The Role of Expositions in the Formation of City Planning: The Dissemination of Prestes Maia’s Improvement Plan for Campinas at the 1939 Exhibition.

Abstract

This paper presents the setting of the organization of the 1939 Exhibition-Fair for the Bicentennial of Campinas, which, during 90 days, exposed the Urban Improvement Plan designed by engineer-architect Francisco Prestes Maia to the population both to legitimate its implementation and to bring Campinas into the “modern age”. This regional event sought to introduce the idea of progress and highlight its own modern character, closely linked to the formation of a national identity during the Estado Novo (New State). It thus forms part of the tradition of the city planning discipline, which, since its formation, because of its operative nature, has used such spaces to promote exchanges of experiences between professionals and disseminate new proposals of urban interventions to the population.