Informational Planning

Buckminster Fuller and Brazil's 1943 Acceleration Plan

Abstract

During World War II, the United States expanded its influence in Latin America through investments in strategic infrastructure, aiming to exploit local resources and strengthen its own war industry. In Brazil, during the government of Getúlio Vargas in the 40s, a significant, though never implemented, plan was commissioned from the architect Buckminster Fuller. Recognized as a central figure in advancing American technologies of control and communication, Fuller served as head of engineering at the Bureau of Economic Warfare (BEW), an agency created to coordinate wartime logistical efforts. His plan for Brazil pro-posed an accelerated model of economic modernization, grounded in the large-scale construction of urban infrastructure. To this end, he relied both on his own interpretations of the country and on the directives of American industrialists with interests in the region. The article will analyze several of the different qiestins of this plan, previously confidential, in order to understand the context and the criticisms formulated by Fuller regarding Brazilian reality and the production of modern architecture in the country.