HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/20/2001, - CITIZENS FOR SAFE ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND SAFE MILIEUS WILLOW O p EL]Lij
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Threc-quartcrs of the 150 million inhabitants arBrazil live in towns, the fast north-south and east-west bus routes.Four cununuic lines
under notorious conditions.But one town,Curitiba,is an exception. trete added with stations at intersections with the earlier lines.
Situated 700km south of Rio and'I OOkm from the Atlantic coast,it is These-express raefial routes would have needed a width of Gom,
the capital of the State of PatanS and contains 1 600 000 atnioaaar, which was impossible.The device,adopted in the plan was to divide
descendants of Polish,Italian,German and Ukrainian emigrants, this now intelligently between three neighbouring parallel streets,
and has an economy(services,trade and industry)at the normal the,fust and the third being one-way for private travel and the cen-
level for Brazil Its natural situation is poor and its climate is aver- tm being reserved for the express bus,and later for the tram or sur-
age.Ldcc other states,Parana was invaded by a mass of peasants face railway when the means were available. All this was
t kd )'by mechanized agriculture(1.5 million poor peasants were co-ordinated with verb,little expropriation.The routes gave a struc-
. Nothing would distinguish Curitiba
to development without allowing it to occur anywhere at ran-
not
from another town if it were .dour and without impossible teatfx conditions.
not for the action of i r m aime Lerner,an architect.He has
made all the difference. He quickly understood that a town is Parks
designed not by an architect but by politics.So he contrived to be The first act of the local administration had been to look after the
elected mayor fir three alternate terrors in 20 years and is ceaselessly parks and!2.&,nt many trees.The inhabitants had to be persuaded
improving the urban ecology of Cururba. by mobil them with a
®g slogan:'We bring shade,you bring fresh
He realized that grandiose solutions never produce.the promised water'(an old Portuguese proverb).Previously the town had planted
results and that abstract Modernism simply docs not work In 1970, 50M trees per year,and this was increased to 60 000 trees per year.
when he first became mayor,the new town of Brasilia was shining in In 20 years,Curitiba has increased the green space per inhabitant
all its glory.Today it is a sorry sight,strange and un nhabitable from 05m2 to 52 mr.The intention was to plant one and a half mil-
Lerner rearmed that all this hardware ofglass and steel towers,these lion trees in 20 years for,since the 1988 murder of Chico Mcndcs
underground stations,these dizzy suspension bridges and motor- (the campaigner.to save the rainforest), Brazil had been on the
ways did not really help anyone in their everyday fife. defensive in ecological circles.
During winter night in'72 the work of pedestrianizing the main
tMasterplans streetm the
�n� greatest secrecy and'was completed in 72 hours.
In the'60s,an attempt was made to impose a 1942 plan by the In spite of the desire for participation,the preliminary wort had
French town-planner Agache.He proposed widening the road sys- been carried out without publicity.The wager succeeded.Participa-
tem,demolishing the borders of avenues and radiallytransforming. tion was not by the inhabitants but rather by urban guerrillas.The
the city on behalf of the private car.Just hike North-American towns, car addicts had decided to reconquer the territory by brute force,
This plan was rejected by arcbttectsengineers and by,the Devil- but on Monday morning when the lorries arrived ro demolish every-
-- -0pment Bank whoerequestedbtudyefa new-and more reaFi tiepro— ' , with-a group oTcfiilclrcn painting paper on
posal.As catty as 1966,a new plan was prepared by the Lerner team the ground.Tltis was the first successful muni
was zee _ tenial sit-in for protect-
and express unreel,then frozen in'71 under the harsh dictatorship. mg pedestrians.Even$o,u[Dole two years more to set thcexpiess
This latter plan closed the main road to private traf ic, which braes in operation,an essential accompaniment to the pedestrian.
