Londrina: bringing something different to SSP
Londrina is a mid-sized southern Brazilian city (560,000 inh. in city proper, 720,000 in the urban area, and just above 1 million in its - polycentric - metro area).
It was founded by the British entrepreneurs from the Paraná Plantation company in the middle of Mata Atlântica (tropical/subtropical rain forest) in the 1930's. Few British were left and the city is mostly Italian, with strong German, Spanish, Portuguese and Arab background. Londrina is also regarded by its huge Japanese community: about 30,000 in the city (and over 100,000 in northern Paraná state) which makes Londrina the second biggest "Japanese" city in Brazil and one of the largest outside Japan, along São Paulo (the largest), New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Honolulu. Till today is trivial to hear the Japanese language in the streets, particularly among the elderly. Londrina is a very strong education, medical, services and retail center, serving as a regional hub. Agrobusiness is also very important as the city is seated right in the middle of Brazilian breadbasket, on the soybeans, maize and wheat belts. Anyway, let's take a look on her. Pics were taken in mid-2017: |
Arriving
Leaving São Paulo-Congonhas Airport (CGH): 1. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4327/...354294f4_b.jpg IMG_8058 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Londrina is located 500 km west from São Paulo, so it's a very short trip (50 min). Ibiporã (Londrina metro area) and Londrina on the background: 2. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4309/...73b111b2_b.jpg IMG_8063 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Londrina as seen from north: 3. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4298/...f3a2cc59_b.jpg IMG_8068 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Zooming, Downtown and Gleba Palhano (the booming district across the Igapó Lakes complex): 4. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4305/...2e98b255_b.jpg IMG_8073 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Londrina and Cambé (another city in Londrina metro area). This region produces half of Brazilian wheat, and they look nice on the southern hemisphere winter: 5. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4317/...0143311c_b.jpg IMG_8077 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Cambé, Rolândia and Arapongas (cities in the metro area). Londrina was behind as the plane makes a 180 degree to aproach the airport, located in east Londrina: 6. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4307/...84f3b16a_b.jpg IMG_8086 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr West section of Londrina's Downtown: 7. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4294/...cb55748f_b.jpg IMG_8094 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Downtown Starting at the oldest part of Downtown, where the first highrises grew up in the early 1950's, mere 20 years after Londrina was established in the middle of jungle. Several Modernist especimes, not very common in a mid-sized city. 8. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4299/...301b96c5_b.jpg IMG_8098 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 9. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4324/...e6ab3a26_b.jpg IMG_8101 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 10. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4308/...84b9dabb_b.jpg IMG_8104 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr I pretended to be interested in rent an apartment to look inside a Modernist building: 11. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4330/...a6d3bfa6_b.jpg IMG_8118 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 12. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4303/...2a97925d_b.jpg IMG_8119 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Cathedral. Londrina is seat of a Roman Catholic Archdiocese: 13. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4306/...11f592c5_b.jpg IMG_8125 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Before the booming Gleba Palhano district emerged in the 2000's, this was Londrina's tallest (1997-2004), with 107m/350ft high: 14. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4313/...62739291_b.jpg FullSizeRender by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Now everything changes. The western 1/3 of Londrina's Downtown. A tree-lined region, denser, more residential, with newer and more upmarket residential buildings. Again it's a very unique place for a mid-sized city. Some random streets and buildings: 15. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4330/...feb28ebf_b.jpg IMG_8145 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 16. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/...6347eec8_b.jpg IMG_8146 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 17. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4321/...86c05a4a_b.jpg IMG_8149 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 18. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/...d1ab893f_b.jpg IMG_8150 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 19. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4304/...70f41279_b.jpg FullSizeRender(1) by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 20. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4322/...1bd3d404_b.jpg FullSizeRender(2) by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 21. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4292/...ca25755f_b.jpg IMG_8156 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 22. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4306/...765bf131_b.jpg FullSizeRender(3) by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 23. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4329/...0253e912_b.jpg IMG_8159 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr |
Gleba Palhano
