A project for Brazilian cities and the place of public health

Abstract

The article reconstructs fundamental milestones of Brazilian urbanization, with the objective of arguing  for the need of social construction of a project for our cities, capable not only of making progressive  theoretical formulations, but also, above all, of  converging social forces around an agenda aimed at  achieving cities that are more just socio-spatially, environmentally sustainable, economically dynamic  and culturally plural. For that, we first deal with the  structural aspects of Brazilian urbanization throughout  the 20th century and highlight virtuous  experiences of local governments in the late 1980s  and 1990s. Then, we analyze contradictions  engendered in the 2000s and, finally, we list some of  the first proposals minimally agreed upon so far.