British urban form in twentieth-century Brazil

Abstract

A number of new towns were created in northern Paraná State, Brazil, by the British company Parana Plantations as part of a colonization scheme in the first half of the twentieth century. The urban landscapes created by these towns are distinct from those associated more generally with the colonization of Brazil. However, there has been no extended analysis of their origin, organization, conformation and impact. Drawing on contemporary sources, this task is attempted here. Set within a broader context, a systematic colonization is revealed in relation to its British colonial background. The layouts of the towns founded by Parana Plantations show many features of a British colonial town model. The colonization scheme reflects some of the garden city tenets that were circulating widely in the colonial world.

Planted towns and territorial organization: the morphology of a settlement process in Brazil

“…However, the features of this new regional landscape still seem to have followed up-todate planning notions. At first, the initial colonization scheme was based on British town and country planning ideas; in particular, those related to the garden-city movement -to be precise the social cities' idea, as Rego (2009) and Rego and Meneguetti (2008) have shown. Then, a later scheme of regional planning developed for metropolitan London, namely satellite towns, was transferred and adapted to the local conditions.…”

“…After purchasing a very large amount of property in 1925, the British land-speculation company, Parana Plantations, launched a systematic colonization scheme. As part of this scheme, a policy of deliberate urbanization was implemented (Rego, 2009;Rego and Meneguetti, 2008).…”

“…These new towns were positioned at short regular intervals with a green belt between each. The close relationship between urban settlements and rural plots (Rego and Meneguetti, 2008) clearly shaped the concept of social cities (Howard, 1902), which was being extensively disseminated at that time and was known by the Board of Directors of Parana Plantations (Rego, 2009).…”

“…Last but not least, hierarchically-structured town clusters were set up. Whereas urban settlements planned during the British administration period were equivalent in area and importance (Rego and Meneguetti, 2008), those laid out later were basically divided into three categories: major towns, towns and villages. According to a report on the Northern Paraná State colonization enterprise, four major towns were planned and a number of small towns and villages were to be planted among them (CMNP, 1975;Dozier, 1956).…”

“…Studies of Northern Paraná State townscapes generally consider the systematic colonization process and the initial pattern of planned urbanization (Dozier, 1956;Monbeig, 1984;Rego, 2009;Rego and Meneguetti, 2008), but morphological investigations into the subsequent alterations of these planned landscapes have still to be fully developed. One such investigation is the subject of this article.…”