The small Smart City Laguna, located in the state of Ceará (Brazil), created in 2015 by a holding of foreign capital companies, has emerged as the “first social smart city” in the world. Promoted to serve a low-income public, the new city is composed of standardized single-family homes, social equipment, services, trades, and industries, surrounded by walls and a greenbelt, fueled by ICTs of all sorts. However, this work, through research in primary and secondary sources, reveals other facets of this private town. Through a broader temporal (history) and spatial (territory) view, this article reveals the reasons for the creation of such an urban center and its consequences.

The small Smart City Laguna, located in the state of Ceará (Brazil), created in 2015 by a holding of foreign capital companies, has emerged as the “first social smart city” in the world. Promoted to serve a low-income public, the new city is composed of standardized single-family homes, social equipment, services, trades, and industries, surrounded by walls and a greenbelt, fueled by ICTs of all sorts. However, this work, through research in primary and secondary sources, reveals other facets of this private town. Through a broader temporal (history) and spatial (territory) view, this article reveals the reasons for the creation of such an urban center and its consequences.