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Grid Plan New Towns in the BrazilianCoffee FrontierAlessandro Rosaneliaa UFPR—Architecture and Urban Planning, Curitiba, BrazilPublished online: 24 Sep 2014.

To cite this article: Alessandro Rosaneli (2014) Grid Plan New Towns in the Brazilian CoffeeFrontier, Journal of Urban Design, 19:5, 638-659, DOI: 10.1080/13574809.2014.943702

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Grid Plan New Towns in the Brazilian Coffee Frontier

ALESSANDRO ROSANELI

UFPR—Architecture and Urban Planning, Curitiba, Brazil

ABSTRACT The choice of the grid as a support for urban form composition is a strategythat has been applied in many situations throughout the world. Similarly, the meaningsassigned to these orthogonal urban plans have featured distinct and often conflictingpositions. This article explores the creative use of the grid in almost 100 new towns in thelast Brazilian coffee frontier in the early twentieth century, and also contributes toa discussion about its potential in urban design. By assuming infinite configurations, thegrid plan is an example of human inventiveness sometimes neglected for economic reasonsand prejudices.

Introduction

Grid, orthogonal plan, chessboard: these distinct expressions are often employedto describe, in a simplified manner, the design characteristics of the most complexhuman artefact: the city. However, the use of this articulated structure of lines thatintersect at invariant angles is undisputed evidence of the human desire to control(often emphatically) the space and time relationship. With symbolic–metaphys-ical meanings (political, aesthetic and/or religious) and worldly objectives(organizational and/or economic), the grid has sustained a multitude of humanendeavours throughout history, and not least the design of towns. Used for theconstruction of human settlements throughout consecutive periods in historywith greater or less intensity and among civilisations that had no contact with oneanother (based on evidence found thus far), the grid plan inspires imaginationabout the power of this intellectual construction. Based on this secular experience,the possible configurations can be understood as immense, if not infinite.Studying them, therefore, becomes an intriguing exercise of the exploration ofhuman inventiveness and its capability for unlimited composition on a singlesubject and, above all, how to assign and reveal different meanings in relation tothe built environment.

Nonetheless, there are inconsistencies, and many adjectives have been usedto describe the grid. In general, in the debate between the advantages anddisadvantages of its nature lies an inclination toward judgment that disregards thecomplexity of the factors considered in its choice. Often, the grid plan nuances arenot completely captured, a fact that contributes to the unease related to theirapplication. In this sense, it is necessary to emphasize that understanding thesocial structure is a prerequisite for studying the urban form configuration.

Correspondence address. A. Rosaneli. UFPR—Architecture and Urban Planning, RuaFrancisco H. dos Santos, 100 Centro Politecnico, Curitiba, Parana 80000-00, Brazil. Email:alefilla@yahoo.com

Journal of Urban Design, 2014

Vol. 19, No. 5, 638–659, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2014.943702

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The grid, as an indicative signal of planning that refuses spontaneity, can manifestan undeniable source of meaning for understanding the social phenomena thathave shaped and continue to transform the lives of individuals in cities. However,studying the urban form disconnected from the forces that produce it may be asterile or even incorrect approach. Thus, advancing from a position in defense ofregularity or irregularity that may be naive and dogmatic, it should be noted thatcities are an expression of the multiple forces that create them. As noted byMarcuse (1987), one must analyse the clash of diverse social and economicinterests to understand the city form. At the same time, the built environmentdenotes symbolic attributes that express the socio-political and culturalenvironments in which it was conceived. The meanings and values conferredon the space manifest the collective mental structures resulting from culturalprocesses that are sometimes intangible for other interpretive approaches, asindicated by Low (1995).

Indeed, scholars of history and urban morphology suggest that the use of thegrid plan as a compositional element for the creation of urban areas can bedetected in different historical situations in time and space (Galantay 1977; Vance1990; Kostof 1991; Mumford 1998). This work will not review all these moments;instead, in its second part, it will contribute to this debate by examining the designof new towns settled on the coffee frontier in Parana state, southern Brazil, in thetwentieth century. In this territory, as never before in Brazilian history, manyurban settlements were created by the actions of various agents, particularlyprivate real estate companies. As usual in frontier areas around the world, the gridplan was extensively adopted. In Brazil, because this particular phenomenon hasbecome a subject of scientific analysis, it has attracted considerable attention.1

The aims to expose this frontier experience of urban creation are to discuss itsdistinctiveness and how the grid plan can hide intriguing possibilities. This isparticularly relevant when one looks to its use nowadays, especially in Brazil,mainly to minimize costs. Nevertheless, as a preliminary discussion, this paperwill address the question of the meanings of grid plan adoption. The aim is todiscuss situations and to identify conceptual traps and highlight important issues.With so many possibilities, the grid plan has been stripped of its real content, andcapturing its virtues may be the first step to a deeper exploitation.

The Grid Plan and the Mind

In Portuguese, the word ‘grid’ (grelha) reflects a spatial imprecision that evokes nodemarcation in particular. There is a similar lack of clarity in English, and differentwords, such as ‘gridiron’ and ‘checkerboard’, offer formal possibilities that theword grid only suggests:

‘Gridiron,’ in the United States at least, implies a pattern of long narrowblocks, and ‘checkerboard’ a pattern of square blocks. These are the twocommonest divisions of a grid plan. The basis of a true checkerboard isbound to be modular, since the quadratic units produced by thecoordinates are equal. A gridiron may prove to be modular or not,depending on the regularity of the long narrow blocks and the relation oftheir size to the public buildings and open spaces. The truecheckerboards are rare. [ . . . ] Rectangular blocks are much commoner.

