The roar of electric motors, the flickering of traffic lights that adjust themselves to the flow of traffic, and the incessant rain of data that feeds municipal dashboards: in Brazil, the urban future has already begun.
In recent decades, the South American nation has embarked on a dizzying race to transform its cities into true laboratories of technology, where innovation is not only a promise, but a firm commitment to reinvent everyday life.
The digital promise: “Smart cities”, much more than a concept
By: Gabriel E. Levy B.
The dream of cities capable of thinking and anticipating the needs of their inhabitants was not born in Brazil, but the country knew how to appropriate the idea with a mixture of enthusiasm and pragmatism.
The term “smart city” emerged in the 90s, with a vision of digital urbanism promoted by experts such as Carlo Ratti, director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab, who defined these spaces as those that “use digital technology to improve the efficiency of urban services and the well-being of their citizens.”
In the 2000s, countries such as South Korea, Singapore, and Spain began to materialize the concept.
In Latin America, Brazil stood out for the magnitude of its challenge: managing megacities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where runaway growth demanded bold responses.
Since then, the idea of turning chaotic cities into interconnected and resilient ecosystems has gained strength, driven by the urgency of modernizing infrastructure, reducing inequalities and tackling climate change.
“The algorithm that organizes the urban forest”: the technological boom in contemporary Brazil
Moving into the third decade of the twenty-first century, Brazil deployed national and local strategies to embrace the paradigm of urban intelligence.
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation developed the National Internet of Things Plan, which prioritized cities as one of the main axes for the integration of sensors, artificial intelligence and big data. The “Legal Framework for Smart Cities”, approved in 2022, established a legal roadmap for the development and financing of technological projects at the municipal level.
Brazilian cities became living laboratories.
In São Paulo, the smart operations center monitors traffic, garbage collection and pollution levels in real time.
In Curitiba, sensors were introduced that manage public lighting efficiently, reducing energy consumption.
The goal is not limited to modernization: according to researcher Raquel Rolnik, former UN rapporteur for the right to housing, the smart city must “place the daily lives of citizens at the center of technological solutions,” avoiding falling into digital fetishism.
This pragmatic vision, however, coexists with profound challenges: the digital divide, the privatization of urban data, and the risk of reproducing inequalities through algorithmic platforms.
The urban planner Anthony Townsend, in his book “Smart Cities”, warns of the danger of turning the city into a “software product”, where automatic decisions can supplant the citizens’ debate.
“Between the Code and the Favela”: Tensions and Dilemmas of the Brazilian Smart City
The deployment of smart solutions in Brazil does not take place in a social vacuum.
On the contrary, the country functions as a microcosm of global tensions: can technology solve structural problems without addressing historical inequalities?
In cities like Salvador or Recife, connectivity is a promise that coexists with entire neighborhoods disconnected from basic services.
The consulting firm McKinsey calculated that the implementation of smart technologies could reduce travel time in São Paulo by 10%, but the benefit is unevenly distributed.
Investments in surveillance, for example, generated controversy.
In Rio de Janeiro, the installation of facial recognition cameras in the historic center sparked protests from human rights organizations.
The Observatory of Metropolises denounced the risk of “technifying exclusion”, since intensive surveillance tends to focus on peripheral and vulnerable spaces.
Sociologist Saskia Sassen, in “Expulsions”, warns that smart infrastructure, without regulation, can reinforce mechanisms of control and exclusion, instead of democratizing access to the city.
The lack of clear governance over urban data adds another layer of complexity.
Who manages and stores the data collected by thousands of sensors?
In many cases, private companies become guardians of information, in a relationship of technological dependence that weakens municipal autonomy.
Professor Renato Sabbatini, an expert in digital health, suggests that “urban intelligence must be built on the basis of transparency and citizen participation”, otherwise, the promise of an inclusive city can lead to an opaque ecosystem.
“Learning Cities”: Examples of Innovation and Collective Learning
Far from being limited to large metropolises, the smart revolution also found space in medium-sized and small cities.
In Joinville, Santa Catarina, the public transportation system integrated an app that predicts bus schedules in real time and adjusts routes based on demand.
The results: shorter waiting times and higher user satisfaction.
In Fortaleza, the use of algorithms in traffic management managed to reduce the number of road accidents in critical areas by 30%.
In addition, the capital of Ceará deployed a network of electric bicycles and air quality sensors, which feed a citizen portal where information is updated minute by minute.
Belo Horizonte opted for “participatory intelligence”: through digital platforms, residents can report lighting problems, water leaks or potholes, generating interactive maps that guide municipal action.
Experience shows that urban intelligence does not depend only on technology, but on the ability of institutions to involve citizens in the construction of solutions.
Even in adverse contexts, Brazilian cities found creative ways to appropriate technology.
In Paraisópolis, one of São Paulo’s most populous favelas, community leaders implemented alert systems via WhatsApp during the pandemic to organize food distribution and monitor the circulation of the virus.
The case shows that the smart city can also be a city of informal networks, where popular creativity is intertwined with technology to solve everyday emergencies.
In conclusion
Brazil embarked on a bold path to the smart city, combining technology, creativity and citizen participation. The challenge remains: to ensure that urban intelligence does not reproduce inequalities, but rather democratizes access to rights and opportunities. The future of the Brazilian city will depend on its ability to combine the code with the social fabric, and to learn, again and again, from its own contradictions.
References:
- Ratti, Carlo. (2016). “Senseable City: Urban Space and New Technologies”. Senseable City Lab, MIT.
- Rolnik, Raquel. (2022). “Urbanism for everyday life”. FAPESP Publisher.
- Townsend, Anthony. (2013). “Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia”. Norton.
- Sassen, Saskia. (2014). “Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy”. Harvard University Press.
- Sabbatini, Renato. (2023). “Digital Health and Smart Cities in Brazil”. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Unicamp.
- Observatorio das Metrópoles. (2023). “Vigilância e exclusão nas cidades inteligentes”.
