, Belo Horizonte’s growing importance as a city came to characterize Juiz de Fora as a mid-way point on the
highway. (Prefeitura, 1996).
What is apparent throughout this process is that, as Tasca (2010) maintains, these were road construction projects that
were guided by a common vision of the city, with the same objectives that were based on meeting expectations of the
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Cities, nations and regions in planning history
land market, real estate, as well as the construction industry. These projects appealed in particular to road users,
however, in considering how roads should be structured, they encouraged the reorganization of the urban fabric. The
central neighborhoods, which benefited from the structure of the urban fabric created in downtown Juiz de Fora,
continued to receive greater investment compared to the neighborhoods that were populated by predominately lowincome groups, and made minor gains. Thus, the city’s popular feature was maintained: the network of roadways
essentially deciding who can afford to live where within Juiz de Fora.
In the next section, we explore in more detail some of the facts and characteristics that define the urban fabric of the
city, including traffic patterns. We highlight the paths that have come to form and reflect the city, and which draw
from their historical layout. While these paths may differ greatly from one to the other, they all continue to play a
part in the everyday life of Juiz de Fora – ranging as they do from highways to boulevards, streets, sidewalks, malls.
All of these paths strengthen the city, as well as hem it in.
3 – ROAD, AVENUE AND STREET (AND BOARDWALKS AND GALLERIES): THE URBAN NET
BR-040 – The constitution of BR-040 must be understood as an articulated group of roads. The first part, from Rio de
Janeiro until the rise of the mountain range in Petrópolis, used the path already opened during the government of
Getúlio Vargas, when significant work was undertaken on embankments and sanitation in the marshland area known as
Baixada Fluminense. The second part, up in the mountain range itself, constitutes two lanes opened a little more than
30 years apart: the rise was executed during the government of Washington Luis, and inaugurated in 1928, while the
descent was worked on during the government of Juscelino Kubitscheck, and officially opened in 1960. A new road was
then built from Petrópolis to Juiz de Fora, using some parts from the old Union and Industry road, inaugurated in 1861
at the time of the Empire. To go from Juiz de Fora to Belo Horizonte, the highway opened in 1957 and known as
Rodovia JK was used. And, to complete the BR-040, the Brasília-Belo Horizonte highway, inaugurated in 1959, was
incorporated.
Running the length of some 1172 kms, the BR-040 leaves Brasília, and has as passing points Três Marias, Belo
Horizonte, Barbacena, Juiz de Fora, Três Rios and Petrópolis, before ending in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The last
section of the highway, between Juiz de Fora and Rio de Janeiro, was hailed as the “New Union and Industry” road.
During the 1980s, following the modernization of BR-040, Juiz de Fora experienced significant growth in its steel
industry, and, more recently, in the local car industry when, in 1996, Mercedes-Benz established a major plant there.
The car company was attracted by the city’s prime location: that is to say, in relation to markets and suppliers across
the country; existing road and rail networks that allowed for the efficient flow of production; and the connection with
the port areas in Rio de Janeiro and Vitória. In addition, the condition of local infrastructure was good, while skilled
labor was also available, and a high standard of living was on offer in the city.
Nowadays, along the section that runs closest to the city, this road – dangerously – serves as an everyday commuter
belt, as it connects neighborhoods, built-up service areas and the industrial sector with access roads into Juiz de Fora;
and these access roads are also characterized by having services such as car dealers, universities and, soon, a hospital
with an important regional reference role.
BR-440 – This federal road, constructed as a divided highway, will connect via the city the two main roads of BR-040
and BR-267 which both pass through Juiz de Fora. Budgeted at R$107 million (approximately US$62 million), the BR440 will have three overpasses: one at the exit for the BR-040, one around the neighborhoods of Democrata and Vale
do Ipê, as well as another in the region of Mariano Procópio.
According to Edison Russo, Chief Engineer at the regional office of Brazil’s transport infrastructure department (DNIT),
the national agency responsible for road construction and maintenance, this project is of key importance to traffic
levels in Juiz de Fora, given that it is expected to reduce instances of bottlenecking in the city center. As Russo
maintained in a recent interview for a local website, “the BR-440 will significantly contribute towards improving the
city’s traffic levels, as vehicles that use local highways will no longer need to drive through the city center in order to
continue their journey.” He also believes that the highway will benefit the residents of the Cidade Alta neighborhood.
“The region has many real estate projects using divided highways, so the local community will have more than one
transportation option”.
However, the project for constructing this road is more than 30 years old. A lack of environmental and socio-economic
impact assessments resulted in various leaders from different sectors of society to organize a protest group, popularly
called the “Say No to BR-440” group (“Comitê Diga Não à BR-440”), which held a rally in Cidade Alta against the
proposed highway. Members of the group include representatives of civil society organizations, resident associations,
local academics and architects, among others. Among the issues being contended by them are that no construction
business plan exists, while the Master Plan for Urban Development does not forecast the building of this road.
Moreover, it is taken for granted that there are potential problems with the local water supply, expansion of the road
15th INTERNATIONAL PLANNING HISTORY SOCIETY CONFERENCE
network, as well as the likely appropriation of property and land from dozens of local residents. Although some
sections of the highway have already been constructed, work has been stopped, generating significant disruption.
Rio Branco Avenue – This is the city’s most important avenue, which experiences considerable movement of people
and vehicles. It is “[t]he street where all streets fit”, according to Nava (1973, 20). Development of Barão do Rio
Branco Avenue began in 1836, on the old Paraibuna street with the aim of creating an alternative route to Caminho
Novo. This road directed the growth of Juiz de Fora into an area where the topography was less rugged, with
characteristics of the surrounding valley. Once it became a regional road used to regulate traffic flow, it was renamed
Main Street (Rua Principal), and later again titled Direita Street, when the town of Santo Antônio do Paraibuna was
elevated to city status, up until it was changed to the current name. It is considered in Brazil to be one of the longest
avenues that runs in a straight line, extending to a total of 6.4 kms, of which 5.7 kms are in a straight line.
