Canon · Postwar & Welfare-Modernist (1945–1975)

Curitiba Master Plan

1966 · Brazil · Latin America · Transit-oriented urbanism and corridor planning · Planned by Serete S.A. with Jorge Wilheim (1965 Plano Preliminar); implemented by IPPUC under Jaime Lerner
Schematic map of Curitiba's structural transit network showing the express (biarticulated) bus routes running along the linear structural axes (eixos estruturais) that organise the 1966 IPPUC master p
Schematic map of Curitiba's structural transit network showing the express (biarticulated) bus routes running along the linear structural axes (eixos estruturais) that organise the 1966 IPPUC master p · cc-by-sa

Core idea

Linear axes, trinary roads, BRT backbone

Why it matters

Prototype of BRT-led urban structure

Description

Curitiba's 1966 Master Plan, driven by Jaime Lerner, channeled growth along structural axes served by a pioneering Bus Rapid Transit system, integrating land use, transit, and abundant parkland in a low-cost, transit-first model rather than relying on an expensive metro.

Significance

Curitiba became the global icon of affordable, transit-led urbanism, and its BRT invention was exported worldwide from Bogotá to dozens of cities. It proved that clever planning, not just big budgets, can transform a city.

What became of it

Sustained over six decades, the plan made Curitiba a global model for integrated transit-oriented planning and the world's first bus rapid transit system.

Critique

Rapid metropolitan growth pushed poorer residents to peripheral areas beyond the well-served structural axes.

What shaped it

Plans it influenced

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.