annoyed some private interests.The earlier plan was concentric:to The Mayor organized well-constructed and popular parks:the
go from one district to another,traffic,both public and private,had Iron Wire Opera,a round structure of completely glared steel tubes,
to pass through the centre,which would certainly soon become and a new Botanical Carden in which the greenhouses were also of '
choked.Therefore the streets had to be widened and the spiral of steel tubes and domes.They were very popular
demolition and bottlenecks begat[
The new plan was linear:the town was autheo izcd to spread only Run-down quarters
along specified lines.The historical centre,situated somewhat apart, Rehabilitation of the run-down areas started by adding the public
could then become quietly pedestrianized_A ring-road connected services which they lacked, paving the streets and in particular
Creative Curitiba
Curitiba in Brazil is one of the most remarkable cities anywhere-Led by an architectI
mayors the citizens have
created a series of in
terlackin8 systems of transport,land use and waste disposal that makers Curitiba the
ecological capital of the world Lucien Kroll,the distinguished Belgian f
architect,describes the achievements
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working with the communities adjoining the faaelas or shacks: their ing no work(why spend so much if the bus is so efficient?)Stations in
opinion was requested on all the projects.it was found that in shaky the form of tubular shelters have been set up at the bus stops.Trav-
economies,shanty towns are a possible response to the immense ellers have already punched their tickets when they pour into the
influx of people without resources. It is surely better to improve bus through wide sliding doors,and at the same time others leave on
them rather than to ignore or demolish them. Often,furthermore, a level with the street,as in an underground railway.This speeds up
the new constructions proposed in place of slums are violently the process(30 seconds instead of a few minutes).The widened bus
rejected by the inhabitants.We must admit that our distaste fin this doors are exactly adjusted to the doors of the stop.
approach is not economic but cultural.Town planning based on 1t was necessary to design an original Brazilian bus,ie the suspen-
rational considerations alone is completely unsympathetic, in con- Sion,the width of the entry and exit doors and above all the low plat-
trast to planning which originates in popular instincts regarding form,etc. Existing buses were never anything other than disguised
space and the urban image.This is a fundamental criticism,based lorries(though Brazil is a large manufacturer of buses).The average
on experience,of the alienation of Modernism. Which is the more speed of the express buses in Curitiba(those on the Ligeirinho)is
reasonable approach? 20km/h,compared with 7km/h for buses in other Brazilian towns.
Since lorries on the road system cannot reach the paths in the fame- The integrated network measures 500km by 50km on its own
las, the slum dwellers are 'paid' for their rubbish, is they sort the ground and carries 1200 000 passengers.
rubbish from the town and are repaid with vegetables, fruit,bus At present, the pioneer line is overburdened; at peak hours it
tickets and so on(green exchange).This is much less expensive than needs convoys of articulated buses(or bi-articulated, three buses in
hunting for inaccessible clandestine waste dumps in the farelas.None one,in accordance with the'Curitiba'design —370 passengers at
of this,of course,is very visible. once).The express buses and their metro-type stations allow travel
Most Brazilian politicians begin their career its fabulous celebrities at an average speed of 30km/h,which must be a world record.Soon
and end up barricaded behind the doors of their mansions,in fear of there must be a changeover to the tram. lit the past,27 towns in
violence,the press or their rivals.Lerner walks peacefully in his town; South America were equipped with trams(Rio had+00km of lines),
he says the only people who ask him to stop are autograph-hunters. but they have all disappeared,as in most of Europe.
Initially Curitiba had half a million private cars,but they are no
Take the bus longer to be seen.There are still as many private car owners,but the
Towns with roaring traffic but no budget should, Lerner advises, cars remain in the.garage. Bicycles however remain very important
quickly forget luxury underground stations.He prefers to brio,ba cj for walkers and workers.There is a I50km network ofbicycle paths.
the tram, which had been discontinued almost everywhere, and In 1990 Curitiba won the United Nations prize for environmental
rr_rurbish the I)11.1'.117properly laid out,it bus system can be almost as planning. Its bus system had received an award from the Interna-
efficient as all underground railway' lie says. It is also much less tional Energy Conservation Institute at Washington.Its system con-
expensive:about a million dollars a kilometre for buses, 10 million sumes nearly 25 per cent less fuel than other towns. During the
dollars a kilometre for trams,and 100 million for an underground. crisis,buses used fuel from sugar cane.
Integrated transport i the crowning success of Curitiba,which any L erner's success has certainly put him under an obligation to
other town con imitate imrnediately—is harmonizing the various advise other towns throughout the world in order to improve their
routes and the various mass transport vehicles. For about 20 US public transport.
cents,a passenger can change to any bus(express or local)and reach
practically any place in the town.'The trick in changeover is to inte- Save the children
grate the various forms of transport, from buses to boats, to the Children are the wretched victims of Brazilian town development.
underground and the bicycic'says Lerner. They are abandoned without protection and thrown into the street.
On their own ground, buses are regular and fast,with express When very young they form gangs,become dangerous and are mas-
routes and a good network of ring-roads in the suburbs.Things are sacred by the police. The object of the Pia (street-urchin) pro-
going so well that when I was there, taxis were complaining of hav- gramme is to collect these children,who are in a critical situation.At
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Iron Wire Opera In one of Manor
Lerner's new parks.
