Pereira Passos, Rio de Janeiro’s poor population and its reformed city center:

elements for a debate

Abstract

The Great Urban Reform of Rio de Janeiro, carried out between 1903 and 1906, actually consisted of two projects of distinct natures: one under municipal responsibility and the other under federal jurisdiction. In this text, we will focus our attention on the urban redesign plan led by Mayor Pereira Passos, whose interventions became known for their modernizing ambition. We argue here that, contrary to what is often claimed, Pereira Passos did not seek to simply expel the low-income population from the city center. Before that, the mayor seems to have conceived a project in which the popular population would be allowed to remain in the reformed center under specific and controlled conditions. This popular presence, far from being rejected completely, was instrumentalized as part of a broader pedagogical effort. The objective was to integrate the popular sectors into a new urban order marked by ideals of civilization, progress, and hygiene, shaping behaviors and habits compatible with the modernized city that he intended to build. Thus, the Center of Rio began to play a fundamental symbolic and educational role in the civilizing process idealized by the municipal administration.