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But as a rule, a grid plan will contain a mixture of different-size blocks, ifnot initially, then through units added after the fact.(Kostof 1991, 124)

Therefore, although it is commonly understood as a simplified standard of urbandesign, an orthogonal plan can assume various configurations. In an attempt topromote a more comprehensive understanding, some authors have promotedratings based on the observation of these design possibilities. Grant (2001) relatedthe elements of urban form to power and wealth representations and noted twopossibilities: the ‘egalitarian grid’ and the ‘hierarchical grid’. She noted thataspects of street system standards and the sizes of lots and blocks can contribute tothis distinction. She emphasizes, however, that the temporal condition may be anelement of the transformation of this classification.

Due to the variety of shapes, sizes and solutions that an orthogonal plan canpossess, Marcuse adopts a classification that seeks to understand the implicationsthat the grid may represent in certain historical periods through a distinctionbetween the ‘closed grid’ and the ‘open grid’:

the classic closed grid is laid out for a clearly limited area defined by citywalls, fortifications, major outer termini for central streets, greenbelts,etc., whereas the open grid is laid out with a view towards expansion andreduplication, in one or more directions, theoretically without limit.A closed gridiron plan is a complete and encompassing plan for aphysically defined and bounded area; the open gridiron is an initial steptowards plotting an unknown and perhaps unlimited area capable ofindefinite expansion. (Marcuse 1987, 290–291)

With such formal aspects in evidence, it can be said that the grid application in citydesign has established a heritage of human action, both geographically andchronologically. Given this demonstration and the enormous challenge it presents,these authors have developed explanatory frameworks for understanding thechanging meaning of its use throughout history. The latter author, for example, inan attempt to explain the use of the two possible forms of the grid, attests to theexistence of three distinct phases by observing the evolution of the socio-economicstructure of societies (Marcuse 1987).2 Grant (2001) presents a typology derivedfrom the analytical investigation of the socio-political structure and discusses thereasons that three types of societies have employed the grid in their cities.3

Although these two systems of thinking are distinct, the implicit compellingaspect in both reflects the effort to demonstrate the close correlation betweensocial structures and city design. Again, it is emphasized here that the study ofurban form without an understanding of the social phenomena that produces itcan lead to astonishing misinterpretations.

The Grid Plan and the Power

There is no simple relationship between form and content. Perceptual psychology,through Gestalt theory and its laws, may provide one of the most systematicattempts at explaining the relationship between an object’s form and meaning(Gomes Filho 2008). The immediate understanding of the compositional rulebehind a grid may contribute to the universality and rich inventiveness of its usein diverse academic fields.

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In the visual arts, especially in Modernism, the grid has been extensivelyapplied. According to Krauss (1985), it has been successfully used because of itspeculiar ‘mythical power’ that allows a contradiction between materialism andspiritualism. However, from an etiologic position, he notes that as a myth it has a‘repressive’ aspect, and because it represents the centrifugal and centripetalexistence at the same time, it is ‘pleasantly schizophrenic’. Beyond theseparadoxes, the grid has the capacity to serve as a paradigm or model, and itfunctions as a ‘declaration of modernity of Modern Art’.

Likewise, this implicit structure can be perceived in other visual fields.Williamson (1986) attempts to show how the meaning of the grid in the graphicarts has expressed different views of the world over time. He notes that itrepresented central importance for the consolidation of Modernism through auniversally valid Cartesian rational symbolism that was later questioned byPostmodernismwhen the invisible logic underlying the composition was exposedor deconstructed. Elam (2004) demonstrates that typography can explore theperception of order and unity, embracing it as a principle of composition and evenusing the basic idea of the ‘rule of thirds’.4 However, beyond these formalconcerns, the manifestation of rationality and objectivity that the grid transmitsindicates the commitment of the author to society because this representationpurposely adds ‘credibility’ and ‘induces trust’, becoming both a socialresponsibility and a philosophical attitude.

In architecture, the work of Steadman (1983, 2006) is notable for itsmorphological approach. Concerned with the predominance of rectangularbuildings in the horizontal plane, he argues that one of the key reasons was thesuperior flexibility of the rectangle as a compositional form in relation to othergeometric shapes. It is important to consider that this analysis explains the appealthat square and rectangular shapes offer to designers. Ching (2007) demonstratedmultiple modes of grid application and highlighted its compositional ability aswell as another potential: its ‘tri-dimensional extensibility’ and its ability toundergo transformations (partial subtraction and addition, for example) and toretain its identity as an organizational framework.

Briefly, what is evidenced by the use of the grid in the small sample of fieldsdescribed above is its diffusion as an organizing element. It may be believed thatthis element is unfailing. In the construction of cities, however, beyond order,given the massive expenditure of energy and time to build one of the mostenduring and complex human artefacts and the intrinsic interdependencebetween the final product and the community, the meaning of the grid acquiresgreater complexity. As Nicolini (2005) noted, the difference in times and durationsbetween the artistic manifestations and the city, the latter understood as a‘palimpsest’, does not allow a simple transposition.

