Goiânia

Goiânia
—  Municipality  —
The Municipality of Goiânia
Skyline of Goiânia
Flag Seal
Location of Goiânia
Goiânia Location in Brazil
Coordinates: 16°40′00″S 49°15′00″W / 16.6666667°S 49.25°W / -16.6666667; -49.25Coordinates: 16°40′00″S 49°15′00″W / 16.6666667°S 49.25°W / -16.6666667; -49.25
Country	Brazil
Region	Central-West
State	Goiás
Founded	October 24, 1933
Government
- Mayor	Íris Rezende Machado (PMDB)
Area
- Municipality	789 km2 (304.6 sq mi)
- Metro	739 km2 (285.3 sq mi)
Elevation	749 m (2,457 ft)
Population (2008)
- Municipality	1,265,394
- Density	1,604/km2 (4,154.3/sq mi)
- Metro	2,063,744
Time zone	UTC-3 (UTC-3)
- Summer (DST)	UTC-2 (UTC-2)
Postal Code	74000-000
HDI (2000)	0.832 – high
Website	Goiânia, Goiás

Goiânia (pronounced /ɡɔɪˈɑːniə/),^[1] is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. With a population of 1,265,394 people, ^[2] it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region and the thirteenth-largest in the country. Its metropolitan area has a total population of 2,063,744, making it the eleventh-largest in Brazil.

Goiânia is a planned community. The city was founded on October 24, 1933 by then Governor Pedro Ludovico to serve as the new state capital and administrative center. Prior to this date, the state capital was the town of Goiás. Goiânia has the largest green area/inhabitant ratio in Brazil and is second only to Edmonton in the world^{[3] [4]} .

History

(1753-1930) The idea of creating a new state capital had been bounced around from early on in the history of the state of Goiás. The first plan came from D. Marcos de Noronha who in 1753 wanted to establish the state capital in the municipality of Pirenópolis, then again in 1863 José Vieira Couto de Magalhães put forward a plan to move the capital to the edge of the river Araguaia.

The impetus behind the efforts to move the state capital was the need to locate it in accordance with the economic interests of the state. The first state capital, Vila Boa (today City of Goiás), had been chosen when the economy was based on gold extraction. Later, when cattle-raising and agriculture came to dominate the state's development, the old state capital was too out of the way.

Panorama of Goiânia.

Goiânia at night.

Commerce in Goiânia.

Legislators kept the idea of a change alive for a long time. In 1891 the constitutional delegates made the idea of the transfer of the capital official including it in the constitution, ratifying it in 1898 and again in 1918.

Vaguely remembered until 1930, the idea of a change became a reality during the government of Pedro Ludovico, who was the new governor appointed for the state of Goiás after the military revolt of 1930. In 1932 a commission was created to choose the place where the new capital would be built. In 1933 the commission decided on the present location and the foundation stone was laid.

The plan was for a city of 50,000 with the shape of a concentric radius – streets in the form of a spoke, with the Praça Cívica as the center, with the seats of the state and municipal government – The Palace of Emeralds and the Palace of Campinas.

In 1937 a decree was signed transferring the state capital from the Cidade de Goiás to Goiânia. The official inauguration only occurred in 1942 with the presence of the president of the republic, governors, and ministers.

The name, Goiânia, came about in 1933 after a contest was put on by a local newspaper. Readers from all over the state contributed, with some of the most voted names being Petrônia, Americana, Petrolândia, Goianópolis, Goiânia, Bartolomeu Bueno, Campanha, Eldorado, Anhanguera, Liberdade, Goianésia, and Pátria Nova, among others. In 1935 Pedro Ludovico used the name Goiânia for the first time signing a decree creating the municipio of Goiânia.

Art deco

The first buildings in this planned city, designed by Atílio Correia Lima, were inspired by Art Deco. The collection of buildings in the city is considered the largest in the world. Mostly built in the 1940s and 1950s they have been recognized by the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage. Included are 22 buildings and monuments, the original center of Goiânia, and the pioneering nucleus of Campinas, the town that gave birth to Goiânia.

Radiation incident

In 1987 an old medical radiation source scavenged from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia caused several deaths and many more non-fatal cases of radiation poisoning.

Geography

Climate

The climate is continental tropical humid with an average temperature of 21.9 °C (71.4 °F). There's a wet season, from October to April, and a dry one, from May to September. Annual rainfall is around 1,520 mm.

The lowest temperature ever recorded was 0.5 °C (32.9 °F)^[5] on July 18, 2000, in the suburbs. 1.2 °C (34.2 °F)^[6] was the lowest recorded downtown, in July 9, 1938. However, such lows are very rare. Temperatures may fall below 8 °C (46 °F) every winter, mainly in the suburbs. The highest temperature ever recorded was 39.2 °C (102.6 °F) on October 17, 2007.

