The modernist movement in urban planning and architectural design in the twentieth century rejected tradition in pursuit of the new. This approach to design presented a clear break from the past, taking its cues from a changing environment, society and technologies. The search for idealistic, utopian visions of the future nevertheless led to breakdowns in the social and cultural life for the residents of modernism. The city of Brasilia, designed and developed by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, survives today as a monument to modernism, thus providing a valuable opportunity to consider the societal consequences of Corbusierian philosophies applied by Costa and to evaluate the flaws and successes of a realised, modernist utopia in the context of a national capital city.