Paper short abstract:

From a perspective that combines History, Sociology and Anthropology, this paper proposal is to examine how pessimistic representations of the future of São Paulo, the main Brazilian metropolis, have played in the production of the city itself, in a context of hegemonic optimism.

Paper long abstract:

There was a moment, in the mid-twentieth century, in which São Paulo, the main Brazilian metropolis, was considered the fastest growing city in the world. In the 1950s, for example, it was estimated that, on average, a house was built every 20 minutes in São Paulo. The astonishing growth of the city was celebrated by the newspapers, by the public power and by much of the population. São Paulo was seen as the spearhead of the Brazilian development and as an indicative that finally Brazil was fulfilling its "destiny" to become a potency of the future.

However, for a few -such as the engineer, architect and urban planner Luiz de Anhaia Mello-, the rapid growth of São Paulo was a "sign of the times". For him, if the State did not act immediately to contain the expansion of the city, the future would be apocalyptic. Although his point of view was not hegemonic, that pessimistic representation had an important role in the context, because Anhaia Mello occupied a prominent place in the intellectual field of the city.

This paper is part of a study that combines History, Sociology and Anthropology to explore the meanings that the representations of São Paulo's future had in the production of the city itself, in the symbolic and concrete senses. Here, the proposal is to examine the characteristics of Anhaia Mello's representations and how these representations have played in the shaping of São Paulo's future.

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