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Abstract

This article analyzes the concept of urban improvement found in two Rio de Janeiro renovation proposals, as suggested by 19th century engineers. The first one, from 1843, was prepared by Henrique de Beaurepaire-Rohan, a viscount and military engineer, and the second, dated 1875-76 and prepared by the Urban Improvements Commission, was organized by Francisco Pereira Passos, Jerônimo Jardim and Marcelino da Silva, engineers all three. Both plans suggest that urban improvement should be a set of intervention techniques and practices that could eliminate from the city all spaces and habits inherited from Brazil’s colonial period.