Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 921

Rio de Janeiro has some pretty spectacular entranceways. Here is one that I found today on Rua Duvivier in Copacabana:

It is a magical front door located exactly one block from the beach.

The other gem I stumbled upon today was Rua Carvalho de Mendonça, pictured here:

Toward the left (above) is a narrow bollard-separated lane for cars. The rest of the right of way is dedicated to pedestrians and bicycles.

When I was there today the sun was shining and the retail was in full swing.

But perhaps my favorite thing about this street is the residential terraces sitting on top of the single storey “retail podiums.”

They add life (and eyes) to the street.

Brazil has been on my travel bucket list for many years, if not decades. Whenever I tell someone that they often ask me why that is the case.

In addition to its breathtaking natural beauty, sunny beaches, beautiful people, and lively culture, Brazil is also one of the first countries outside of Europe to have adopted modern architecture.

The best example of this is, arguably,  Gustavo Capanema Palace , which is also known in architectural circles as the Ministry of Health and Education Building. At the time of its construction, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil. Brasilia took its place in 1960.

Here are two photos of the building from this afternoon:

Sadly, the building is currently under renovation and I wasn’t able to get as close as I would have liked.

All the same, Gustavo Capanema Palace is one of the first modernist buildings in Brazil and, apparently , the first modernist government building in all of the Americas.

Designed in the 1930s, there were a whole slew of architects involved in this project, including Lucio Costa (master planner for Brasilia), Affonso Eduardo Reidy, Ernani Vasconcellos, Carlos Leão, Jorge Machado Moreira, Roberto Burle Marx, and Oscar Niemeyer.

But most notable in the roster was Le Corbusier . And the building is everything you would expect from the Swiss-French architect. Pilotis. Brises-soleil. Glass facades. And mid-level programming.

However, it also incorporated local elements, such as azulejos (glazed tilework common to Portuguese and Spanish buildings). And in my view that makes it a more interesting varietal of modernist architecture.

So even though I wasn’t able to get inside today, I am still glad that I was able to finally see Gustavo Capanema Palace.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index that ranks countries based on four key indicators (3 dimensions):

• Life expectancy in years (health)
  

• Expected years of schooling (education)
  

• Mean years of schooling (education)
  

• Gross national income per capita (standard of living)
  

Equal weighting (1/3) is given to each of the above dimensions: (1) health, (2) education, and (3) standard of living.

And the resulting index value is a normalized number between 0 and 1, with the latter number representing the maximum possible value.

Generally speaking, a country is thought to be developed or advanced when it has an HDI greater than 0.8.

The way you calculate each dimension’s index value is by using the minimum and maximum limits set out by the United Nations .

To give you an example, for gross national income per capita (standard of living), the minimum is $100 and the maximum is $75,000. (Logic behind these numbers, here .)

Once you know the boundaries, you then use this formula for each dimension:

Dimension Index = (Actual Value - Minimum Value) / (Maximum Value - Minimum Value)

Each of the individual dimension indices are then aggregated together to create that country’s HDI.

In 2017 , the country with the highest HDI was Norway at 0.953. Brazil , which is what got me started thinking about this, was at 0.759. So not quite developed.

Canada and the US were on top of each other at 0.926 and 0.924, respectively.