Failed Futures: Caracas and Sao Paulo by New Yorkers in the Mid-20th Century

Bruno Zorek, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Universidade de São Paulo

In the mid-20th century, Nelson Rockefeller and Robert Moses formed a powerful duo whose work significantly expanded the urban and road/street infrastructure of several cities in the US and other countries. Rockefeller was a renowned politician and one of the wealthiest men in the world at the time, while Moses was at the pinnacle of his urban planning career and was internationally recognized as the "master builder" of New York. However, not all of their ventures were successful. This paper compares, as a first approach, two failures of this duo in their urban development ventures in Caracas, Venezuela, and São Paulo, Brazil – highlighting the protagonism of the ruling and intellectual elites in Caracas and São Paulo, who reacted similarly to the initiatives of the American entrepreneurs. Taking the urban development plans signed by Moses as representations of the future of the cities in question and the presence of Rockefeller and his companies in South America as an ambiguous element in the tense political, economic, and cultural relations that the Americans established with local elites, this analisys focuses on the meanings these processes had for Caracas, São Paulo, and a more general idea of the "Latin American city." Through an approach that connects at least three cities – Caracas, São Paulo, and New York – that crosses not only national but also disciplinary boundaries, considering how intellectuals from diverse specialties positioned themselves in the cases in question, and that delves into complex political processes with broad economic and diplomatic implications, this paper aims to present a story first sketch of the troubled attempts to establish a New York model of urban development in South American metropolises.

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 Presented in Session 108. Rule of Law, Policy Feedback, and Civic Participation