Revisiting Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo

Contrasting models of urban development characterize the historical-geograp hical evolution of Brazil's two leading cities, viewed in an updating of th e seminal 1933 article by Preston lames. Native to Rio de Janeiro is a dist inctive Luso-Brazilian style of irregular coastal urbanization, whereas Sao Paulo displays a more uniform, modern type of inland commercial-industrial expansion. Even as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo sprawl today to form a vir tual megalopolis in southeastern Brazil, they retain distinguishing roles i n the national city system. Both metropolises are experiencing increasing f unctional decentralization and socioeconomic polarization, but in their own characteristic fashions. Generalized models of "Latin American city struct ure" are of limited value, unless they take into account such significant h istorical-geographical variations in urban form.