The City Within the City: the University City, History and Urbanism in a Latin American Case Study

The slowed university city planning process in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, from 1942 to 1962, presents itself as a microcosm, a meaningful example of the role of university cities in the broader context of contemporary Latin American cities. As was the case in Mexico City, Caracas and Bogota, the triumph of modernism in architectural plans for the Belo Horizonte University City was in tune with political projects for modernity and development. The confrontation between two projects - neoclassical versus modernist - acquired significant political meaning in a debate on the university's role in the broader context of nation-building. This paper, which focuses on a case study, demonstrates how university cities are urban spaces of great plasticity and have been able to accommodate - over decades - different visions of the social role of knowledge and the university.