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• M extanslve park system and massive
• tree-planting programme reinforces
existing sub-tropical natural forest
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_ Wide door of eapress Iwxs exactly line
Lip with bufstop openings and t .
passengers board and align at street
Level to reduce stopping times and
fadatate people's movements.
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Bi uYsulated buses can take up to 370
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Tabularbus stops are modelled on
metro statlens Passengers punch their �r�
tickets' lore boarAng. GV
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A popular system of rubbish separation
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and disposal facilitatesrecycling.
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Partoftheuomwh ,Weopen
University lar the raviroomeat
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servatery in a new park,
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Curitiba a count was made of 500 children who had lost every link slowed down and soaked up premature floods.The rivers will gradu-
with their family and slept in the streets or in the parks.They are ally be freed from pollution(only 45 per cent of the inhabitants are
admitted(voluntarily or otherwise)into children's homes, and are connected to sewers at present). For the moment,filtering barrages
given work,food,education(below age 14);8000 children have been stop solid waste,and upstream basins reduce sewage pollution by
admitted.There will soon be I 1 000 in 40 establishments. biological means,until the fish can return and carry out their scav-
Curitiba has also constructed creches which it`sells'to businesses. enging work.In this way,all rivers are given a reserved area and nat-
The children there are of pre-school age.Owing to lack of space, ural protection.Relief from taxation has been promised for all areas
schools often operate in two four-or five-hour shifts,but are now which still contain portions of the primitive forest.Many such areas
being increased in order to provide a complete day. Before then, have been declared.
children were accommodated in disused buses. _
Lerner is also trying to attack the problem by requiring businesses Density
to adopt small groups of 10 to 15 children,feed them and give them High-rise buildings have been authorized only along two perpendicu-
work and teach them a simple trade or enable them to earn a little lar routes,at a short distance from the bus stops.The result is strange;
money in exchange for small,easy services such as errands,garden- from a'distance the town has an extraordinary appearance,because
ing,caretaking or minor office duties. Brazilian law forbids child all the rest of the town is very low,but in fact it works very smoothly.
labour but Lerner points out that,as in numerous situations where
survival is difficult,the law turns a blind eye.`in this country,if you Refuse
are over-protective nothing will work.According to law a child must Twenty years ago it was suddenly discovered that waste-disposal
not work,but the law looks aside when the child is hungry,homeless sites were full.Since new sites were anti-ecological and an incinera-
or is working for a drug trafficker'. We visited the first of these for would be polluting and too expensive,it was necessary to invent
homes.Curitiba is now considered the safest town in Brazil. a slogan: `Waste which is not waste'. Immediately the waste was
recycled in exemplary fashion.After a few appearances on televi-
Relations between groups sion,Lerner succeeded in persuading everyone to sort their waste by
In any metropolis,particularly in the Third World,businesses and hand for selective collection;40 per cent of the waste can be recy-
olLiciats find it difficult to associate with the informal network—illicit cled(50kg of recycled paper avoids the need to cut down a tree,and
street vendors and homc-workcm.Often there are collisions. Lerner Curitiba saves a thousand trees per day).Organic waste is put to one
recommends close connection between the two. His town has side and used as manure.This is a way of earning money.Three-
decided to invite the ragged band ofvendors who clutter the streets quarters of the population are truly interested.
into open-air markets which travel from one district to another.For The waste is carried to a factory outside the town and is sorted for
residents who cannot pay the high prices in shopping centres,hard- sale.The people working the sorting conveyors or bringing waste in
ware stores or supermarkets, these markets will become pleasant are often very poor,alcoholics or homeless.
bazaars which sell cheap clothing,building materials and bargains
ranging from typewriters to tuhas. Economics
Such improvements have to be paid for,without agriculture or agro-
The rivers industries.The municipality decided to set up.an industrial city,not
The IguaAu and its tributaries have the habit of violently flooding in the forth of a specialized area but as an extension of the town,
stretches of land(the main bed)which were carefully avoided by inside a natural park. Some old industries were still polluting the
builders until the modern period. More recently,unlicensed build- centre of town.They have sold their premises and have set up other
Ings invaded the banks and the valleys. Every downpour in summer installations, this time non-polluting, in new areas especially
was followed by fatal floods, in spite of considerable investments in designed for them.These are not all reserved for industry,but con-
cngineering work(underground galleries,trenches,dredging etc). Lain a mixture of accommodation,enclosures,services,and recre-
A solution was found by setting up easily-0oodable reserve areas ational areas,and are equipped with a good system of internal and
94 S near the rivers(after some expropriations)and small barrages which external transport)b=isa'60s dream which has rarely been realized.,
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Time for travelling to work is minimal,either because people live in bility. A part of his day is devoted to dealing with particular
green town development or because they have a special line con- requests, from maintenance of public lighting to ensuring that
netting them to the main working area remaining in the city. To buses are punctual.
