The paper offers a historical analysis of the creation of the sector responsible for inaugurating and managing Rio de Janeiro's basic sanitary services, examining the period from the mid-nineteenth century, when sanitary issues were first posed, through the 1920s. The analysis centers on the relation between the service structure established by the state, on the one hand, and urban space, on the other, taking a particular look at the special interests involved in creation of this structure. Exploring the vast literature available on Rio de Janeiro's urban world at that time, the present text supplements this with an analysis focused above all on the architecting of Brazil's first policies on sanitation infrastructure.
history of sanitation systems; urban history; the production of space; public policy