Advisor: Otavio Leonidio
Dissertation: Ney Gabriel de Souza’s Pilot Plan, Ceilândia: a place, a centrality. A solution or the conquest of the City?
Defense date: 25/08/2017
Abstract
There is an unfair gap in the urban history of Brasilia, where it is found
many researches about the “Plano Piloto of Lucio Costa” (Pilot Plan of Lucio
Costa) and few investigations on urbanistic plans of the “Satellite towns” such as
Ceilandia, that gives material to understand better the history of the metropolis of
Brasilia. Facing this acknowledgement, this dissertation proposes to analyse the
urbanism of Plano Piloto of Ceilandia (Master Plan of Ceilandia), designed by the
architect Ney Gabriel de Souza, together with reflections on socio-spatial notions
for a better understanding of the right to the city. Such interweaving has strict link
with the history of Ceilandia. It was built between 1969 and 1971, and through the
Campaign to Eradicate Invasions (CEI) and its anacronym is the base for the full
name of the city. The city at the beginning was the result of an emblematic mo-
ment of urban-spatial segregation of intra-urban history of Brasilia. In this proc-
ess, about 83 thousand people were removed to over 30 km far from Brasilia, the
Plano Piloto of Lucio Costa, out of very detailed policy of deterritorialisation of
the unwanted slums. There was even the intriguing justification that this invasions
and slums were locate within the “sanitary protection ring of Brasilia”. Thus, the
undertaken analyses are based on an approach rooted in the urbanistic practice,
with subjacent reflections around the multiple concepts used in the socio-spatial
studies. In this sense, I search to approach the “urban aspect” of Ceilandia by
tackling the issue from inside to outside, and exploring the conceptual tensions of
hegemonic discourses. Above all, the discourse of the “limiting” dichotomy
downtown-periphery – even facing the reality of over 400 thousand current in- habitants – Ceilandia tends to be placed out of the centre of the question. Regard-
ing the city’s design the analyses of the project planning practices in the confor-
mation of the spaces, elaborated in deep detail, will allow to clarify the intention
of the “Master/Pilot” of Ney Gabriel, trying when possible to express the self-
representation of Ceilandia in the process of appropriation of urbanistic plan.
From bibliographical reviews, iconographical and journalistic materials, the
analysis has as its focus the guidelines of the original project done in the 70s.