Pre-Reflections |
Foz Do Iguaçu Documentaries Reflections
|
Pre-Reflections |
Foz Do Iguaçu Documentaries Reflections
|
The documentaries “Sustainable Urban Living: A South American case study,” Digital Journey’s segment “The Smart City: Learning from Curitiba,” and Jaime Lerner’s TED Talk “City is not a problem, city is the solution” presentation all reveal the intricacies of sustainable urban planning practices in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. “Sustainable Urban Living: A South American case study” shows the urban planning in Curitiba. This remarkable transition is the brainchild of principal Curitiba’s architect and former mayor and former governor of Paraná, Jaime Lerner. During the 1970s, Lerner revolutionized Curitiba by implementing changes in a timeframe of less than two years, turning the city from an area devoted almost entirely to agriculture to an industrial hub. Curitiba’s system consists of the following five aspects: a revolutionary sanitation system, creation of elaborate urban parks, an efficient integrated mass transit system, a green exchange system of recyclables and excess produce in impoverished areas, and lastly, a devotion to community projects to improve quality of life in urban areas and reduce car traffic. First on the list is the sanitation system, which is revolutionary for its emphasis on recycling and its efficient organization of waste. The second aspect is Curitiba’s extensive patchwork of urban parks, which has helped both to reduce flooding from the system of rivers and streams which flow throughout the city and to reduce homelessness. The success of the urban parks is also related to two other parts of Lerner’s project that also improve quality of life for curitibanos. The third component of Curitiba’s urban planning is the green exchange ongoing in rural areas of the city. In rural Curitiba, there is often a crop excess, and so poor curitibanos exchange their recyclables for some of the excess produce. The fourth element is the large-scale renovation of Curitiba's principal shopping district. Lerner had the idea to transform the city’s shopping district into an outdoor pedestrian mall, which he did within a 72-hour span. The last and perhaps most important piece of Curitiba’s urban planning is the sophisticated integrated transport system, which consists of multicolored bus routes which transport Curitiba denizens to and fro different areas of the city. This has been a major gamechanger for the city as it allows curitibanos (especially poor curitibanos) to cheaply and efficiently across the city. It also has significantly reduced Curitiba’s emissions.
|
Andy Jay CrossSustainability major at Stockton University ArchivesCategories |