Management practices of urban mega projects

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to further deepen the discussion of a phenomenon common to several Brazilian cities: the Urban Mega Projects (UMPs). To do so, it starts from the assertion that it's still an emergent concept in the academic literature. Based on a bibliographic research, the article discusses its formation and implementation in the Brazilian context since the 1970s, establishing relationships with the practices and models of urban management witnessed over the last four decades of analysis. The results reveal similarities and dissimilarities in the theoretical debate on UMPs, while the final conclusions show the need for deepening conceptual reflections on this topic, as it is a central question on this kind of intervention in territorial planning of contemporary cities.