Paper short abstract:

São João del Rei was settled in 1703, result of mining rush. Its natural conditions, urban design, monuments and cultural traditions lead to a city marked by spontaneous origins with traces of a portuguese scholarly tradition of urban design, where inheritance and redrawing stablished the settlement

Paper long abstract:

Cultural circularity reveals common traditions and similarities in the urban settlements, althought characterized by hibridisms resulting from the exchanges. Some questions arise: would it be possible to verify the traces of a portuguese scholarly tradition of urban design in cities marked by spontaneous origins? Which part of this inheritance is preserved, and what is redrawn in the new world? In order to answer to this questions, we propose an analysis of the city of São João del Rei.

There, mining was decisive in the form the site was occupied. Differently from other cities, in São João del Rei mining has been done in pits, therefore associated to the existing mountain ranges in the site where major occupation has been settled, although there is a gentle profile in the opposite bank of the valley.

As a result of topography, a distended occupation, parallel to the mountain and the river, was settled. A "branchway" (caminho-tronco) was formed, an strutural axe along which monuments presented and other streets have arised. Lodged in a irregular ground, the layout is based on linearity, but not necessarily on a grid, since it is adapted to the environmental conditions.

Other significant elements constitute the cultural landscape, such as churches and its courtyards. In São João del Rei traces of this fusion between urban space and society are still perceptible in the religious traditions and popular parties that are embraced by several sceneries, organized through a perspective integration between streets, dwellings, open spaces and monuments.