Belacap(Guanabara)versusNovacap(Brasília)

The city saw, in some of its most traditional neighborhoods, a movement emerge in reaction to the progressive and avant-garde measures of the 1950s. Rio's society was divided between those who defended Getúlio Vargas and those who fought against him. The controversy took over the media: in the pages of the newspaper Última Hora, the defense of Vargas, and on the other side, in the Tribuna da Imprensa, the great leader of the conservative right, the UDN politician Carlos Lacerda. Despite the reaction led by Carlos Lacerda, in 1955, Juscelino Kubitschek, a liberal candidate from Minas Gerais, ended up winning the elections.

The atmosphere in Latin America at that time was tense, and Juscelino Kubitschek almost didn't get to take the presidential seat. The reaction to JK's victory showed how there was already a conservative-defense network allied with anti-communist sentiment.

Even amid this tense climate, the city never stopped savoring the latest automotive novelties and the new components of home comfort, like American-style open kitchens. Electrolas were being surpassed by powerful stereophonic record players that delighted young and old alike. Atlântida's films turned the city into an immense tambourine. All of this energized the capital and revived the taste for the beach and the streets. The city's worldly life was expanding from Lapa to Copacabana and showed itself in different guises, from the good life of playboys to the new experiments of the left and the rise of the UNE.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a beach with buildings in the background. The beach is full of people relaxing and swimming. On the right, there is a street with old cars driving by. Tall, wide buildings stretch along the beach, forming an urban skyline. On the right side of the image, there are smaller structures, possibly shops or commercial establishments.

With Juscelino came the Target Plan – "50 years of progress in 5 years of achievements" (https://cpdoc.fgv.br/producao/dossies/JK/artigos/Economia/PlanodeMetas). This national-developmentalist model was anchored in international capital as the basic mechanism for building an accumulation capable of developing the Brazilian economy and generating a new stage in Brazil's history. Structural changes needed to be made in the country, reducing inequality through a distribution of income and resources that was less concentrated in the southeast axis.

Image description: The image is a black-and-white diagram illustrating the forecast of "timeframes" in the Investment Plan of the Juscelino Kubitschek administration. The spatial layout runs from left to right, with elements organized into two main parts. At the top, there is a title mentioning the period of government and the different stages related to the drafting and execution of the plan. Below, there is a timeline marking the years from 1955 to 1961. Within this timeline, specific periods are represented, such as "campaign and preliminary drafting of the plan," "organization of teams and preparation of bill drafts," "legislative drafting and administrative decisions on the 'plan,'" "execution of the 'plan,'" "tolerance period for completion of some sectors of the 'plan,'" and "period of detailed project design." In addition, there is a projected investment curve for the "plan" and periods of fighting inflation and economic recovery.

The strategy of development poles, fashionable at the time, combined with a national effort, led to the decision to move Brazil's capital to the interior, following an orientation that, for various reasons, had already appeared in the debate over the first republican constitution. The move of the capital had a definite place: the interior of the state of Goiás, right in the center of Brazil, from where rays of development would radiate out to reach the whole country. The investments in this project were gigantic. Brasília would be the empirical demonstration of Brazilian ingenuity that would create the most modern city in the world, capable of competing with any other European or American capital. With urban design by Lúcio Costa and architecture by Oscar Niemeyer, the airplane of growth, marked by the design of Brasília's plan, would be the way to show the world our capacity for change.

Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s and 1960s was establishing itself as a financial center, sharing economic renewal with São Paulo. The relationship between capital and labor was ensured, since São Paulo concentrated the industries. This meant a certain demobilization of Rio's industrial park, which remained outdated in the face of the São Paulo capital's progress, leading the former capital to confirm itself as service-oriented. It was in this context that the city of Rio, formerly the Federal District, lost its functions as capital. Administrative activities linked to public power decreased, along with part of the country's most important consumer market. The political bargaining that resulted from the decision to move the capital led to the creation of a new state in the federation, formed from the former Federal District. The new state was named Guanabara.

Brasília, the new capital, expressed the future of Brazil and received the name Novacap, not only because it was new, but because it was the name of the company that built the city, in contrast with Belacap, the name given to the former capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, now the capital of the state of Guanabara.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of a formal meeting. In the foreground, a man is seated at the table, wearing a suit and glasses, focused on signing documents. In front of him is a table microphone. Beside him, another man, also wearing glasses, is seated and appears to be watching the signing. Further back, two men are standing, one holding a notebook and the other with his hands crossed. Behind them, a group of people stand watching the scene. The background features decorative panels and a large frame with a portrait.

The new state of Guanabara, created to replace the former Distrito Federal, recovered part of the city's traditions and of its popular imagery present in the minds of Rio's residents.