Alphaville (Brazil)

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Alphaville, Barueri, 2009

Alphaville is a privately developed real estate project with 33 closed housing estates and more than 20,000 single-family houses and villas, which is located in the cities of Barueri and in Santana de Parnaíba in the western metropolitan area of ​​São Paulo . With the name Alphaville (after the first letter of the Greek alphabet Alpha and the French word Ville for housing estate, city) the uniqueness and exemplary nature of the project of a future urban living culture should be symbolized.

Barueri is one of the richest cities in Brazil, with around 266,000 people living in an area of ​​64.2 km². Today 50,000 people live behind a six meter high and five kilometer long concrete wall. The project was started in 1973 by Yoshiro Takaoka and Renato Albuquerque, two young civil engineers. It was initially intended to be an industrial park for IT companies and light industry. The Alphaville concept has now also been implemented in other regions of Brazil and has also been copied worldwide.

history

At the time of planning, there was a military regime in Brazil that autocratically forced the modernization of the country. A rising trend in crime rates, traffic jams, and other forms of urban malaise began in the metropolis of São Paulo. Developments that met modern industrial and commercial enterprises as well as the wealthy and upper middle class of the city became more and more popular. The company bought up large areas of farmland and began urbanization . The Rodovia Castelo Branco , which was newly built at the time , also guaranteed quick and easy access between the city of São Paulo and the new suburbs. Initially the land was only sold for commercial and industrial development, but soon the demand for land for purely residential purposes increased. The residential plots for closed housing estates (for the construction of family houses) were quickly sold out.

features

In addition to the closed housing estates ("Residenciais"), there is a complete infrastructure with shopping centers, doctors, clinics, pharmacies, banks, schools, universities, hotels, cinemas, etc. as well as high-rise apartment buildings that are located outside the closed housing estates. The concept was developed by Yoshiro Takaoka and Renato Albuquerque, two young civil engineers, in 1973. It was initially intended to be an industrial park for IT companies and light industry. In addition, there is a business center with many business towers and more than 120,000 workplaces and 2,500 offices (Centro Commercial). Together with the Cidade Tamboré project by Arthur Castilho de Ulhôa Rodrigues and Elbio Fernández Mera and other individual projects, the area can be interpreted as a new typology of a privately developed satellite city (NeoTown). AlphaVille's share covers approximately 1400 hectares, Tamboré is 1200 hectares, and additional affiliated projects amount to a further 1000 hectares.

Approximately 25 kilometers outside the metropolis of São Paulo, around 50,000 people live there in 33 housing estates that are completely isolated from the outside world. Three meter high walls, omnipresent security personnel and strict access controls are supposed to satisfy the security needs of the affluent residents. The need for investment security, lifestyle aspects and closeness to nature are also important. Also by Dr. Yoshiro Takaoka founded the settlement association ' Aldeia da Serra ' (translated roughly 'mountain village') in 1979 , which is located approx. 7 km west of Alphaville at approx. 1000 m above sea level.

However, since the Alphaville company has developed into an internationally active project developer of gated communities and is developing them in many Brazilian cities, the term Alphaville has become a strong brand and a synonym for premium real estate in the form of gated communities (“loteamento fechado”) in Brazil become.

Literature and Sources

  • Caldeira, Teresa Pires do Rio. City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in São Paulo . Dissertation, University of California at Berkeley, 1992, p. 257.
  • Gotsch, Peter. NeoTowns - Prototypes of corporate urbanism. Dissertation, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 2009, Chapter 3: Alphaville-Tamboré - The accidental New Town, p. 337ff., (R March 6, 2012)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gotsch 2009: p. 389
  2. ↑ a b Alphaville Urbanismo: Histórico: http://www.alphaville.com.br/institucional/historico.php (r.19th March 2012)
  3. ↑ Alphaville Company , official website, accessed March 15, 2015
  4. ↑ Lemos, João Rett; Macedo, Silvio Soares (2004): Condomínios horizontais residenciais fechados in São Paulo: um aspecto da produção paisagística contemporânea; QUAPÁ, agência de fomento FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa no Estado de São Paulo); Revista Paisagens; São Paulo: p.6.
  5. ↑ Bogus, Lucia Maria Machado; Pasternak, Suzanna (2004): A cidade dos extremos - Tendências recentes da urbanização no município de São Paulo; XIV Encontro Nacional de Estudos Populacionais, ABEP; Caxambú-MP: p.13
  6. ↑ Gotsch 2009, p. 432
  7. ↑ Alphaville - In der Mauer - Brazil's millionaires (3sat documentary) , dokumonster.de, accessed on March 15, 2015
  8. ^ Trialog. Journal for Planning and Building in the Third World .; 1/2001; No75; Darmstadt. (Ed.): Alphaville. The Brazilianization of the “Edge City” model . No. 75 , 2001.
  9. ↑ neo-town.org

Web links

Commons : Alphaville  - album with pictures, videos and audio files