Lessons for an urbanizing world
Some of the lessons that emerge from the Curitiba experience for other cities include:
- Top priority should be given to public transport rather than to private cars, and to pedestrians rather than to motorized vehicles. Bicycle paths and pedestrian areas should be an integrated part of the road network and public transportation system. In Curitiba, less attention to meeting the needs of private motorized traffic has generated less use of cars.
- A sustainable city is one that uses the minimum and conserves the maximum. This pragmatic application of demand management and recycling is exemplified in Curitiba by solid waste recovery, re-use of old buses as mobile schools, preservation and use of historic dwellings, and employment policies where poor people are employed in the waste separation plant and as teachers of environmental education courses.
- There can be an integrated and environmentally sensitive action plan for each set of problems. Solutions within any city are not specific and isolated but interconnected. The action plan should involve partnerships between responsible actors such as private sector entrepreneurs, nongovernmental organizations, municipal agencies, utilities, neighborhood associations, community groups, and individuals.
- Creativity can substitute for financial resources. Ideally, cities should turn what are traditional sources of problems into resources. For example, public transport, urban solid waste, and unemployment are traditionally listed as problems but they have the potential to become generators of new resources and solutions. Creative and labor-intensive ideas can, to some extent, substitute for capital-intensive technologies. Also, cities do not need to wait for bailouts or structural reforms to begin working on some of their problems.
- Social, environmental and economic solutions can be integrated into holistic approaches. Mayor Lerner’s leadership and creativity proved that there could be a sustainable solution for each set of problems usually found in fast-growing cities worldwide. A combination of public-private partnerships, transparency and participation was promoted in the development of equations of co-responsibility. The experience of Curitiba demonstrates that solutions, not only problems, can be seen in an integrated way.
Beyond the city level, the Curitiba case suggests that state and national governments would do well to acknowledge the strategic importance of cities as potential instruments for positive development and change.
These lessons are being learned by other cities inside and outside of Brazil. In Brazil and other Latin American cities, pedestrian walkways, bus lanes, waste management programs that were pioneered in Curitiba have become popular urban fixtures and procedures. Cities in regions as different as Africa, Asia, North America and Europe have expressed interest in the approaches put to practice in Curitiba.
One size does not fit all—not all cities enjoy Curitiba’s political will and continuity. However, one of Curitiba’s many creative, resource-conserving solutions may fit many cities that make up an increasingly urban world.
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