Curitiba: The Green City
Curitiba was once a fast growing city in Brazil that faced many of the same developmental problems as any large city of the modern world. However, the leaders of the city decided to approach things a little differently than many other places in the world. Leaders such as Jamie Lerner believe that in developing cities, the people of a city are more important than the economics of the city. As a result Curitiba is now world renown as one of the greenest cities on the planet.
The development of Curitiba has been approached very systematically. Each facet of the city's operation is worked into the greater system as a whole. The location of where people live, shop, and spend their leisure time, is all integrated into the layout, and operation of public transportation systems. Housing communities are all well integrated into the rest of the city, each with resources such as libraries that help to assimilate relationships, and learning within communities. Waste management is also greatly considered in the organization of the city and its communities.
Waste is typically something that municipalities or cities produce on a very large scale. Curitiba tackles this issue by implementation of a specialized work force that collects and sorts all of Curitiba's waste. The work force is organized into two types of workers, those dressed in green, and those in yellow. The green workers are responsible for the collection of recyclables, and the yellow workers are responsible for the collection of garbage. Waste is first separated into recyclables and garbage. Garbage is sorted further into organic and inorganic, so that whatever can be composted, is. Recyclables are sorted into various groups such as plastics, paper, and metals. For things that are more difficult to be disposed of normally such as appliances, people are able to sort their trash themselves and bring them to collections. In exchange they recieve food which the city has in surplus such as fruits, or vouchers to ride on the bus. 2/3rds of the waste in Curitiba is recycled. Amazingly this system costs the same as traditional means where most waste ends up in landfills. So the city is able to waste less, recycle more, and create more jobs, for no added economic cost.
Public Transportation is possibly the biggest success within the city of Curitiba. With a carefully planned system of interconnected bus routes there is no where people can not get to by bus in Curitiba. There are four different types of buses/routes. Each different type of bus/route is colored accordingly. Red buses are the express buses which run specifically within the five main highways that sprawl out from the center of the city. The express buses make few stops. Orange buses are called feeder buses, because they bring people from the outlying districts of the city, onto the express routes. Green buses run in circular patterns throughout the suburbs surrounding the center of the city, and cross between the express routes. Grey buses take people directly from suburbs to the center of the city, but stop much more often than the red express buses. Since there are dedicated bus lanes throughout the city, there is very little traffic as a result. The buses used in Curitiba have been developed by Volvo, and engineered to transport as many as 4000 passengers every day to more than cover the commuting demands. Because this bus system is meant to accommodate as many people as possible, there is also a standardized bus station. These bus stations are tube shaped enclosures where passengers are able to pay their bus fairs in advance while they wait to board the bus. These bus stations protect passengers from the weather, and are even handicap accessible.
While being heavily interconnected through its public transportation, Curitiba is also very connected with the environment around it. The city is filled with green open spaces and parks. Policies allow skyscrapers to be build several stories higher if in return, the company either develops green space in the area surrounding the building, or pays a sum of money to the city which is then invested into developing low income housing. Curitiba was faced with issues of flooding from increased rain water run-off. To solve this problem they built a great number of parks along waterways and around lakes and ponds in and around the city. This has both reduced flooding from run-off, as well as provided people with places to enjoy nature within the city. Many of the parks are themed based on locations around the world, bringing a touch of various cultures within Curitiba.
Curitiba's development is centered around a sense of community. At the center of the city is an entirely pedestrian area meant for shopping. When this large shopping mall was created, it was all done so over the span of a single weekend so as to avoid the expected opposition of the local merchants. The concept stuck and is now a very successful part of the city's culture. Every Saturday since its opening, a large paper sheet covers one of the main streets of the mall area. buckets of paint and brushes are set out for children to decorate the paper as they wish. Another aspect of Curitiba's development that has instilled a sense of community are the lighthouse styled libraries that are located in all the suburb communities throughout the city. Each neighborhood has its own lighthouse themed library as a place where people can gather to seek out knowledge, and education. These small community libraries were designed in the shape of lighthouses so that they were like beacons to the surrounding neighborhoods.
The development of Curitiba has been approached very systematically. Each facet of the city's operation is worked into the greater system as a whole. The location of where people live, shop, and spend their leisure time, is all integrated into the layout, and operation of public transportation systems. Housing communities are all well integrated into the rest of the city, each with resources such as libraries that help to assimilate relationships, and learning within communities. Waste management is also greatly considered in the organization of the city and its communities.