Vegetation

The "cerrado" landscape is characterized by extensive savanna formations crossed by gallery forests and stream valleys. Cerrado includes various types of vegetation. Humid fields and "buriti" palm paths are found where the water table is near the surface. Alpine pastures occur at higher altitudes and mesophytic forests on more fertile soils. More than 1600 species of mammals, birds and reptiles have been identified in the cerrado ("Cerrado's Fauna", Costa et al., 1981), including 180 reptile species, 113 amphibians, 837 birds and 195 mammals (WWF). Among the invertebrates, the most notable are the termites and the leaf-cutter ants ("saúvas"). They are the main herbivores of the cerrado, important to consuming and decomposing of organic matter, as well as constituting an important food source to many other animal species.

Economy

Commerce in Goiânia.

Popular Market.

While Goiânia's economy today is based on a variety of industries, the local economy's roots are found in the Agricultural industry thriving in and around the city. The supply of agricultural equipment, tools, fertilizer and various other products make up a large portion of the city's economic activity.

Second to agriculture is the vehicle sales and service industry. Repairs, sales and reconditioning of vehicles is wide spread and visible in all areas of the city.

The third largest contributor to the economy is the governmental sector. As Goiânia is the state capital of Goiás, it is home to many Federal and State governmental agencies that provide a large number of jobs to the population.

In recent years, modern telecommunications, along with its supporting industry, has begun to expand into Goiânia, and many large Brazilian companies established offices in the city.

In addition, due to Goiânia being the state capital, it is home to countless private medical centers/clinics of all kinds.

In 2005, the GDP of the city was R$ 13,354,065,000 (2005).^[7]

In the same year, the per capita income for the city was R$ 11,119 (2005).^[8]

Education

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools, with English and Spanish part of the official high school curriculum.

• Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG);
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás (PUC-GO);
• Universidade Estadual de Goiás (UEG);
• Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Goiás (IFG);
• and many others.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Road

Goiânia is connected to the federal capital, Brasília, via a four-lane highway (BR-060), and to São Paulo via a two-lane highway (BR-153, which is being expanded to four lanes). The state of Goiás maintains the main artery roads (marked GO-xx) in and out of the capital, which are typically two-lane roads.

As Goiânia was a planned city when first created, one will find that the downtown cores (Setores Central/Oeste/Sul) are relatively easy to navigate. Due to poor urban planning, newer areas of the city are extremely difficult to navigate, and access to main routes is limited, adding to traffic congestion in the suburbs. Most roads in the city are in a serious state of disrepair due to poor construction and neglect.

Due to poor public transportation within the city, most people use automobiles and motorcycles to travel. Goiania has one of the highest number of cars per capita in the country; at present, there are 800,000 registered motor vehicles in the city. The many vehicles on the roads cause major congestion during peak times throughout the city. The combination of poor infrastructure and dangerous drivers results in a high fatality rate , with the average number of traffic deaths in Goiania being 1.85 persons per day.

Rail

Railway connections were never developed and all transportation of goods is carried out via the connecting highways.

Public Transportation

All public transportation is via bus. Bus service in Goiânia is provided by several different transportation companies all working under the municipality. There is no bus system map as found in most cities. Buses run on an unpredictable time schedule. Bus stops are spaced out at random intervals, and stops do not display any route information. Unlike most Brazilian cities, there are no ticket collectors on the buses in Goiânia; all the fares are collected using magnetic paper cards and old fashion turnstiles. Passes are provided by SitPASS and can be purchased on the street from street vendors or in small shops throughout the city (during working hours). Each bus trip is $2.25 Reais and allow transfers only at stations and at specified bus stops where the passenger can aboard busses than don't go to stations.

Anhanguera Avenue, is one of the largest/longest avenues in the city. It underwent major work in the late 1990s that created a dedicated bus lane for the entire length of the avenue, with stations every 1/2 Kilometer. The bus lanes, however, are located in the center of the avenue, giving it a distinct look but adding extra danger to passengers who need to cross bus and normal traffic lanes to reach the sidewalk, usually without any traffic signals to assist. The fare to travel on the Anhanguera bus route is $1.15 Real and all buses on this route are articulated buses.

The new contract

Under the new contract, firmed in 2009, many aspects of the public transportation are being changed:

• The terminal stations are now placed under administration of the companies that are reforming them;

New buses that entered service in 2009.

