Until the mid-1950s, Brazil was a predominantly rural country, with less than 30% of its population living in urban areas. However, driven by rapid industrialization, the country experienced a massive rural exodus during its transition from an agricultural export model to an urban-industrial one, drastically altering the landscape of its cities in less than 50 years. As a consequence of this rapid transformation, a predatory and unequal model of urbanization emerged, and it was in this context that the City Statute was born.
Law 10257, or the City Statute, enacted in 2001, regulates Articles 182 and 183 of the 1988 Federal Constitution (which established urban law in the country for the first time), outlining general guidelines for national urban policy.