The booming district I mentioned earlier. Today, that's most recognized view of Londrina. 15 years ago, there were nothing there: 24. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4292/...beeb793e_b.jpg IMG_8164 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr A shopping mall roof, right in the middle of Gleba Palhano: 25. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4325/...66b0751b_b.jpg IMG_8170 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 26. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4313/...557c9163_b.jpg IMG_8173 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Valleys and Lakes One of the most interesting features of Londrina, it's its preserved ravines. That's very rare in Brazilian urban areas, with their dense pattern. That's Água Fresca Vale (fresh water valley), right between Downtown and western Londrina neighbourhoods. Downtown's west skyline: 27. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4312/...f10fa03f_b.jpg IMG_8191 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 28. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4325/...e4911821_b.jpg IMG_8194 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr The creek flows 2 km (1.3 miles) southwards, where it joins Lake Igapó II. Gleba Palhano's skyline: 29. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4321/...dfa23e6e_b.jpg IMG_8196 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 30. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4317/...3b23361c_b.jpg IMG_8197 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 31. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4302/...245f7288_b.jpg IMG_8200 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Lale Igapó I, the largest and oldest. On the left side, outside the pic, it's Downtown. The buildings on the bottom form another highrise cluster near the Civic Center (2.5 miles southwards Downtown). On the right side, there is an upmarket district, where the mansions end straight in the lake. Ver unusual for a relatively central neighbourhood: 32. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4292/...be005f44_b.jpg FullSizeRender by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr |
Countryside
On the winter, Londrina is surrounded by wheat and maize's second harvest (soybeans are the boss on summer). Nothern Paraná state is one of the most productive farming regions in the country (and the world for that matter), and its seat of several agricultural research institutions. Starting in Rolândia (Londrina metro area), the most important German settlement in the region: 33. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/...2cbb5636_b.jpg FullSizeRender by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Rolândia and Cambé countryside: 34. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4311/...8989b109_b.jpg FullSizeRender (1) by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 35. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4296/...1f4aa5f5_b.jpg IMG_8210 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 36. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4320/...f2df024d_b.jpg IMG_8220 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr 37. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4318/...ee96fdc1_b.jpg IMG_8230 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr And back to Gleba Palhano, the booming district. Some business towers in the neighbourhood: 38. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4297/...94a1fb02_b.jpg IMG_8231 by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Londrina's newest shopping mall: 39. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4328/...04988c4a_b.jpg FullSizeRender (3) by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Downtown on the back: 40. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4300/...773d71a8_b.jpg FullSizeRender (2) by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Hope you enjoyed it! |
very interesting --- this was great to see.
you got to love how they respect the very clear urban developments boundaries -- ie., in some pics you can see how the towers all start along one street, but not across it. |
^^
Exactly. Strict zoning laws avoided the unpleasant view very common on Brazilian cities where highrises are raandomly scattered all over the urban tissue, without any dense cluster. As result, it's very hard to create pedestrian friendly districts (except in very big cities) as density is too low to support it. |
Great tour! Brazilian skylines always seem to belong to much larger cities.
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I love all the solid architecture I've seen on my South American travels. It oftentimes looks overbuilt, in comparison to the U.S. No suburban sprawl in this city.
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https://live.staticflickr.com/4146/3...f1505707_o.jpg Londrina sprawl by Yuri Andrade, no Flickr Obviously, it pales compared to US sprawl. |
these brazilian cities.
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Constructors still build with balconies, but most people these days tend to close them with glasses as a way to increase their living rooms.
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Great pics. It looks so much like parts of Waikiki it's crazy how similar.
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So cool!!
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Even though one it's a tropical island in the middle of Pacific and the other it's located in the middle of South America in a fertile red soil, they also share another thing in common: the massive Japanese communities, with 30,000 in Londrina (over 100,000 in northern Paraná) and over a 100,000 in Honolulu. |
I was gonna say Honolulu as well
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Nice!
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Revisiting the thread, bringing pics from Oct 2020.
Downtown Old Central Railway Station, built in the late 1940's in a faux-Tudor style: 41. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ae7e63a2_b.jpg Now some pics from the residential western side from Downtown I referred to starting at pic 15: 42. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e847007a_b.jpg 43. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0d6b2715_b.jpg 44. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d548d1d7_b.jpg 45. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6a4f7da2_b.jpg |
thanks for showing us a tropical toronto. :tup:
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