One of the most quoted arguments defends the relationship between the gridand the exercise of authority, whether political, religious or economic (Rykwert[1976] 2006; Kostof 1991; Smith 2007). Grant (2001, 237), advancing on thisrationality, warns that this feature reveals the ‘dark side’ of the grid, which hasoften served as an instrument of domination and repression.

However, Rykwert ([1976] 2006) reveals a parallel, if not complementary,position that seeks to recover the customs and belief systems of the ancientWestern world to detail the relationship between the use of orthogonal plans andan implicit metaphysical order. Without disregarding the economic, demographicand practical aspects, he argues that the choice of the site and the city layout were

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established mainly with respect to mythic and ritualistic motivations, in whichcosmology played a prominent role. Through observation of the stars, aconnection with the deities was established, and ‘the heavenly order was settled inthe territory’. The author also shows, however, the possibility of manipulation,exemplified by the ‘collective neurosis’ around rituals in Ancient Rome.In another context, the perception of regularity in a square plan, which maysuggest the grid layout, would also have transcendental meaning. Nicolini (2005)and Segura (2006) also link the symbolic content of ‘perfect form’ described by St.John in Christian Hispanic American urban construction.

Smith (2007) disagrees with the high level of significance attributed to the useof the grid; for this author, the convenience of its practicality is a major reason forits universal adoption.5 In another article, Smith highlights the dangers ofunfounded methodological research in the study of the relationship betweencosmology and city design. Ironically, he stresses that such investigations revealmore about the researcher’s mentality than that of the people who areinvestigated. However, for the Mayan cities and other Mesoamerican cultures,he suggests a possible metaphysical relationship but notes that ‘empirical’ reasonsshould also be considered (Smith 2003).

Another possible approach that explores the relationship between power andthe grid comes from the assignment of a ‘democratic’ feature of its subdivision: thegrid’s provision of meager representational purposes could be interpreted asevidence of a commitment to equality or to equitable distribution:

It has no center, or at best a crossroad; the hub of a radial pattern, thefocus of a long and broad boulevard, the hierarchical ordering of uses,are not favored by a grid. Later it will be even argued that there is a‘democratic’ aspect to the grid, in which all parcels are created equal andalike [ . . . ]. (Marcuse 1987, 294).

In fact, Sennett (1990), noting the grid’s application in the United States, supports ahypothesis: the grid’s neutrality imposes no meaning or differentiation to space,which is suitable to theProtestant ethicalperspective. Reps (1979,X), pointingout theprevalent practice of orthogonal plans in the AmericanWest, notes that this practiceoffers ‘apparently the same locations for homes and businesses within astandardized structure, [ . . . ]’. Vance (1990) supports the hypothesis that extensiveEuropean experience with the Bastille during the late Middle Ages led to theorthogonality incipient in changes toward greater economic freedom and socialpolitical equality.Moreover, it would have acted as a ‘model’ and ‘laboratory’ for theEnglish colonization of America. Kostof recalls thewords of Ildefonso Cerda Sunyer(1815–76) on the regularity of the expansion plan for Barcelona as a ‘clear andgenuine expression [ . . . ] ofmathematical equality,which is the equality of rights andinterests, of justice itself’ (Kostof 1991, 152). Mumford, describing the new level ofplanning in theHellenistic Greek city, presents an intriguing additional observation:

[ . . . ] The minimum order not just put everyone on equal footing: aboveall, made strangers feel as comfortable as the older inhabitants. In a cityof commerce, always full of foreign merchants and sailors, this ease oforientation and identification was a significant advantage. [ . . . ].(Mumford, [1961] 1998, 213)

With regard to this controversial attribute, it must be considered that a gridscheme does not always have a homogeneous format of blocks and lots in its

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extension. Even if they are initially identical, there are no generic parameters toassert that there is no social, or even economic, differentiation. Instead, as Kostof(1991) and Grant (2001) noted, tyrannical regimes, absolute governments andcolonial empires have adopted this scheme in an attempt to gain greater control.Kostof (1991, 99–100), exemplifying this perspective, notes that ‘the politicalinnocence of the grid in the West is a fiction. [ . . . ] The fact is that egalitarianism isno more natural to gridded patterns than to any other urban form’. In thisparticular clash of ideas, one can see the vastness of the possible messages andinterpretations that this scheme can instigate.

‘The Grid is What You Make It’

Another way to approach this theme lies in the debate about the ‘advantages’ and‘disadvantages’ of the use of the grid, in which confusion often reigns; the sameimpression can generate distinct meanings. Its immediate readability, for example,can be celebrated as practical, convenient and a facilitator of the understanding ofthe spatial structure; at the same time, it can be considered obvious, repetitive andusual, and can be attacked because of an impoverished and banal juxtaposition ofCartesian elements as the result of the most complete lack of imagination, asymptom of a primitive state of culture. As Grant (2001, 221) asserts, ‘While thegrid stands as an important civic symbol, the historical record shows that it canrepresent a wide array of meanings in societies with divergent objectives andorganizing strategies.’ Mumford (1998, 328) warned about a ‘constant stream offalse speculation and interpretation’. However, considering both adverse andfavorable arguments is essential because this is one of the most typical ways ofassigning content to certain features of the grid.

Generally, the arguments that express the advantages of orthogonal plans arebased on the possibilities presented by its formal simplicity. Thus, one of its mostacclaimed features arises from the ease with which it is settled in the field anddocumentarily transferred, even in times of limited technical knowledge andtrained personnel.