start the economic mechanism,it was necessary to provide financial The other part of Itis time is spent in reflecting on what will happen
incentives to foreign industries to set up there,since local firuts had in the town of the future after he retires. How many inhabitants will
refused to take the risk. there be in 20 years?Where and how will they live?How will they go
The Industrial City at present provides 50 000 direct jobs and to work?Where will they Ihrow their rubbish?Lerner says that'The
150 000 indirect jobs. Workers benefit from Lite quality of the sur- mayor who limits himself to current problems fails the city of tomor-
roundings,the excellent transport system,and the health,education row,whercas it mere visionary•stumbles in all the ruts of today'.
and food services.On average, they spend three hours a day less in
travel,than the same workers at Sao Paulo. Encouraging town spirit
Lerner maintains that town spirit is immaterial but a great incite-
Social conditions and culture ment to action.'We must escape the syndrome of tragedy'he says.
Curitiba was swollen by refugees from the country.The supply of The bomb promised by Malthus has not yet exploded. Poverty is
accommodation had difficulty in keeping up.There is still a short- widespread but docs not overwhelm us. 'A tendencv is not a des-
age of 80 000 homes and 7.5 per cent of inhabitants are in tempo- tiny'saes I enter,echoing the philosopher Rent Dubos.'The idea',
rary accommodation and nearly 5000 homes are being built per he says,`is that the citizens know that solutions exist'.The only wax
year.Although the mayor insists on high quality accommodation,he is to involve the citizens iu improving their own environment.
encourages do-it-yourself;it is otut much cheaper than hastily-built Recycling of rubbish and planting of'trees are successes because
barracks and is more suitable. they are organized in association between the official town and the
The quality of opportunity is greater than elsewhere in Brazil.Por private sphere.'
example the illiteracy rate is 7 per cent compared with 26 per cent in 'The dream ora better town lives sd in Lite heads of eo le'is
the country. Failure at school is also less. Vocational training,very auothcr o us saymg, t io mayor has to do is to draw strength
difficult to finance, is given in disused buses.They travel from one from these dreams. What he can do is lituited by his electors.
district to another and teach all trades requested. Strangely,Lcrncr has invented nothing; no action of his is a critical
Beyond the immediate,functional prospects of people, numbers discovery. His genius was to undertake everything at once and co-
and needs,Curitiba regards culture mainly in relation to the inhabi- ordinate activity over a Ions;,continuous period. it is a truly archi-
tants ora district or town,and saving travel time to work so as to tectural work.
provide longer periods at home or in other pursuits. Improvement of Curitiba created and set up Unilivrc,the Open University for the
everyday life proceeds by a system of neighbourhood relations,on Environment,which trains professionals and citizens,teachers,edu-
Lite scale of a village rather than a large town.This attachment to a cationalists, administrators and official managers of property,
locality provides Curitiba with an identity and multiplies the effects cuncierges and police.it was institutrd in an old quarry in a park.
ofonc action on another. Curitiba is today regarded as the world ecological capital,but is
The memory of the efforts of 20,years ago to construct a town of strangely little known in Europe, particularly among those whose
make-do and ecology is the stulT of today's personal history of Lite ecology is somewhat literary.
inhabitants and continues across the generations.The inhabitants
have the feeling of participating in a novel ecological operation and
of giving an example to the world Ths,trx,w"unpired by h, ,\la. \l....... .md bt Thr huutlo puh-
li,hnl by thr mu,,wipalit,.Tranzlednn 6I Pram it I hwgdvu+.Thy m1i.4r,,a•ru'n pt.b6hrd m
Keeping the balance Pranrl,in th,n•Ictu,„., n,.m:\,.1.rmq,
Restoration of the town Is the concern at.all levels but is nnamly dis- Curid6a,... lx rumm�rd nn c-ni.. unili.n^rt L.i........ 1
Cldni,�c��ir.�. �PitAitt.tli.rrr./lo U1aq «te..�2�'✓ . . ... ,. ..
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n..fL.,.t.�.._. .h,.,.o./ ,�-,....-, �a..,t 0.ltt7.:_,.- tt •t....tl.�enjill¢rr'L.� "ilr.G,;;tit.�-1 esr•dJ6•%ukr'