• The buses are being equipped with GPS modules to solve the schedule problem and many other benefits, Adapted to give accessibility to disabilited people, radios to give fast response on reroutes and other events, and other minor changes;
• The introduction of the CityBus, a service of microbus foccused on give a choise to people of higher wealth to use the public transit system instead of their cars and to tourists who are visiting the city. there are three prices to travel on it: R$3.00 for a single trip using coins to pay, R$ 4.50 for a trip and 1 hour time limit to transfer to other line, and R$ 6.00 for a full day pass, that can be used to travel all day on any line making any number of transfers.
• Changes on "Eixo Anhanguera" (Anhanguera axis) and it's terminals. It's unclear what changes that will be made, but one of the known is the very criticized change in the faring so a person that get on a terminal from the axis to integrate with an inter-municipal metropolitan line will have to complete the fare. As the axis fare is R$1.15 and the full fare is R$2.25, the user has to pass the citypass on the reader to be debited for another R$1.10.
• An North-South axis is part of the project, but as August/09 it hasn't been implemented yet
• A Operational Control that will monitor the bus traffic through GPS.
• A free number to users call to know how many time is left before the next bus arrive is another part of project not yet implemented.

National Airport

Santa Genoveva National Airport is an located on the northeast side Goiânia, in the state of Goiás, Brazil. Currently six airlines fly out of Santa Genoveva Airport to several destinations in Brazil. With a nominal yearly capacity of 600 thousand passengers, in 2004 it handled 950 thousand. With its new terminal, it will be able to handle up to 2 million users a year.

Currently construction is underway for a new airport terminal, but has been stalled and a new concurrence is being set to then restart the construction. The predicted date for inauguration now is 2012^[9]. Modernization work will soon get underway at Goiânia Airport current terminal to help to minimize the current overload problems.

Crime

Goiania is considered a safer city compared to most other state capitals within Brazil, The average yearly Murder rate within the metro area stands at just under 450 persons per year according to the Goias State Police.

Policing

The city of Goiania is Patrolled and under the watch of the Goias Military Police,they are responsible for responding to crime and maintaining check points within the city and state. They are commonly seen in Volkswagen Gol's clearly marked and usually at all times have their police lights activated.

The Military Police are normally dressed in Military uniforms (Light Tan uniforms) while patrolling the city.

The prosecution and investigations of crime and all administration issues are handled by the Civil police within the city ( Policia Civil ).

Within the City of Goiania traffic rules are enforced by the "AMT" who are Traffic wardens of a sort with some minor police powers. This unit fall under the ownership of the city - Their responsibilities are to ensure road rules are enforced and attend to all accidents on the city streets. In Goiania no proof is required by the AMT when issuing traffic tickets. A simple personal visual recording by the AMT attendant of your license plate and a infraction is all that is needed to issue you a civil fine against your car and owner. No proof is needed and No Physical stopping of the vehicles happens and at many times the fine is unsubstantiated. As of September 8th 2009 the AMT no longer responds to accidents on the street ( unless a fatality is reported ) and all Traffic accidents are left up to the victims to sort out on their own.

Green areas

Goiânia.

Goiânia is a sprawling city with a large number of skyscrapers (see Photos of Goiânia for photos) dominating the center and one-floor family homes spreading out across the verdant tree-covered plain. Many of the streets are lined with tropical fruit trees and there are many parks with remnants of the original tropical vegetation. Thirty percent of the city area is planted in trees—3.75 of the 11 square km. The most important of these parks are the Parque Zoológico, Parque Vaca Brava, Parque Ecológico, Bosque dos Buritís and Parque Areião. In these places, refreshing lakes, vast vegetation and the sound of birds and animals can be appreciated. In Parque Areião there are still monkeys native to the area. Almost all of the parks are surrounded by walking paths. Approximately 30% of the city Goiania, the capital of Goiás, is green, with forests, avenues and parks. One of the biggest parks is the Bosque dos Buritís with an area of 140 000 square meters with many of the ‘burití’ palm trees, which have a yellow fruit.

Goiânia is famous for being the ‘spring capital’ and was planned as a modern city, growing outside from the center. In the starting years this building plan worked well, but through the quick growth the plan was not followed to the letters,with the exception of the green areas, causing severe infrastructure problems in some areas such as public transport and health care system.

In the Bosque dos Buritís one finds the Monument for World Peace, designed by Siron Franco. This monument contains a 7 meter high ampole with walls of glass and the soil of more than 50 countries from all over the world. Every year on World Environment Day there will be scattered soil of a new country added.

Another attraction is the Chico Mendes Botanic Garden (s), where trees and flowers like bromelias, orchids, fruit trees and a lake can be found.

