Curitiba – a sustainable city?
Location of Curitiba
Curitiba is in South-east Brazil
Picture
Excellent documentary on Curitiba
Basic facts
Curitiba 1940
– The city was experiencing rapid growth and had a thriving agricultural sector
and attracted migrants from Japan, Syria and Lebanon. This led to increasing
demand for:
· Housing
· Services
· Transportation
The city planners developed new sewers and road systems
Unchecked growth 1960s – The residents feared problems such as Urban Sprawl, fewer open/green spaces and lost character
· Limited urban sprawl
· protecting all existing green spaces
· preserve public buildings
· new fast direct transport links in and out of the city
· affordable public transport
The master plan 1970s:
· First pedestrian only street
· Triany road system
The Green Era 1980s:
· Green areas protected from development
· City wide recycling program
· Public transport system expanded – colour-coded bus lanes to highlight the different bus routes
International Recognition 1990s:
· more green spaces
· protecting more cultural sites
· high speed bus routes and bus stops
· botanical garden and opera house built on the site of a disused quarry
· New industries such as Audi and Renault
Millennium:
Tourism very important to the city’s economy
· sight-seeing bus service
· new skills training for poorly paid residents
· built a new technology park
· investing heavily in alternative fuel technologies