Another property that is highlighted is its flexibility. In this respect, theneutrality of its formal arrangement allows different uses organized freely in spaceas well as its possible application in different functional programs and scales, frommilitary camps to power or commerce centres, demonstrating its versatility.Mascaro (1997, 25–26), providing a comparative description of different types ofurban grid plans, focuses on its economic and functional issues.6 As positivepoints, Mascaro emphasizes that orthogonal plans allow greater accessibilitybecause they are more permeable for both motorized vehicles and walkingindividuals, and they ensure greater flexibility for delivery and collection services.Lynch and Hack (1984, 195) suggest that this aspect manifests the ‘essence’ of thegrid plan because of the ‘interconnection of its regularity’. Here lies one of the keypoints that Jacobs [1961] 2000, 197–206) uses to defend the promotion of urbandiversity and sociability by advocating the adoption of short blocks, which areespecially useful in the discussion about the reticular Manhattan.

Due to the invoked functionality, practicality and efficiency that largelydepend on the geometric discipline, the grid has frequently been expanded toinfinity throughout the territory. For Smith (2007), these characteristics make theorthogonal plan ‘ecologically correct’ because less land is wasted. However, thesesame principles are well understood by entrepreneurs who used the grid for the

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speedy recovery of their expenditures in a speculative manner. Above all, theefficiency and permeability of orthogonal plans are regarded as essential tosupport the movement.

[ . . . ] The grid rather than an orthogonal pattern is formed by theintersection of two sets of parallel lines and involves a priority for thepublic movements system. The reticular urbanization maximizesefficiency; it is the opposite of a cell based and welfare-oriented planning(the individual, the family or the neighbourhood). (Galantay, 1977, 42)7

Given this endless applicability, the properties that identify the fragility of thegrid are the scheme uniformity and homogeneity, which generate a feeling ofspatial monotony. The difficulty of providing distinctive solutions to emphasizeimportant urban spaces, usually public open areas, may represent the apex of thiscondition. It appears, however, that the lack ofpublic spaces that is often consideredan intrinsic characteristic of a grid plan is the responsibility of the decision-makermuch more than a weakness of the schema itself. Another important criticisminvolves theuse of the grid in conflictwith the site’s natural elements, uponwhich itis often heavily imposed. Nevertheless, the strength of the order can be acclaimed:

The very weakness of the Milesian plan—its indifference to the contoursof the land, sources, rivers, coastal lines, groves of trees—only made itmore admirable, by providing a basic minimum of order to a site that thecolonists would not have, for long time, the means to fully exploit.Within the shortest possible time, everything was brought under control[ . . . ]. (Mumford 1998, 213)8

In terms of ‘disadvantages’, the collected adjectives are almost inexhaustible:tedious, redundant, alienated, ahistorical, trivial, anonymous, shy, poor,primitive, dry, rigid, mechanical, mathematical, artificial, imposing, ruthless,repressive, insensitive, mundane. There is such disagreement that there are‘challenging’ and ‘anti-grid’ paradigms. In this debate, which may be subjective,discriminative and endless, the orthogonal plan acquires contradictory connota-tions. However, as Marcuse warns, its interpretation cannot be ahistorical anddetached from concrete experiences. In this sense, ‘the grid in itself is neither“good” nor “bad” city planning: its effects will necessarily always be contingenton conditions of time, space, power and stage of economic development’(Marcuse 1987, 307–308). Lynch and Hack (1984) agree and they warn that muchof what is attributed as imperfection to this compositional standard is not inherentin it. Martin (1972), considering its use throughout history, argues that this ancientcompositional structure also enables the design of new organizational principles.Finally, Kostof provides a precise summary:

The virtue of the grid is precisely in being a conceptual formal order,non-hierarchical, neutral until it is infused with specific content. Thegrid is free both of malerisch incident and of ideological posturing. It isrepetitive, homogenous, even redundant. And because it is so, it calls usboth to respect it and to complete it. Our task as designers becomes oneof celebrating its commonality while teasing it into calibrations it doesnot promise as a two-dimensional plan on the ground. The grid carriesno inherent burden of its own. The grid is what you make it. (Kostof1991, 157)

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What it is exposed in these lines is that the grid, as perhaps the simplestcompositional element, provokes an endless series of positions. Sometimesantagonistic and even contradictory, it shows, above all, the inventiveness of thedirection of the built environment by the human intellect. With so manypossibilities, the grid is extensively used in the expansion of Western cities. In theBrazilian actuality, in most cases, the grid houses the poverty of the speculativespirit in anodyne and uninventive subdivisions and it is obsessed withautomotive mobility issues. However, in the recent past, it was used with greatcreativity. The next sections will explore the last scenario.

The Last Brazilian Coffee Frontier

News about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest remains frequent in theworld media. Thus, it can be said that the frontier in Brazil is a presentphenomenon, as shown in Figure 1. At the same time, Latin America’sagropastoral expansion opened other frontiers, such as those in Paraguay andArgentina, just to be restricted to the Southern continent. However, few studieshave gone beyond the traditional lines of investigation of this phenomenon andthe work of Argentine geographer Reboratti (1990) is an exception. So the frontierareas in Latin America are awaiting further studies that may be diverse andpotentially unifying. Among the various territories opened by the movement ofthe frontier in Brazil, this paper describes one created by the action of the realestate companies in the north of Parana state in the twentieth century due to thecoffee culture, a unique phenomenon in its intensity and extension in Brazil andLatin America. This territory is the endpoint of the advance of coffee throughoutBrazil, starting in the former province of Rio de Janeiro in the early nineteenthcentury and going through Sao Paulo state at the end of the same century.Therefore, rather than examining specific scenes in the interior of Brazil, a possiblemotif for the common understanding of a Pan-American pattern of urbanizationthat considers the North American frontier is described.