Parque Zoológico

Created in 1946, it contains over one thousand animals, including mammals, birds, and reptiles. Five streams have their source in the park, which, besides the Zoo itself, also contains the Horto Florestal and the Lago das Rosas (Lake of Roses). The park is located in the Setor Oeste, one of the richest and most beautiful residencial areas of Goiânia.

Burití's Park

Situated in the center of the city this is Goiânia’s oldest green area. It has an area of 120,000 square meters. There is a running track and exercise area, that has pull up bars and situp benches with various inclines. There are three artificial lakes created by Buriti Stream. We can also find the Goiânia Art Museum and the Free Center of Arts. It houses a group of Marmosets and many turtles.

Vaca Brava Park

Vaca Brava Park

Every day at dawn hundreds of people begin their daily activities by walking or jogging along the sidewalk that encloses Parque Vaca Brava. It has an area of 18,000 square meters and contains a lake, a forest with native species and places for exercise. Vaca Brava (which could be roughly translated as Angry Cow) has become a symbol of the new thriving area of the Setor Bueno, which has flourished in the past decades and is now one of the most important zones of Goiânia.

Areião Park

The Areião is one of the biggest green areas of Goiânia. Located in a wealthy area, it is famous for its dense vegetation, full of monkeys. Besides the many trails, there is also a lake, a jogging route and many wooden buildings, including a beautiful small theater, consisting of a stage and many seats in the middle of a bamboo forest.

Cobra Veiga—center for snake research

Located in an area of 44,000.5 m² (10.8728 acres), it has an infrastructure for 750 serpents of different species, in addition to a laboratory and a rodent house. Its main activities are the extraction of poison for medicinal purposes, research on behavior of serpents in captivity and the recuperation of degraded areas and the preservation of springs and their forest.

Leisure

The leisure options are diversified. There are five shopping malls. In sports there are numerous gyms, public and private. The city has one of the most beautiful Brazilian football stadiums, the Serra Dourada, in addition to the International Racetrack Ayrton Senna, a kart track and a horse racing track. It is also known by its night life heavily based on bars.

Sports

Goiânia has four football (soccer) clubs: Atlético Clube Goianiense, Goiânia Esporte Clube, Goiás Esporte Clube and Vila Nova Futebol Clube. The biggest and most important, Goiás competes in the Série A, while Atlético Goianiense and Vila Nova compete in the Série B.

Museums

The most important museums are the Museu Antropológico da Universidade Federal de Goiás, Instituto Goiano de Pré-História e Antropologia, Fundação Museu de Ornitologia, Museu de Arte Contemporânea and Museu Zoroastro Artiaga. One interesting place is the so-called Memorial do Cerrado.

Rock Scene

Goiânia is home to one of the most important rock scenes from Brazil. It has started in the early 90s, with the creation of the first independent rock festivals in the city. Indie Labels like Monstro Discos, Two Beers or Not Two Beers and Insetus flourished and have been crucial to support and broadcast the scene, which, due to the fact of being completely independent from the mainstream media, sometimes is not known even to native Goianienses. The main styles are Alternative or Indie rock represented by bands like MQN, Violins, Hang The Superstars, Valentina, NEM, Fantasma de Agnes and Flores Indecentes; punk and hardcore by bands like Desastre, Vacilo, Resistentes, Descarga Negativa, Señores, Umbral and HC-137 and metal with bands like Ressonância Mórfica (unlike most Metal bands they sing in archaic Portuguese) Spiritual Carnage, Eternal Devastation and Euphonia. There are currently two major independent festivals held in the city, Bananada (usually held in May) and Goiânia Noise (usually in December). It is interesting to notice that Goiânia, as the capital of a rural state, has been traditionally influenced by the sertanejo style, strongly connected with the country lifestyle. Though the sertanejo is still an icon of Goiás' culture, the rock scene is seen by some as a response to it, and Goiânia is now a leading center in the underground rock movement in Brazil.

Health

Goiânia is a national reference in several areas of medicine, especially ophthalmology, neurology, burn treatment, and leprosy.

Health data

• Infant mortality rate: 21.30 in 1,000 live births (2000)
• Hospitals: 60
• Hospital beds: 6.037
• Walk-in public health clinics: 667
• Doctors in the public health system: 6,315 (2002)
• Nurses in the public health system: 808
• Dentists in the public health system: 659

Ranking on the Municipal Human Development Index

• HDI-M: 0.832 (2nd in the state and 115th nationally)
• HDI-M - Income: 0.813
• HDI-M - Education: 0.933
• HDI-M - Life expectancy: 0.751

(Data are from 2000)

References

External links

Find more about Goiânia on Wikipedia's sister projects:

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Learning resources from Wikiversity

• Official site of Goiânia
• Goiânia Yellow Pages