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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Spacious, green, convenient, putting the population in one area and the businesses in other, offering standard residential buildings and commercial facilities, and as little as possible national symbolism, this was the dominant bold view of the modern city before the WWII. In 1939, at the very last moment before the war started in Europe, New York World's Fair offered many variations of this view, some of them too bold to be taken seriously, some other ready to be built around the globe. The new modern thinking was democratic and universal; the residences that suited best the people in Europe and North America could have been applied in any other part of the world. Standardization meant affordability, and the lack of national symbolism meant that the new building technologies could be easily applied and accepted as neutral by the local population.

6 years after the New York fair offered the world these bold new visions, in Europe and Asia thanks to the strategic bombing suddenly appeared many empty spaces for residential development and large homeless population for accommodation. Almost everywhere the new planners and architects applied a mixture of old and new designs. The new modern utopian city proved to be remarkably well adaptable to both capitalist and socialist societies in Europe. On the other side of the globe, in Brazil, this utopian urban design had to provide its brightest example during the 1950's with the new capital of the country - Brasilia.

Being realized in just 4 years (1956-1960), the original urban plan of the architect Oscar Niemeyer still offers an exciting matter not only for architecture students from around the world, but also for social thinkers, preoccupied with the modern trends of some half a century ago. Looking at the residential areas of Brasilia (such type of buildings we can find in almost any European urban area predominantly built in the 50's and 60's), there are some ideas that strike our minds:

Residential area in Brasilia

1. The living and working areas are intended to be separate. For centuries these two areas were identical. People lived and worked at the same places. The craftsmen worked in their urban and rural houses; the farmers lived together with their domestic animals; the traders stock their goods on the ground floor. The industrial revolution gradually changed all this coexistence beginning somewhere in the mid-19th century. The urban designers had to follow soon after. In the modern city during the second half of 20th century the residential area is just for living;
2. The residential area is made in order to reduce as mush as possible the sense of privacy. 100 even 50 years ago your urban house could still have a small parcel. Now you have neighbors surrounding you from everywhere. You're given a free pass from your bedroom to the main exit but don't expect more than that;
3. You human needs are standardized. You're no longer Mr.X or Mrs.Y, you become an occupant of apartment number 5959. A similar-sized household may expect to enjoy a similar-sized standardized slipping space. You can't remodel at your wish the external look of the habitat.
4. Usually there are very limited spaces for personal vehicles. In Brasilia as in most cities in Eastern Europe and even in some West European analogues built before the car revolution there aren't enough car lots. Standardization of the living space requires the same approach in the transportation. For such type of city the best transport is the public. The private vehicles can only create chaos.
5. Last, but not least, you're detached together with your immediate neighbors from whole social body. You have to face the state alone. The police can easily block your building without any chance of escaping. The large spaces between the buildings allow the mobile police forces to put under control the social protests of any kind.

This sounds like a nightmare but in reality many people still live in such utopian cities like Brasilia around the world and, which is even more interesting, many of them like living in such dormitories. The internet discussions over the good and the bad sides of Brasilia are just demonstration of this contentious issue. In a society where the envy between people is extremely high, where the modern materialistic values of scarcity prevail, perhaps it's a good idea to put everyone on same social footing. In a society where people think that it's more important to express their individualities, where the post-modern values such as the leisure, the friends, the beautiful look to the garden are paramount, there the utopian modern cities like Brasilia will make people feel frustrated and unhappy.

Brasilia City profile:

Area of the Federal District: 5,800 sq. km. Population: 2 million. Average temperature: 20.5°C (69 F). Average altitude: 1100 meters. Maximum monthly rainfall: 250 mm. Maximum monthly air humidity: 80%.

(Source: Augusto C. B. Areal's site on Brasilia)

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