Capital city that sprang from nowhere and fulfilled a dream

BRASILIA LETTER: I remember as a child learning about the capitals of the world and being fascinated by Brasília - that new city built in the middle of the planet's biggest jungle.

It seemed like El Dorado in reverse. Instead of hacking their way through the jungle looking to find a mythical city, the descendents of the first Portuguese explorers did so in order to build one.

Some of that awe was lost when it turned out that Brasília in fact sits on the high, semi-arid plains that Brazilians call the cerrado, grasslands that run in a huge belt south of the Amazon rainforest and which resemble the savannah of Africa.

But to wander around the city today and think that there was nothing here 50 years ago except the horizon, gives you some idea of why Brazilians are so proud of their capital.

At its best Brasília is like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey - you know it is beginning to get on in years, but it still looks far-out and beautiful. Where there was once just empty plain, there are now some of the great examples of modernist architecture which grace a city laid out according to one of the most futuristic urban plans ever conceived.

To Irish eyes it can seem unrelentingly modern. There are parts that have not stood the test of time so well. But away from the monumentalism, much of the city is like one massive UCD campus, especially in the leafy residential neighbourhoods where the real spirit of Brasília is to be found.

Sometimes the futurist planning seems to go nowhere as footpaths you think are bringing you where you want to go can suddenly end in multi-lane freeways without a pedestrian crossing, footbridge or underpass in sight. The high number of jaywalkers suggests this is a problem for locals as well. You really need a car to get around, doubly so at this time of the year when the sun beats down and the thermometer passes 30 degrees by 9am.

Besides its architecture, Brasília provides another source of pride to Brazilians - the story of its creation. The idea of an inland capital had been around for over a century, but the man who made it happen was Juscelino Kubitschek, elected president 50 years ago last month.

Brasília became the flagship project of his "Fifty Years Progress in Five" plan, intended to turn the country from a largely rural place making its way in the world exporting coffee and sugar into an urbanised, industrialised giant.

The role of the new capital in this programme of national development was to integrate the empty interior with the rest of the country and finally cure Brazilians of their habit of "clinging to the coast like crabs".

Kubitschek had the architect Oscar Niemeyer and urban planner Lúcio Costa design the city. Hundreds of thousands of poor Brazilians left poverty and drought in the poorer coastal states and headed to the empty interior to build it. Just five years after his election, Kubitschek inaugurated the new capital.

Forty-five years later Brasília is seen as one of the country's great success stories and generally held to have accomplished its tasks of spurring national integration and development.

Its critics argue uncontrolled growth has caused Brasília to become more like the troubled Brazilian cities it was intended to supersede.

Back in 1960 there were just a couple of hundred thousand people living in this planned city. Today Brasília has grown far beyond its original limits and is now part of an urban sprawl that is home to nearly 2½ million people.

Most of these residents live in what are called satellite cities, which surround the original planned area. Many are poor, some violent, and there is little sign of the devotion to planning inherent in the original project.

But even in these areas one sees a different kind of Brazil. It is striking that alone among large Brazilian metropolises Brasília is almost without favelas, the shantytowns that are a source of fear and shame elsewhere in the country.

In fact it had them but they have largely been urbanised and have become many of the satellite cities.

If crime has increased, it is still far safer than São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. One of the first things a visitor from one of these cities notices is the absence of invasive security measures around Brasília apartment blocks. Nearly all residents, even those in the poorest of the satellite towns, have access to water and public services are among the best in the country. The excellent education system makes it one of Brazil's most socially mobile cities.

Still so young it is easy to dismiss Brasília as an artificial creation, as many diplomats and Brazilian politicians stationed here are inclined to do. For decades the cliche was that it empties at weekends as everyone went to homes elsewhere.

But for the children and grandchildren of the pioneers who settled down in the city they came to build, Brasília is the fulfilment of the promise that tempted their grandparents to leave behind poverty and drought and follow Kubitschek into the great unknown.