|
<<"Subway Turnstyle Jumping Not Forbidden...Yet" [Main Index] "Cycling around the World!">>
Brasilia18 June 2004
This is a great description of this bizzar-o city of 2 million+ inhabitants (borrowed from wsoccer.com).Brasília can be as alienating as any city and, unlike most other Brazilian cities, people here seldom stop or smile to acknowledge a fellow human being. Moreover, on some very basic points, Brasília has certainly failed as a planned city. Forty years on, although people are certainly grumbling less about the soullessness of Brasília, no one would dream of comparing it to Paris, London or Rio for nightlife and entertainment. Many officials still arrive for work on Monday and leave for home on Thursday because they find the city either too oppressive or just plain boring at the weekend. At the most basic level, there’s a distinct lack of street-corner bars and ad hoc market places, things which provide a major social hub elsewhere in Brazil. Instead, there are simply vast areas of empty space, massive and anonymous office or hotel blocks.
|