Marcio Oliveira

Note: The following is a shortened version of the graduate report prepared for the Minimum Cost Housing Group (MCHG) of McGill University, Montreal. This report was written by myself, along with Cesar Gonzales, Tong Gan, Yue Li, Annalyn Maribbay and Alejandro Lopez. Community Development Since World War II when the term community development first came into use, its use has spread rapidly and been interpreted in different ways throughout the world. A United Nations report on community development in rural areas has emphasized two components: community Self-Help and technical assistance. The term 'community development' defines a process by which the efforts of the people are united with those of governmental authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of countries, to integrate these communities into the life of the nation, and to enable them to contribute fully to national progress. This process is made up of two essential elements: participatio...

Brasilia: living within modernist standards by: Marcio N. de Oliveira (originally written in 98 for Maquis, my old Geocities homepage) Introduction: Latin American countries have always pursued a sense of urban utopia. Nowhere else have modernistic urban theories, above all Le Corbusier's, controlled the minds of practicing architects and urban designers as much as in Latin America and specially Brazil. Brasilia was designed according to them and quite clearly exemplifies the shortcoming of such urban theories. Erected in record setting time of three years (1957-60), the city was planned in relation to Brazil's need to conquer physically, culturally and economically its own continent sized countryside. With this short essay I intend to show one view, the one of a natural Brasiliense , born and raised in Brasilia, living the daily life within modernist standards. Superquadras and Apartment Blocks: In Brasilia's urban landscape the central city was made up of two dense res...