The city of Brasilia turns 60 today. Brasilia is well known as one of the boldest experiments of modern urban planning, and one of the most controversial ones as well. As someone deeply involved in studying cities and the social-spatial inequalities reflected in and reinforced by their human mobility systems, I love to hate Brasilia. There are days, though, when I hate to love it. This is why I like to say ‘I was born in Brasilia but it’s not my fault’.

In a celebratory post, I’d like to share these two aerial footages of the city. It is truly ironic how Brasilia can be at the same time so splendid from above and yet so shitty at the human scale.

Happy birthday!

credit: These videos have been created by Bento Viana, one of my favorite artists in town. Bento is a talented and versatile photographer and video maker.