Urban space and modernity, a thread not closed, it updates: Sobral [CE]

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the meaning of the modernization of urban spaces and how it is reinterpreted over time in order to think of contemporary processes of urban regeneration in cities in the interior of the region of Ceara, north east of Brazil. My locus of research is a medium sized city called Sobral, whose growth and differentiation from other cities in the interior of Ceara since the 1990s has led to the revival and reinvigoration of debates around the modernization of its spaces. The objective is to assess, in relation to the city and urban life, what the needs are of a modern society, in light of the theory of modernization of urban spaces, particularly in the north east of Brazil. Modernization theory has a long history, emerging in the end of the 19th century, yet it is used as a justification for theconstruction or regeneration of spaces in order to propel the economic development of cities. Sobral is a city that at different moments in history has been modern, for its direct links with Europe, and at others for having acquired the potential, mainly a technical one, for economic advancement. Furthermore, its urban space represents a kind of stage for contemporary events with works that are impressive when we consider that it a city in Brazil’s north east.