towards a more socially and environmentally sustainable city.ppt

7/28/2019 TOWARDS A MORE SOCIALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE CITY.ppt

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TOWARDS A MORE SOCIALLY ANDENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE

CITY



BOGOTÁ: A Developing World City



Transport is a peculiar problem: It gets

worse as a society gets richer.

(…clearly a not sustainable model)



What equality in post-communism?

Public good over private interest.

Quality of life equality.



A quality city can provide much joy…

and ALSO economic growth.Quality of urban life is the most

important competitive factor for thenext 100 years at least.



Can we design a transport systemwithout knowing what kind of city we

want?



A transport system is a means to akind of city…and a city is a means to

a way of life.



Our developing country cities, whichwe are building hundreds of yearsafter other cities were built, SHOULD

BE THE BEST CITIES EVER.



What is a good city?



A city where people want to be outside.



A city that is good for children, theelderly, the handicapped, the poor, isgood for everybody else.



Beyond survival, happiness needs:

1)to be with people

2) to walk (riding a bicycle is just a

more efficient way of walking)

3) to not feel inferior.



A city friendly to cars, or a cityfriendly to people?

There are conflicts



Tell a 3 year old: “Watch out! A car!”

And the child will jump in terror.



The 20th Century will be rememberedas a disastrous one in urban history.



When cars appeared we should havestarted to build a parallel road network:One for cars and the other exclusively

pedestrian.



ALAMEDA EL PORVENIR



EL PORVENIR PROMENADE



EL PORVENIR PROMENADE

ALAMEDA EL PORVENIR



ALAMEDA EL PORVENIR



Such pedestrian-and-bicycle“highways” are not just for the poor…



Pakistani cities could become theworld’s best, with thousands of

kilometers of pedestrian-and-

bicycle-only streets.



New York or London would love to

have, but cannot, a 1,000 kilometer pedestrian and bicycle promenade

lined with giant tropical trees.



It would make our cities more attractiveto highly qualifies people.



A good city shows profound respect for human dignity.



Cars parked on sidewalks, or parking

bays where there should be sidewalk,are symbols of inequality and lack of

democracy



People v.s Cars



p

Before

After



PUBLIC SPACE



How does a democratic developingcountry city distribute road space

between

pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportand cars?



The width and quality of sidewalks aregood measures of a society’s

democracy and equity.



In public space we all meet asequals.



In expansion areas of Asian cities it is

possible to do much better than NewYork’s Central Park: Long parks

crisscrossing cities for dozens of

kilometers.



PUBLIC SPACE



It is crucial to buy land for futureparks.

PUBLIC SPACE



HUMAN IMPACT STUDIES



Transport cannot be solved simply withmoney: It takes changes in our wayof life.



“Transport Policy” means:

- Advanced city: How to reduce car use.

- Developing country city: “How to

facilitate car use”



Motorcycles are a new factor in urbantransport, particularly in tropical and

subtropical climates.

Public transport must compete withbetter quality and lower price.



Seattle



Despite giant highways,

Atlanta has moretraffic jams every

year.



Montreal Commuting times:

1992: 62 minutes

2005: 76 minutes



COUNTER-INTUITIVE TRUTHS:

- The Earth circles around the sun

- More road infrastructure brings aboutmore traffic jams



Solving traffic jams with more or bigger highways is like putting out a fire withgasoline.



Do you know ONE city which solved itstraffic problems with more roadinfrastructure?



Highways will destroy quality of lifein the city and they WILL NOTsolve traffic jams.



In medium term highways will maketraffic problems worse.



For traffic it is the same to doublethe number of cars, as to have thesame cars do twice the distance.



Which is the objective of our transport policy?

a.Provide efficient mobility for all.

b.Minimize traffic jams for thehigher income groups.



Investments in

infrastructurecan beregressive.



We chose NOT to embark on a US $

15 billion highways programproposed by JICA and insteaddecided to restrict car use and create

quality public transport.



Instead, we invested in improving thelives of the poor with projects such

as the following:



Housing for the poor.



The other side of the coin of slums is

private ownership of land around

growing cities.



Private property and the market do notwork in the case of growing cities.



Colombian public utilities such as

water, electricity, piped gas andothers charge much higher rates tohigher income neighborhoods than

to lower income ones.



Small public works with high communityparticipation can strengthen community

organization and create self esteem.



Although available land is outside

the urbanized area, it is adjacent toit: With good public transport, thisland is only 25 minutes from the

center of the city.