In northern Parana, the coffee cultivation and land sales animated frontierexpansion. The former, which was very sensitive to economic fluctuations inforeign circumstances (Bacha 1992), provided a steady influx of pioneers in searchof opportunities. The latter, as an expression of the historical contradictionsaround land ownership access in Brazil, found in Parana state the conditions forthe commercial division of the territory through private entrepreneurs andgovernment initiative. These two phenomena were mutually supported andproduced the last coffee frontier in Brazil where once existed a subtropical forest.

Coffee cultivation in northern Parana began in the mid-nineteenth centurybut became relevant only from the early twentieth century. According to Cancian(1977), it is possible to distinguish three ‘conjunctures’: 1906–29, 1930–45 and1945–70, all conditioned by major world socioeconomic events. However, if theglobal economic and political conditions did not induce major changes in thisagricultural area in the first two periods, the ‘third scenario’ was far moredynamic. As Padis (1981) noted, the production of Parana state peaked at 62.8% ofBrazilian production in 1962–63. The importance of coffee to the nationaleconomy was such that between 1950 and 1954 the share of coffee in the totalexport value reached 65.5%. In 1960, Parana was responsible for nearly one-thirdof the world’s coffee production.

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Figure 1. The frontier zones in Brazil with the newest ones in the Legal Amazon area in the northernportion of the country and Parana state highlighted by solid line. Source: Machado (1992), 36.

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At this dynamic moment, business with land gained intensity and arousedgreater ambitions. The French geographer Pierre Monbeig, who visited the regionseveral times, notes that the continuous increments in land price increasinglypromoted the financially prepared entrepreneur’s participation (Monbeig 1984). Insuch a universe, the agents created several techniques for project promotion.Advertising on trains, on the roads and in themedia indicated the fierce competitionbetween companies. The sound of excited business reverberated throughout thesocial structure. Ranchers and townspeople took advantage of this time andspeculated with their properties, boosting companies’ entrepreneurial activity,which increasingly and carefully organized the occupation of the territory. Toacquire the land, to conduct the necessary surveys, to open roads and finally to sellthe land to poor people required capital that only the companies had. The usualagricultural fluctuations of coffee reinforced these difficulties. However, one specificaspect of the Brazilian coffee frontier must be emphasized: it was recognized as aperiod of intense urbanization (Marx 1980) because coffee is an agricultural productthat requires processing at a large scale, made in the urban centres.

The first urban settlement founded in the north of Paranawas Primeiro deMaioTown in 1923, the only urban center in the colonization project of the ‘Corain & Cia.’real estate company in its area. For Bernardes (1953, 31), this project reveals themoment of the opening of the pioneer fringe in Parana. Since then, companies of allsizes and of various nationalities have expanded this frontier. Several hadoperations that were restricted to rural subdivisions, but many worked in thefoundation of urban centres. Several towns were designed as small and modesturban centres called ‘patrimonios’, but, in general, they were presented withenthusiastic propaganda intended to obtain success and a prominent position in thedeveloping urban network. As a result, a phenomenon was established that recallssome moments of the occupation of the American West in its varied frontiers, asdescribed by Reps (1979). Considering only the ‘patrimonios’ that were turned into‘municıpios’—the Brazilian urban administrative jurisdiction—more than 40 realestate companies acted in the new towns’ founding process of Parana coffee frontier.

New Towns in the Parana Coffee Frontier

The first settlements founded in the north of Parana state dated back to thenineteenth century and came from the customary process of the creation of urbancentres observed in Brazilian history. First, a farmer donated a parcel of his ruralproperty to a Catholic Church installation. Gradually, it was transformed into asmall village surrounded by large estates, where coffee was not yet the main crop.Decades later, stimulated by railroad construction, a new impetus to settle wasstarted in the mid-1920s. Better transport enabled the installation of coffee farms,and some towns emerged from the railway stations. At the same time, companieswere organized to sell tracts of land and to found new towns. The phenomenonthat is described here began in 1923 with Primeiro de Maio Town and continueduntil 1966 when Tupassi Town was founded by the Colonizadora Norte do ParanaLtda. real estate company.

It can be argued that the urban areas created on the coffee frontier possessedthe essential function of market supply, trade and export points (Monbeig 1945).Primarily, these settlements were the reference point for the beginning of life andthe succession of political, religious, educational and cultural activities ofeveryday life. Thus, despite the prominence of commercial functions, these

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characteristics broke the distancing of the countryside residents, as noted byBowman (1931) for other pioneer fringes of the world.

As evidenced by Kostof (1991, 38), cities do not remain isolated from others:‘Cities come in clusters.A townneverexistsunaccompaniedbyothers towns.’ In fact,one of the distinguishing characteristics of this movement is the interdependencebetween urban centres since their genesis. The newly founded towns rested in thespecialized urban structure of the established ones and, in some cases, remaineddependent. With the advance of colonization, an urban network was graduallyformed that connected the towns with each other and with the rest of the country.Thispaper consideredall the 96new towns foundedby real estate companiesofmorethan 300 urban settlements that emerged in this part of Brazil, as shown in Figure 2.

