Brazil is a a democratic federal republic composed of 26 states, one federal district, and 5,570 municipalities. Brazil has a total area of 8,515,767 km2 (3,287,956 sq mi) and an estimated population of 214.3 million. Urban areas account for 84.35% of the population. The Southeast region is the most populated with over 80 million inhabitants. The largest urban areas are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte – all in the Southeastern Region.
The Brazilian National Urban Mobility Policy (Política Nacional de Mobilidade Urbana) was established by the Federal Ministry of Cities in 2007. It was updated in 2012 and signed into law with the stated goal to promote urban mobility with a safe, socially inclusive and equitable use of public space, contributing to the construction of sustainable cities. The Urban Mobility Law was explicit in favoring non-motorized transport at the expense of motorized transport, and public transport at the expense of individual motorized modes. The law stated that municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants were required to prepare comprehensive Urban Mobility Plans. The Ministry of Cities allocated resources to cities with such plans through the Federal Savings Bank. The Ministry was responsible for the appraisal and selection of proposals and the Bank was responsible for disbursements of funds, supervision of implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
Under President Jair Bolsonaro (2019 to 2022) the Ministry of Cities and the Ministry of National Integration were merged and transformed into the Ministry of Regional Development. All Brazilian cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants were obliged to prepare a transport and traffic plan, renamed the National Secretariat of Mobility and Regional and Urban Development Mobility Plan.
On January 1, 2023, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recreated the Ministry of Cities and estrablished a National Secretariat for Urban Mobility which draws on the 2012 Brazilian National Urban Mobility Policy. The Ministry has developed a new urban mobility planning approach entitled "Transport Infrastructure and Urban Mobility Program (Pró-Transporte)" which has been published in the Official Gazette April 19, 2023.