Müller, F. and Pael Farias, R.N. (2016). Geographies of contemporary childhoods in Brasilia/Brazil. Papers infancia_c nº 15, 1-15.
Studies from different fields suggest that contemporary childhood experiences in unplanned cities are increasingly lived in a fragmented way (Valentine, 1997; Mikkelsen; Christensen, 2009). However, how do children experience a city that was actually planned to be functionally fragmented? The article pursues some answers to this main question. It also proposes a contrast between Lucio Costa’s 1957 Brasilia master plan and the tridimensional wooden block cities built by children. The first section argues that, after 56 years, the master plan and especially its superblocks concept have failed to guarantee economic and social equality in Brasilia. The second session revises the map-like model approach showing how different elements of children’s lives in Brasilia were captured when they built their cities. The third session explores the idea of hybrid cities upon the recognition of how children express emotions; desires; fears; and also reference real cities when they create imagined ones. Full text: (pdf)
Keywords: Brasilia – map-like model – Childhood – Geographies of children – Geography of emotions.