The Itaipu Villages: morphological pattern and urban evolution

Abstract

The urban plan, consisting of the road network, the land parceling and the deployment of the buildings, is the main complex of the urban landscape. Its interpretation goes through the identification of the Morphological Regions, methodology developed by Conzen and improved by several authors. In the cities of Foz do Iguaçu (BR) and Cidade do Leste (PY), the construction of the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant drove a series of changes in urban dynamics, especially in the housing territories. Between 1975 and 1979, eight workers housing were built in these two cities, according to the employee’s categories. The hypothesis of this work addresses the distinct impacts generated by the segregated deployment of Itaipu Housing in Foz do Iguaçu, in contrast to the impacts generated by the continuous and integrated deployment of Housing in Cidade do Leste (PY), according to the sociocultural context of each place. Thus, the aim of this paper is to identify the different morphological regions of Itaipu Housing, especially those related to road network and urban land subdivision. The results obtained allow us to identify the forces that acted in the processes of conformation of these territories, hich may therefore, provide subsidies for the elaboration and revision of urban and housing public policies.