Waste is typically something that municipalities or cities produce on a very large scale. Curitiba tackles this issue by implementation of a specialized work force that collects and sorts all of Curitiba's waste. The work force is organized into two types of workers, those dressed in green, and those in yellow. The green workers are responsible for the collection of recyclables, and the yellow workers are responsible for the collection of garbage. Waste is first separated into recyclables and garbage. Garbage is sorted further into organic and inorganic, so that whatever can be composted, is. Recyclables are sorted into various groups such as plastics, paper, and metals. For things that are more difficult to be disposed of normally such as appliances, people are able to sort their trash themselves and bring them to collections. In exchange they recieve food which the city has in surplus such as fruits, or vouchers to ride on the bus. 2/3rds of the waste in Curitiba is recycled. Amazingly this system costs the same as traditional means where most waste ends up in landfills. So the city is able to waste less, recycle more, and create more jobs, for no added economic cost.
Public Transportation is possibly the biggest success within the city of Curitiba. With a carefully planned system of interconnected bus routes there is no where people can not get to by bus in Curitiba. There are four different types of buses/routes. Each different type of bus/route is colored accordingly. Red buses are the express buses which run specifically within the five main highways that sprawl out from the center of the city. The express buses make few stops. Orange buses are called feeder buses, because they bring people from the outlying districts of the city, onto the express routes. Green buses run in circular patterns throughout the suburbs surrounding the center of the city, and cross between the express routes. Grey buses take people directly from suburbs to the center of the city, but stop much more often than the red express buses. Since there are dedicated bus lanes throughout the city, there is very little traffic as a result. The buses used in Curitiba have been developed by Volvo, and engineered to transport as many as 4000 passengers every day to more than cover the commuting demands. Because this bus system is meant to accommodate as many people as possible, there is also a standardized bus station. These bus stations are tube shaped enclosures where passengers are able to pay their bus fairs in advance while they wait to board the bus. These bus stations protect passengers from the weather, and are even handicap accessible.
While being heavily interconnected through its public transportation, Curitiba is also very connected with the environment around it. The city is filled with green open spaces and parks. Policies allow skyscrapers to be build several stories higher if in return, the company either develops green space in the area surrounding the building, or pays a sum of money to the city which is then invested into developing low income housing. Curitiba was faced with issues of flooding from increased rain water run-off. To solve this problem they built a great number of parks along waterways and around lakes and ponds in and around the city. This has both reduced flooding from run-off, as well as provided people with places to enjoy nature within the city. Many of the parks are themed based on locations around the world, bringing a touch of various cultures within Curitiba.
Curitiba's development is centered around a sense of community. At the center of the city is an entirely pedestrian area meant for shopping. When this large shopping mall was created, it was all done so over the span of a single weekend so as to avoid the expected opposition of the local merchants. The concept stuck and is now a very successful part of the city's culture. Every Saturday since its opening, a large paper sheet covers one of the main streets of the mall area. buckets of paint and brushes are set out for children to decorate the paper as they wish. Another aspect of Curitiba's development that has instilled a sense of community are the lighthouse styled libraries that are located in all the suburb communities throughout the city. Each neighborhood has its own lighthouse themed library as a place where people can gather to seek out knowledge, and education. These small community libraries were designed in the shape of lighthouses so that they were like beacons to the surrounding neighborhoods.
Day 8: Exploring downtown Curitiba
Today we explored Curitiba. We got tickets to ride a bus tour of the city that included several stops. The first of our stops was to one of the many parks in the city. There were several parks spread throughout the city that were all connected. The parks each had dedicated running, bike, and pedestrian paths. The parks also had workout equipment. After leaving the park we headed over to the famous pedestrian mall. After getting lunch and exploring the mall for a few hours we hopped back on the bus and headed to the botanical gardens. The gardens were large and had many cool pathways for you to follow to explore other areas of gardens. There was even a two story greenhouse that housed more tropical plants. Once we finished at the gardens we rode the bus to the food market downtown. The market was where vendors sold all types of food and drinks. There was all kinds of fresh produce, fish, nuts, and even various liquor. We spent a couple hours exploring this area before hoping back on the bus one last time to drive back to the start of the tourist loop for the day.
Curitiba was a very nice city to explore. The whole city was very clean, and getting around using the bus system. The park system worked into the city added a nice touch. It provided people with somewhere to go and enjoy being outdoors without the normal city feel. Everything about Curitiba felt cleaner and more in tune with healthy living than in most cities.
Curitiba was a very nice city to explore. The whole city was very clean, and getting around using the bus system. The park system worked into the city added a nice touch. It provided people with somewhere to go and enjoy being outdoors without the normal city feel. Everything about Curitiba felt cleaner and more in tune with healthy living than in most cities.