During the analysed period, an average of two new towns emerged eachyear. In general, for the whole period, the rhythm of foundation is fragmented.From 1923 through the next two decades, the creation of towns was marked bygreat instability. However, the ‘third conjuncture’ (1945–70) reflects the realestate companies’ activities. In fact, in the first half of the analysed period(1923–44), 13 towns were established, whereas in the following period (1945–66) more than 85% of the studied settlements were founded. In this 22-yearperiod, close to four towns were created each year, on average. However, in the1950s, the foundation process became more intense and concentrated, andalmost half the towns were settled. The brief period of the greatest activity wasbetween 1951 and 1953, with an average of more than 11 settlements foundedeach year. The year 1953 was particularly a time of great real estate activity,with 15% of towns founded. Figure 3 offers a visual component to this creationprocess.

Figure 2. The 96 frontier towns founded by real estate companies in northern Parana state and theactual administrative jurisdiction boundaries. Source: Rosaneli (2013), 66.

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The Grid Plan in the Parana Coffee Frontier

By observing the specificities of the urban form of these frontier towns, thepreference for the grid is evident, as it can be seen in the plans in Figure 4.However, the diverse solutions that were employed do not allow a simple and

immediate interpretation of these plans. Although no generic plan or stereotypicalsolution were found, we also did not identify any spatial innovation. Thus, the

Figure 3. The foundation timeline of frontier towns created by real estate companies in northern Paranastate. Source: Rosaneli (2013), 70.

Figure 4. New towns’ grid plans in Parana coffee frontier. Rosaneli (2013).

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orthogonal regularity is presented as the paramount spatial characteristic.In general, plans in which geometrically shaped blocks experienced little variation(up to one-third of the total projected) constitute the majority. Evidently, thisorthogonality contributed significantly to the parcels’ exhibition of a pattern inthis format, facilitating deployment and sales. However, it must be noted that insome cases the geometric inventiveness contrasts these settlements with thosecommonly found in other frontier experiments around the world, as it can be seenin Reps (1965) for America and in Hay (1984) for Paraguay.

One of the most striking facts is that the absolute majority of the plats was laidon the ridge always surrounded by several river sources as in Rolandia Town(1932), for example (Figure 5). In this disposition, rarely did the plans interact withthe rich hydrographic network of the region.

In observance of the inspirations in geometry, two arrangements wereapplied in more than half of the new towns. The first concerns the use of regulargeometric shapes to define the outline of the plan. Several figures were chosen tolimit the creations, but the rectangular array, which is perfectly adjustable to theblock shape, is the most widely adopted and recognized in Querencia do NorteTown (1950) in Figure 6. Other figures are rarer, but the external format of IvateTown (1958), in Figure 7, is an example of a creative use of geometric figure.The second application relates to the arrangement of symmetry for the internalcomposition of the grid, partial or total, as shown in the map of Lobato Town(1948) in Figure 8, in which case the symmetry is close to perfection.

The analysis of the street system reveals more explicitly the zeal andconsistency with which past practices manifest in the design of these plans.Indeed, the concern with issues of movement allowed certain universal solutions,though elementary, to be transformed into the usual principles. Most plans adopta simple hierarchy by distinguishing streets from avenues and this particularclassification, apart from any cultural connotation, means that avenues are alwayswider than streets and in a prominent position. Variations occur in larger plans

Figure 5. Rolandia Town planshowing the original urban centerdeployment with topographicallines. Source: Rosaneli 2006, 23.

Figure 6. Querencia do Norte Town rectangular plan. Source:Rosaneli (2013), 132.

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and at the end of the analysed period, when a set of more hierarchically complexcentral avenues appears, as in Tupassi Town (1966), in Figure 9. In general, mostplans are structured by various avenues, with evidence of one in particular: the‘main street’, whose deployment usually accompanies the line of a watershedintersection. When a plan uses mirroring, the main street becomes the symmetryaxis, as in Cidade Gaucha Town (1952), in Figure 10. In another common device,the openings at the intersections of two orthogonal avenues result in public openspaces in different settings. Among the numerous examples in the Itauna do SulTown plan (1951), in Figure 11, is a square that is the only modification in the grid.Another expedient type used was the radial arrangement. However, thecomplexity of its implementation is variable. In the plan of Nova Olımpia Town(1951), in Figure 12, this idea fully structures the design; in the plan of LoandaTown (1952), in Figure 13, this scheme takes advantage of the topography to createa masterfully generous square in the central part of the converging grids.

Observing the magnitude of the original plans and contrasting them with theeffectively settled areas provides a valuable analysis of the commercialassumptions of these initiatives. In fact, one-fourth of the new towns studiedwere not fully completed as designed. This is a strong indication that supports thehypothesis of the contribution of the urban element to the speculative atmospherecharacteristic of the coffee frontier universe. An example is the case of Alto ParanaTown (1948), in Figure 14, which has a grid that is ambitiously designed for theterritory but which was not completely successful because only approximatelyone-third of the 7679 lots for sale were sold and settled. Figure 15 illustrates someof these plans at the same scale to give a better view of their dimensions and streetsystem features.

Figure 7. Ivate Town octagonal plan. Source: Rosaneli (2013), 133.

Figure8.LobatoTownplanandtheinternal symmetry composition.

Source: Rosaneli (2013), 141.

