In the early 20th Century Mayor Pereira Passos undertook wide scale reforms to the urban fabric of the city, building roads, wide avenues and modern buildings, as well as providing asphalt paving to the city center and surrounding districts.

The infrastructure was modeled on Parisian architecture of the time, and is considered some of the most important and influential work to have taken place in Rio de Janeiro's history. This is when the terms 'cidade maravilhosa,' or 'wonderful city,' was born and forever engraved in the city's soul and identity.

At this time the city's heart lay at its centre, delimited on one side by the coastal bay, while the interior was populated by small allotments and farms. With the arrival of electricity towards the end of the 20th Century, the demographic began to change and electric trams enabled people to live at a significant distance from their workplace, expanding the city's boundaries.