Entre Bockham e Babel

a gestão do espaço urbano natalense na primeira República

Abstract

The present article deals with the management of the urban space. It aims at surveying the role played by the Conselho de Intendência Municipal de Natal (Natal City Council) in the formation of a new urban order between the years of 1904 and 1929. For better understanding of the object of research, the milestone of the time span in this work was set in 1890, specifically in the first part of this article. We shall study the referred council with regard to the regulation of its operation, its relations with the state government and its mechanisms of action in the city. It will also analyze the elite who governed the city of Natal during the First Republic having it clear that the investigation of the formation of a new urban order by the Municipal Board implies to know who led that institution. Then, we will examine the limits of the municipal management to put into practice its projects to create a new City of Natal, especially from 1904 to 1913. Finally, we will analyze the process of administrative streamlining (bureaucratization) occurred at the City Council, as well as the changes experienced by the city during the Omar O’Grady administration (1924-1929).