Post compact city: Brasília’s modernist void in the context of the twenty-first-century urbanization

SABOIA, Luciana; LASSANCE, Guilherme; PESCATORI, Carolina; CAPILLÉ, Cauê. "Post compact city: Brasília's modernist void in the context of the twenty-first-century urbanization". Planning Perspectives, v. 1, p. 1-11, 2026.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2026.2632698

Abstract

As a response to the scenario of dispersed urbanization in the twenty-first century, this article examines how modernist planned cities  – particularly Brasília  – can provide insights for rethinking urbanism beyond the dominant compact-city paradigm. Brasilia was radically criticized for the alleged excess of empty spaces, the great distances, the prioritization of the automobile, the emptying of social life in public spaces, and the denial of the traditional city. The research problem centres on understanding how dispersed, non-compact landscapes, typically dismissed as failures or anomalies, might instead inform design strategies. The idea of a post-compact city emerges from the pressing need for voidness as a strategic component of contemporary urban design capable of integrating ecological functions, infrastructural systems, and evolving social appropriations. Methodologically, the article develops a critical review of modernist urban historiography and engages theoretical contributions from Solà-Morales, Ricoeur, and others. This approach interprets the void not as absence but as a dynamic landscape shaped by ongoing processes of occupation, ecological preservation, and infrastructural articulation. Ultimately, the article proposes the post-compact city as an alternative framework capable of embracing heterogeneity, territorial scale, and ecological resilience in contemporary urban design.

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