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Figure 10. Cidade Gaucha Town plan and the central main street as the axis of symmetry. Source:(Rosaneli 2013), 153.

Figure 9. Tupassi Town plan and the hierarchical street system. Source: Rosaneli (2013), 126.

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Likewise, if thewhole conception of these plans has specificities that qualify thegrid the decisions taken for the prescription of the parties can evidence othermeasures that demonstrate the myriad of solutions. Observing closely the blockshapes of these towns, the rectangle appears as the preferentially adopted figure inthese plans. The arched blocks, which are almost rectangular, also attest to this

Figure 11. Itauna do Sul Town grid plan and the circular central square. Source: Rosaneli (2013), 147.

Figure 12. Nova Olımpia Town radial concentric plan. Source: Rosaneli (2013), 151.

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preference, as noted in Ivaipora Town (1953), in Figure 16.However, the blocks of thefirst new townswere in a square or approximate shape and, over time, there has beenagradual abandonmentof this solution in favorof theadoptionof rectangularblocks,which are economicallymore advantageous because it producesmore regular plots.

Figure 13. Loanda Town intricate plan withgrids in several directions. Source: Rosaneli

(2013), 150.

Figure 14. Alto Parana Town plan area not fullycomplete decades after its foundation, in 1980.

Source: Rosaneli (2013), 155.

Figure 15. Drawings of the original plans: (A) Rolandia Town, (B) Querencia do Norte Town, (C) IvateTown, (D) Lobato Town, (E) Tupassi Town, (F) Cidade Gaucha Town, (G) Itauna do Sul Town, (H)Loanda Town, (I) Alto Parana Town, (J) Londrina Town and (K) Perola Town. Source: Rosaneli (2013);

drawing by Isadora Ohata and Scharlise Minte.

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Regarding the blocks’ size, large blocks are not generally employed. Two formats areused: a rectangle of approximately 150 £ 80m or a quadratic up to 125m per side.Many of the plans show little or no modification (up to one-third of the total) in thetype of block used. In this respect, it is common to have a ‘block type’ followedindiscriminately throughout the plan. Overall, these blocks have lots facing the fourfronts, with 16, 20 or 24 lots.

The shape of the minimum portion of land displays a great constancy in all theplans considered: the plot that is widely employed is rectangular with 15m of frontand 30 or 40m of depth, generally. Thus, the lot area is generous, between 450 and600m2, because the pioneers had initial needs and these plots housed smallplantations and animal livestock; also, the first wooden buildings must be isolatedfrom each other since firefighting was not an easy task. Above all, this plotstandardization was favorable for business decisions and legal registration. Thus,theminimumportion also confirms the search for regularity, perhaps because it alsofacilitated the work of the other actors involved, such as designers. Actually, inParana state coffee frontier civil engineers were the main actors in the field ofurbanism, much because of the requirement expressed by federal law, from 1938.No architect, urban planner or landscape architect designed any plan. Thus, even iflarge firms often gathered professionals fromdiverse backgrounds in their technicalstaff—surveyors, topographers, agronomists, and so on—it would be the engineerswhowould become directly responsible for the urban layouts: for example, the civilengineer Arthur Bruno Junges, responsible for almost all the plans of Byington &Cia real estate company; the civil engineer Alexandre Beltrao, for the SociedadeTecnica e Colonizadora Engenheiro Beltrao Ltda. real estate company; and the civilengineer Othon Mader for Colonizadora Rio Bom real estate company. But ingeneral these professionals were hired for each project that opened in the frontier. Inthis context, one should note the work of civil engineer Yaroslau Sessak, Ukrainianby birth, whose office in Apucarana Town obtained the commission for thedevelopment of the plans of the cities of Ivaipora Town (Figure 16), for SociedadeTerritorial Uba real estate company, and Paranacity Town, for Imobiliaria Progressoreal estate company. This prominence of professional engineers also offers anothercomponent for the printed regularity in these grid plans, when the mathematicscomposes with the frontier everyday life drama.

Figure 16. Ivaipora Townplanof the central partwith its distinctive solutions.Source: Rosaneli (2013), 162.

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Finally, some considerations about plazas. They are formally celebrated asdistinct elements within the plans, and sometimes the only ones. Thearrangements are varied, but they are structurally very similar because theyinvolve the central spaces: geometric, topographic and/or symbolic. Throughtheir placement at the middle of the intersection of streets, they acquire focalattention. A careful implementation in correspondence with the elevated part ofthe site enhances the setting of the urban landscape. Of many examples, there isthe visual expressivity obtained in the plans of Londrina Town (1930) (Figure 17),Nova Olımpia Town (1951) (Figure 12) and Loanda Town (1952) (Figure 13)Regarding the settings chosen for the plazas, the basic geometric shapes areconstant, and the circular shape that is usually chosen to arrange the squaresdeployed on major street intersections is present, as in Perola Town (1953), inFigure 18. The plan of Tupassi Town (1966) (Figure 9) is distinguished by the use ofthe same symmetrical and hierarchically arranged shape and size (an 80mdiameter circle) for the seven plazas provided, which are structurally very similarto the plan of Loanda Town (1952) (Figure 13) with its five central plazas in asquare shape with 84m on each side.

