The crisis of the planning estabilished on the 1970 decade, the historical changes occurred in
Brazil on the 1980 years, the strong of neoliberal ideology, the globalization ideas and the
performance of the consultants are important elements to the understanding of the legitimation
process of the dominant paradigms on the urban research and on the accomplished planning
practices, in general, of the great urban projects.
This article establishes connections between the historical context of Brazil and the diffusion of
new ideas. The objective of this paper is to propose reflections about the interfaces between the
actual planning practices and the urban utopians elaborated on the XIX century.