Roberto Burle Marx’s Cidade Parque

Abstract

The work of Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx evidences the implementation of a new, all-encompassing landscape in urban space, conveying an unprecedented and unique image of the city conceived of as a park. Through a paradigmatic case study of Rio de Janeiro, this article discusses the modern system of green spaces designed by Burle Marx in which the rediscovery of an elevated quality of nature, one that recalls the native ecology and the essence of the urban environment, plays a decisive role in introducing the invention of a Brazilian modern landscape. By focusing on the idea of the city understood as a distinct form of landscape, Burle Marx’s Cidade Parque is ultimately the expression of a modern system of creative principles as they apply and adapt to nature and to the individual. This article therefore aims to put forth an alternative reading of Burle Marx’s work, starting at the metropolitan scale where a modern consistent continuum of public spaces was created, beginning with a rediscovery of the virgin forest.