Redirecting the flow of the Paraibuna river in 1940 not only contributed to invigorating the city center, but ended the
flooding which ravaged the local area, and generated further clean-up projects. By the 1960s and 1970s, the avenue
was becoming denser as it extended in height, with vertical elevations. Come 1970, it also extended to the north
region with the opening of the road locally called Garganta do Dilermando, effectively cutting through the hill that had
previously prevented expansion.
At present,the avenue’s boundaries are marked by Garganta do Dilermando and Alto dos Passos, one of the city’s
historic neighborhoods, where it runs along what was the old Paraibuna road. Nowadays, with a central reservation
exclusively for buses, the two-way Rio Branco Avenue represents the most majestic street in the city, and experiences
considerable movement of people and vehicles, notably where it meets with Halfeld Street.
Halfeld Street – Halfeld Street’s most marked characteristic is an overlapping of periods in the city’s history, as it
creates an axis of movement while also having an important role in local culture and heritage. This is a path, which
experiences heavy flows of people, is demarcated by the central train station and a hill known as Morro do Imperador.
At stages, it is a street in which people and cars travel together, at others, it becomes an extension of the square by
the train station, and then a pedestrianized shopping area, regarded as the heart of the city, which empties into a
landscaped park enjoyed by many, before continuing up towards the mountain, where vehicles can rejoin it.
The pedestrianized shopping area, besides being a place where people go to meet or relax, also serves as a political
and religious center for the city; the City Hall, municipal government offices, principal court, São Sebastião church
and the Central Methodist church are all situated in and around this point. In addition, there are crafts fairs, as well
as other cultural events, held in this space (Paula, 2008).
The pleasant surroundings of the city park contrast with the city’s tall buildings, as well the general hustle and bustle
of the center. A project proposed and developed by the engineer Miguel Antônio Lallemond, in 1880, and led to the
creation of the park that was modeled on an English garden. Although in 1901 the park was completely remodeled by
the company Pantaleone Arcuri and Spinelli, it was declared a heritage site by the municipal government on December
29th, 1989. From the park, locally known as Parque Halfeld, it is possible to view the hill, Morro do Imperador, which
is the highest point in the city; the hill bears this name following the visit of Dom Pedro II to the city, in 1861. In
commemoration of the turn of the twentieth century, a chapel was built at this point, and, in 1906, a monument to
Christ the Redeemer was erected. Morro do Cristo, where the monument is sited, has a lookout named after Salles de
Oliveira, and boasts panoramic views of Juiz de Fora. Along the length of this path, with all its physical and functional
diversity, Halfeld Street can be considered the center of downtown.
Malls and Galleries – Aside the flow and movement of pedestrians in the and around galleries and mall areas, these
places, along with the city’s squares, are renowned places for where people go to relax and think in peace. The
galleries, built from the 1920s onwards, form a network of paths that maintains significantly change the layout of
buildings, increase the land value, and offer pedestrians different ways to get between main streets (Abdalla, 1996,
68). Another aide to movement of people in this network of paths is the introduction from 1970 of pedestrianized
walkways. Together with the galleries, they form spaces that accommodate a great variety of uses, appropriations and
pedestrian flows. They are in many ways the space that truly supports the development of urban life and culture,
characterizing so well the center and the city of Juiz de Fora itself (Colchete Filho et al., 2008, 202-209).
The pedestrianized walkways, being essentially public spaces, have become the representative urban image of this
city. Although they have only been inserted into the urban fabric in relatively recent years, compared to other
elements, these walkways demonstrate the dynamism that results from ongoing changes in the city’s central area.
They make a valuable case study so as to better understand the role that such public spaces have in the formation and
shaping of contemporary everyday life. As such, Paula (2008, 39) concludes that the dynamic of the gallery and
network of pedestrianized walkways in the central area of cities contribute to the maintenance of their very centrality
and vitality. These are much valued qualities in an urban space, not least in Juiz de Fora where this set of paths is so
unique (Fonseca, 2012).
7
Cities, nations and regions in planning history
4 – FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
In the modern world, paths constitute the link between different realities. In the beginning, they connected the fields
to the city: later, one city to another. In the cities, they promote growth, as well as the constant acceleration of
fluxes, which are a demand of modern life. Always conditioned by the available means of transportation, paths led
people and wealth worldwide. As time passed, the means of transportation changed, and with them, the paths also
changed. The arrival of the car meant that paths were multiplied, in quantity and dimension. The ease of movement,
individual and fast, allowed the indiscriminate propagation of paths all over, turning the city into a bigger urban
territory. And, in the same way that the city expanded, the car would also multiply, sometimes disproportionately.
If, in the old days, as seen in the urban history of Juiz de Fora, it was favorable that the roads went through the
middle of the city, bringing people and goods directly into its nucleus, nowadays this situation is no longer desirable.
The significant rise in the flow of people, goods and, consequently, vehicles, inverted this situation. Having less
impact would be the construction of a road ring, going around the city, or the reactivation of rail transportation (for
cargo and people).
The combination of forms and social practices demonstrate that the set of individual and collective needs for
movement results in the overlap of different ways to circulate, and of different ways to live and act about the city.
The perspective adopted in this article, of recovering the history of the place through the history of its paths, reveals
that the city is more than a mere product of the projects that have taken place within. Rather, given the uses and
appropriations of public spaces, there exists a guaranteed chance of surviving, at better levels, in defiance of political
mismanagement and technical inconsistencies.
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