From colorful suburbs to wet horizons: Recife's expansion in the 1920s

Abstract

Our historiography has paid little attention to the processes of urban expansion of cities in the 1920s and 1930s by means of plans made by non-specialists but influenced in some way by modern urban planning guidelines. The present text intends to contribute to this debate through the analysis of the urban interventions carried out in the city of Recife, during the period 1922-1926. Created ans carried out when the State of Pernambuco was under the government of Sérgio Loreto and the municipality under Antonio de Góes, these interventions directed the growth to the suburbs, such as the urbanization of Campina do Derby, a new park and neighborhood based on the design principles of Garden City, and the construction of Boa Viagem Avenue, a coastal avenue of about five kilometers, as well as a series of punctual interventions to modernize, rectify and pave old streets and squares in suburban areas. Opposing the typological patterns of the central areas, it was adopted an occupation of isolated houses in the lot and a modern urban design. These works of urban expansion contributed to the Recife urban structure we know today. They have also become a privileged place to observe emerging modern sensibilities: sports, competitions, speeches, mass demonstrations, and car rides.