Urban Engineering: Concepts and Challenges

2.2 Consolidation
In February 1911 Eng. Victor da Silva Freire gave a keynote address at the Guild of 
Escola
Politécnica
of São Paulo in which he advanced a theoretical justification for the proposal
which formed part of a series of 
avant-garde
town planning projects submitted by the
Municipal Works Management Division. This proposal focused on the need to respect
fundamental artistic and traditional principles and the non-static nature of cities which, he
believed, could be transformed by designing and applying specific street patterns (Freire,
1911). Freire, as Professor of Engineering at the 
Escola Politécnica
of São Paulo, was a
Urban Engineering: Concepts and Challenges
3
devotee of the International Congresses for City Construction, which he attended regularly
in Europe.
According to Simões Jr. (2004), Freire was the first to introduce the concept of town planning
to Brazil. He was also the first engineer to treat this as a science rather than as a
straightforward technical approach to street planning (as had hitherto been the case). Freire
was the first to introduce a heightened theoretical approach to the subject – an approach
which was becoming increasingly employed in other parts of the world.
The principal influences at the time were three European urban experts: Camillo Sitte (1843-
1903, Austrian), Joseph Stübben (1845-1936, German) and Eugène Hénard (1849-1923,
French). All these were considered to be the forerunners of modern ‘urban science’. In
addition to these three, the influence of the Englishman Raymond Unwin (1863-1940), was
also notable. Unwin was responsible for Cia City in São Paulo (1912) built on the lines of the
Garden Cities concept formulated by Ebenezer Howard. Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) put
forward the idea of building new cities with factories and gardens, The Garden Cities with
houses built near to workplaces and the city center and within easy reach of green space.
One of the main features of this design concept was the layout of the road and street systems
which generally followed existing topography, however hilly or winding, thereby creating a
more ‘natural’ environment.
Sitte, author of “Der Städtebau nach seinen künstlerischen Grundsätzen” (Building cities
based on artistic principles) was a harsh critic of Haussmaniana (the ‘grand monumentalist’
approach), preferring to think in terms of irregular and more artistically- inspired patterns
of streets and public squares. Baron Haussmann (1809-1891) was responsible for the
rehabilitation of parts of the city of Paris by planning major thoroughfares, laying down fine
parks and erecting a number of prestigious public buildings. Stübben, author of “Der
Städtebau” (The building of cities) was, on the other hand, primarily concerned with
questions of urban growth and issues touching on radial (spoke) and circumferential arterial
road systems, as well as building healthy environments and promoting keener awareness of
aesthetic factors. Hénard, author of “Études sur les transformations de Paris” (Studies on
transforming Paris), produced a number of solutions for developing and improving cities in
the course of his comparative work on the urban development of Paris, Moscow, London
and Berlin.
The word "urbanism" was employed for the first time in Brazil by Freire (1916). This is a
neologism of the French term 
urbanisme
which emerged earlier in the century (in 1910) and
which in turn was a translation of the English term ‘town planning’ (used for the first time
in England in 1906). Similar terms had already been employed in Germany since the mid-
19th century: 
stadtplan 
(city plans) and 
stadtbau
(city building). Thus ‘urbanism’, or town
planning, evolved into a modern urban science, reflecting the need to introduce a degree of
planning discipline as the result of the major changes taking place in cities caused by
industrialization and rapid population growth (Choay, 1965).
According to Freitag (2006), only with the advent of Le Corbusier (1887-1965) considered to
be the founding father of modern town planning, could "urbanism" be considered to have
become a universally accepted science, capable of providing practical solutions to the urban
problems emerging in the context of 20th century industrial society.
The first ‘urbanists’ in São Paulo were civil and architectural engineers. These individuals
left a clearly identifiable mark on the first examples of urban engineering in the growing city

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Methods and Techniques in Urban Engineering
4
despite opposition from local administrators schooled not in engineering but in the law such
as João Theodoro, Antonio Prado and others.
This group of urban engineers was educated at the 
Escola Politécnica
(where a number of
them also taught). They tended to align themselves with Victor Freire and his assistant -
Eng. João Florence Ulhôa - who in 1924 conceived the idea of the "radial roads perimeter”
and who in 1930 published, together with Eng. Francisco Prestes Maia, the first major street
plan (the 
Plano de Avenidas
) for the city of São Paulo. Eng. Prestes Maia, professor at the
Escola Politécnica
, and Mayor of São Paulo on two occasions (27 April 1938 - 27 October
1945 and 10 April 1961-7 April 1965), was considered by Toledo (1996) to be a major
proponent of town planning strategy and doctrine, with a reputation as a tough
administrator.
It is also worth mentioning the important roles played by Arthur Saboya and Francisco
Rodrigues Saturnino de Brito (the latter known primarily for his work as a public health
specialist) and Luis Ignácio Romeiro de Anhaia Mello, who belonged to the new generation
of engineers greatly influenced by the new approach to urbanism in the United States.
Anhaia Mello was the main force behind the creation of São Paulo´s Architecture and Town
Planning Faculty in 1948 - an independent academic facility which emerged from the
engineering and architecture course previously run by the 
Escola Politécnica
. Mello was the
first director of this faculty and was primarily responsible for perceiving the inter-related
aspects of "urbanism" and "architecture" (hence the name of the new faculty). (Ficher, 2005).
At the time the above engineers were working in São Paulo (the first half of the 20
th
century), the city underwent a major period of expansion which, in turn, justified the
increasing concern directed towards town planning matters. Table 1 contains population
data for 1872-1950.
São Paulo Municipality
Brazil
Year
Population
Annual
geometric
growth rate
Urbanization
rate (%)
Population
Annual
geometric
growth rate
1872
31,385
-
10,112,061
4.1
2.0
1890
64,934
-
14,333,915
14.0
1.9
1900
239,820
-
17,318,556
4.5
2.9
1920
579,033
-
30,635,605
4.2
1.5
1940
1,326,261
94.9
41,236,315
5.2
2.3
1950
2,198,096
93.4
51,944,397
Table 1. Population figures (IBGE, Demographic Census)
Urban Engineering: Concepts and Challenges
5
Souza (2006) notes that throughout this period large numbers of São Paulo Polytechnic
engineers occupied public positions in the various municipalities and public works/road
and street planning secretariats, with the majority of them closely involved in urban
engineering activities.
The aforementioned urban engineers tended to regard the city as a whole unit – an
approach which in their view called for integrated interventions of a technical and aesthetic
nature with regard both to buildings and traffic organization. They also paid strict attention
to the public sanitation aspects of the city in their plans for city streets and squares.
Furthermore, they took into account the administrative and management aspects of the city,
resulting in the establishment of a number of bodies employing specialist professional staff
concentrated specifically on town planning.
The above professionals were mainly ‘civil’ or ‘architectural’ engineers who on graduating
were attracted by the prospect of interesting, well-paid and prestigious jobs in this area of
expertise.
The term ‘urban engineering’ was employed by Francisco de Paula Dias de Andrade in his
thesis dated 1966
(
Chair (
Cátedra
) No. 12: Buildings construction; Notions of architecture;
Urban engineering and urbanism), submitted as part of the qualification process for a senior
professorship appointment at the 
Escola Politécnica
. Regardless of the fact that subsequent
documents written by Professor Andrade fail to cast more precise light on the prospects for
urban engineering in São Paulo, it is nevertheless evident that Andrade showed a keen
pioneering approach with his creation in 1970 of a graduate course in construction and
urban engineering at the 
Escola Politécnica
of University of São Paulo devoted specifically to
training engineers at Masters and Doctoral level in those fields of knowledge.