Articulo: Medidas extremas

El cambio climático impactará en la salud humana a través del paludismo, el cólera o las sofocaciones, pero muchos problemas sanitarios podrán evitarse o paliarse con decisiones adecuadas en la lucha contra el calentamiento del planeta.

Según estudios publicados en la revista británica The Lancet con motivo de la cumbre sobre el clima de Copenhague (del 7 al 18 de diciembre), ponen de relieve los beneficios para el clima y la salud de las acciones que se adopten para reducir las emisiones de gas de efecto invernadero.

La directora de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, Margaret Chan aseguró que “quienes toman las decisiones políticas han sido lentos a la hora de reconocer que lo que está verdaderamente en juego con el cambio climático es el peligro de los impactos que éste puede tener sobre la salud humana y la calidad de vida”.

Chan dijo que la malnutrición y sus efectos devastadores sobre la salud de los niños aumentarán. Las oleadas de calor conllevarán más muertes, sobre todo entre las personas más ancianas.

Entre las iniciativas que propone The Lancet para que el cambio climático potencie su impacto, pero de forma positiva, sobre la salud humana se encuentra, por ejemplo, la concepción de ciudades para peatones y usuarios de bicicletas.

Un modelo basado en dos ciudades como Londres y Nueva Delhi muestra que si se da mayor cabida a los peatones y a las bicicletas, ello reduciría sensiblemente el número de enfermedades cardiacas y de accidentes cerebrales vasculares.

Una reducción del 30% de la producción y el consumo de carne entre los principales productores, asociada a una mejora de las tecnologías, permitiría reducir sensiblemente las emisiones de CO2 y disminuir así el número de enfermedades cardiacas.

Por otra parte, una reducción de la electricidad producida a partir de energías fósiles (gas, carbón y petróleo) sería benéfica tanto para el clima como para la salud humana, ya que reduciría la contaminación del aire.

http://www.talcualdigital.com

Articulo: The walking paths of Brasilia

The City of Brasilia, conceived and built in the 1950's and 60's, is the exemplar of modernist urban planning. It's got it all: extreme separation of uses, access only by motor vehicle, mid-rise boxy buildings set in vast open spaces, and a conspicuous absence of any history before the mid-twentieth century. There are no traffic lights or sidewalks in the city, and almost every four-way intersection is a cloverleaf interchange. The design ensures that motorists will never have to inconvenience themselves by stopping, and pedestrians don't mind because they theoretically don't exist. It all fits together like a machine - actually an airplane, by resemblance.

But when the city is viewed from above we can see incursions of organic human life superimposed on top of the plan. The picture below is near the center of the city, where the wings meet the fuselage of the plane. A network of paths are clear evidence that pedestrians have crossed the open field where they are not suppose to.

These rogue pedestrians don't have an easy task. Virtually the only way to access this space is to cross at least six lanes of traffic and then cross another six lanes to exit. The width of the open space is 1/4 of a mile, which is exactly twice the width of the national mall in Washington D.C., and there is no shade or amenities whatsoever. They still make the journey.

Drawing the human use on the map reveals a complex network of activity very different from the plan.


This is the network of function over geometry. The paths are trodden out of convenience, but they also gently meander. Lewis Mumfordrecognized this unviersal tendency back in 1961, just as Brasilia was under construction.

"the slow curve is the natural line of the footwalker, as anyone can observe as he looks back at his tracks in the snow across an open field."

Not only do the curves shift the field of view slightly offering some aesthetic variation, because of topography they can even be the most energy-efficient route. (Unless, that is, you have a bulldozer to eliminate all preexisting topography.)

Although it's hard to prove conclusively, it looks like safety concerns played a part in determining where the highways were crossed. Several paths seem to converge at points where on-ramps and off-ramps are separated from the main flow of traffic. Crossing at these points allows the pedestrian to have breaks of median before having to make the next step. It looks as if some people have been willing to sacrifice a certain degree of time in order to cross a little more safely at one of these points.

Interestingly, these points of convergence are analogous to the forces that led to the origins of medieval Paris. The only difference being that Paris was formed at the easiest crossing point of the Seine river, where an island reduced the distance, and residents of Brasilia are attempting to cross a river of automobile traffic at a breaking point. If I were in the hot dog stand business (and it were allowed) I'd know exactly where to set up shop.

Lewis Mumford explained further what he admired in medieval cities,

"Organic planning does not begin with a preconceived goal; it moves from need to need, from opportunity to opportunity, in a series of adaptations that themselves become increasingly coherent and purposeful, so that they generate a complex final design, hardly less unified than a pre-formed geometric pattern."

yes, this happens even in Brasilia.

http://discoveringurbanism.blogspot.com

Articulo: Ex-Bogota mayor bats for BRTS in city

MUMBAI: The city has an opportunity to transform itself and become a people -friendly one with parks, open spaces and efficient public transport if planning is done in the right manner.

This is the message of former mayor of Bogota(Columbia), Enrique Penalosa who pointed out that Mumbai will be three times its size in 2050. "Around 70 to 80% of the city has not been built yet. Planners should ensure that all new expansion plans have people-friendly layouts. They must try and create a large network of roads only for buses and pedestrians,'' he said.

The former Bogota Mayor met senior city administration and planning officials during his visit. When informed that the Bus Rapid Transit System(BRTS) system for the city was still not finalised even though it has been in the planning stage for three years, Penalosa offered his help in providing inputs for planning an effective BRTS system.

When he was mayor of Bogota in the nineties, he came into the limelight by organising the use of the BRTS as well as people-friendly planning with an emphasis on spaces for buses, bicycles and pedestrians on city roads and housing sites. "We provided inputs for the BRTS in Ahmedabad, which is working well. We can do the same for Mumbai,'' he told TOI.

Penalosa was critical of the large sums of money being doled out for widening roads and streets. "Nowhere in the world has the problem of traffic jams been solved by widening roads. Instead efficient public transport is required. This is happening in most important cities in the world,'' he added.

According to him, a Metro rail system would not solve the transport problem. "An efficient bus system like the BRTS would tackle the problem more effectively,'' he said and pointed out the case of London, which has 1,800 km of Metro rail system. Despite this, its bus system carried one million more passengers on a daily basis.

Currently, a director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) based in New York, Penalosa campaigns for more people-friendly cities around the globe."The cities in the West have already changed drastically and are being reoriented towards people-oriented transport. The developing nations are also changing.''

The condition of roads is not an indicator of an advanced city, he added. "The condition of the footpaths reflects the people's preferences and the quality of life in a city,'' he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com