Conclusion

The Parana state coffee frontier towns demonstrate that the urban morphologyapproach in frontier areas can reveal surprises. Undoubtedly, understanding thesocioeconomic processes that supported the creation of the urban settlementsdeepens the comprehension of the spatial results and avoids simplisticexplanations based on purely formal observations. In this regard, the grid planadoption as major element of design composition in frontier areas can hidemultiple reasons, in addition to those already widely registered throughout theworld. In fact, based on the analysis at different layers, it can be stated that theregularity of these town plans within the Brazilian hinterland appears as a strikingfeature. In many examples, its application seeks a standardized product tofacilitate the design, legalization, demarcation and sales. Also, the speculationappears strongly in the magnitude of many plans. So, it is quite possible toconfirm the Marcuse classification of ‘open grid’ to them.

Figure 17. Londrina Town plan and the centralplazas in the most elevated part of the site. Source:

Rosaneli (2013), 175.Figure 18. Perola Town plan and the plazas in themain street intersections. Source: Rosaneli (2013),

146.

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However, someprecautions—such as site selection, topographical observationto locate the plan, disposition, size and formats of the public places, street systemhierarchy, and the external and internal geometric solutions employed—demonstrate a rich set of features that are ordinary in Parana coffee frontiertowns. So, in contrast to other frontier areas around the world, all these attributeshighlight the distinctiveness of Brazilian new towns. On the other hand, links withurban theories in vogue in the country or internationally do not constitute a generalexplanatory basis, maybe because of the activity of civil engineers. Anyway, in thedynamic movement of territory transformation uncertainty and speculationcreated an atmosphere where there was not time for social, political or aestheticinnovation in thefieldof urbandesign.Nonetheless, sensitive concepts of geometryand accurate techniques of urban construction were effectively applied innumerous projects for these frontier towns.

Perhaps the most emblematic issue is the reminder that orthogonal planshave infinite combinations, which are revealed through a detailed analysis ofurban form elements. Thus, considerations about the grid’s advantages ordisadvantages in city design are a rather simplistic approximation. In this sense,the grid plan, which has been used for millennia, continues to have a mysteriouscompositional beauty that inspires attention.

Finally, despite the newest agricultural frontiers in Brazil, it is nomore usual tocreate towns as happened in Brazilian urban history. The mechanization ofagriculture reinforced another kind of demographic movement since the middle oflast century that led people to the cities. In consequence, the grid plan has beenextensively applied in city expansion in countless urban developments by publicandprivate agents. It could be stated that this predilectionhas a determinant aspect:to minimize costs as it has been accredited many times for this design solution. Allthe advantages are claimed to justify the choice of the most simplified and least-inspired solutions of the grid plan.Atmost, these arrangements only seek to respectthe street connections in favourof vehicularmovement and there is little attention toothers aspects. The resultinguninspired schemeshaveenormous social andculturalconsequences because they impose a permanent speculative spirit on the territory,leavingmarks for future generations. Thus, the grid plan can be seen as a symbol ofthis situationwhich increases theprejudgements against its adoption. In this regard,looking to the past for the design examples in Parana coffee frontier could be a validmethod to capture some of the possibilities that a grid plan can generate.

Notes

1. To followthisdebate, seeRosaneli (2009), ch. 4.Furtherdevelopment isdescribedinRosaneli (2013).

2. According to Marcuse, the three basic phases are represented by three types of towns: the

‘pre-capitalist city’, the ‘city of laissez-faire capitalism’, and the ‘city of mature capitalism’. In this

scheme, the ‘closed grid’ would often be adopted until the advent of capitalism, and the ‘open grid’

would be a product of capitalism associated with speculation.

3. Grant makes clear that these categories represent finite times within a given society because the

relationship of authoritywith power is temporally variable, and there is no evolutionary progression

between them. Thus, the three categories of society are the ‘diffuse authority’, the ‘centralizing

authority’ and the ‘globalizing authority’. Generally, the author shows that although the first uses an

‘equalitarian grid’, the second type of society uses the ‘hierarchical grid’. The societies of ‘globalizing

authority’ apply both, according to the purposes of wealth and status.

4. The rule of thirds is to divide a square or rectangle into nine parts through a grid with two

horizontal and two vertical lines in which the four points of their intersections become focus points

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of privileged attention. This technique is applied to various fields of typography as well as paintingand photography.

5. On the social significance of the built environment, the author relies on the classification establishedby the architect Amos Rapoport (Rapoport 1988, 1990) and identifies three levels: high, medium,and low. However, the messages are not independent and mutually exclusive, which implies greatdifficulties in interpretation.

6. Mascaro focuses on the study of performance between what he calls ‘open grid’ and ‘closed grid’.Although there may be non-orthogonal urban closed grids and orthogonal urban open grids, theissues raised by the author can be used to illustrate the proposition in focus here.

7. A literal translation of the following: ‘[ . . . ] La retıcula, mas que por un esquema ortogonal, estaformada por la interseccion de dos series de lıneas paralelas e implica una prioridad para el sistemade movimientos publicos. La urbanizacion reticular maximiza la eficiencia; es lo contrario de unaplanificacion basada en la celula y orientada al bienestar (el individuo, la familia o el barrio).’

8. A literal translation of the following: ‘A propria fraqueza do plano milesio—sua indiferenc�a aoscontornos da terra, as fontes, rios, linhas litoraneas, bosques de arvores—apenas o tornava muitomais admiravel, por proporcionar uma basemınima de ordem a um sıtio que os colonos nao teriam,por muito tempo, os meios de explorar plenamente. Dentro do mais curto prazo possıvel, tudo eraposto sob controle [ . . . ].’

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