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In 1950, Lineu Prestes, the then mayor of Sao Paulo, commissioned the International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC), a commercial corporation headquartered in New York and owned by Nelson Rockefeller, to draw up a detailed report concerning the general planning of public works for the municipality of Sao Paulo. The urban planner Robert Moses was appointed Director of Studies and another 10 advisors were appointed to work in the 'Program of Public Improvements'. The improvement plan for Sao Paulo was not an isolated initiative among those developed by IBEC, but it was very different from the other planning studies that had been conducted to date in that it was actually a consultative assignment. While performing technical studies, IBEC also identified opportunities for American companies to operate in Brazil; hence, the plan aroused great controversy. This paper seeks to establish how the Program emerged from the political and economic context of the post-Second World War period in relation to Nelson Rockefeller's activities in Latin America and Brazil, and it seeks to analyse, from the point of view of urban planning, the role played by the Program in the planning and development of the city of Sao Paulo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the contradictions that can be seen within the process of economic and urban growth experienced by developing countries. Sao Paulo synthesizes these contradictions and is an example of how far people can go on environmental destruction when associated with social inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the migration of Brazilian workers from the Northeast of Brazil to São Paulo, Brazil. The author views this internal migration as part of a larger trend wherein Brazilians living in rural areas would move to more developed urban centers. The industrialization and urbanization process undergone by São Paulo is described by the author. Northeastern migration is linked to the development of a distinct working class in the city throughout the 1950s. The difficulties of the journey to the city are detailed, with comparisons to the Middle Passage of the Transatlantic Slave Trade made by the author.