URBAN LAND REFORM



Saving on road infrastructure…



Santa Marta Nursery



Saving on road infrastructure…



PRIORITIZING THE POOR



For example, where JICA proposed

an 8 lane highway, we built a 35kilometer greenway for

pedestrians and bicyclists only.

CICLOVÍAS EN BOGOTÁ



JUAN AMARILLO GREENWAY



There is not a “natural” level of car use in a city.

It is Government which determines,

explicitly or implicitly, how muchwill the car be used.



If there was more space for cars inNew York or London, there would

be more cars.

If there was less space for cars,there would be less cars.



A long time ago advanced citiessuch as Manhattan, London,

Paris, or Zurich decided theywould NOT build more road

infrastructure in order to alleviatetraffic jams.



There are NO elevated highwaysacross the more desirable worldcities.



There are serious problems withlow density suburbandevelopment…



Density is the most important

element of good transport,regardless of whether we usetrains, buses, taxis, bicycles or

walk.



A city that is safe and friendly topedestrians and bicycles almost

certainly is a good city.

CICLOVÍAS



Bicycles are a serious matter andneed serious investment in

infrastructure.

CICLOVÍAS



CICLOVÍAS



A protected bicycle way is a symbol of

democracy. It shows that a citizen ona $ 40 bicycle is equally important asone on a $ 40,000 car.

Quality sidewalks and protected bicycle



Qua y s de a s a d p o ec ed b cyc epaths are not cute architectural

features: they are a right.

Unless we believe that only those with

access to a car have a right to safeindividual mobility.



In Bogotá there was not one meter of

bike-ways and rider-ship wasinsignificant. Today more than350.000 people ride to work daily.



Bogotá: BIKE PATHS



The only individual transport means

accessible to low income citizens indeveloping country cities (or childrenin all cities) is the bicycle.



In developing country cities bicycling to

work can save between 10% and30% of a minimum wage earner’s

income.

Bogotá: BIKE PATHS



Bogotá: BIKE PATHS



In the best cities of the world a largemajority of people uses public

transport for their daily mobility.



Wherever people use publictransport, it is rarely out of love for the environment.



Many possible means to restrict car use:

London congestion charge, parking

restrictions…



Parking is not a constitutional rightin any country.



Traffic jams are effective means toachieve:

- Public transport use

- Density



Bogotá Experience:Ciclovía



Bogotá: Tag number based restrictions



« Peak hour and Tag » (« Pico y Placa »)

93% population support

Bogotá : REFERENDUM



In a referendum in October 2000,

nearly 64% of voters approvedestablishing a CAR FREE DAY the firstThursday of February every year.

Bogotá: CAR FREE DAY



During 13 hours all citizens meet as equals in public transport,bicycles or walking. It builds community

Bogotá: CAR FREE DAY



TRANSPORT



If car use is to be restricted, theremust be good public transport …

30,000 traditional bus owners



Transport subsidies are veryinelastic and thus better than most.

A democratic city should chargethe same fare for long or short

distances.



Transport subsidies are veryinelastic and thus better than most.

But there is a limit: Rail systemsare too expensive to bring to all

parts of a city.



Even with a few rail lines, the only

possibility to reach a whole citywith quality public transport arebus based systems.

TRANSMILENIO



Owners of traditional busesbecame shareholders of the newoperating companies.

TRANSMILENIO



M t B R id T it (BRT)



Most Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)systems are poorly implemented.

They can compete with subwaysat a much lower cost, but needinvestments and good

management.

CICLOVÍAS



CICLOVÍAS



It was said some roads were too

narrow for TransMilenio tofit…

TRANSMILENIO



TransMilenio



TRANSMILENIO



Buses can have practically the same



Buses can have practically the samecapacity as rail.

Buses can be faster than rail.

Buses do not have to stay on track



Buses do not have to stay on trackand can minimize time consuming

transfers.

Express buses on roads without traffic

lights are faster than non-express

metros.



What about school buses?

TransMilenio



TRANSMILENIO



TransMilenio



TRANSMILENIO



In terms of transport a good city is



In terms of transport, a good city isnot one with great highways but

rather one where a child in abicycle could go safelyeverywhere.



New or wider roads should be

built with: Exclusive bus-lanes;very wide sidewalks; andprotected bicycle-ways.



Great planning for future “Katchi Abadis” .



Buy and preserve 2000

hectares of parkland aroundthe city, in green ways.



One great road with BRT,

sidewalks and bicycle-waysfor 30 kilometers.



One great road pedestrian-and-

bicycle-only promenade in the

towards a more socially and environmentally sustainable city.ppt

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