What to build?
What would you build, if you could build whatever you wanted in the city? What would you build today to make your city better for people?
Complexity in the city
On one hand the problem is complex. Every city is unique with different resources, problems and opportunities. Every city has a unique set of people with their own fears, hopes and dreams. Every city has its own unique culture.
So how can you say what to build in the city?
Simplicity in the city
On the other hand many answers are simple and apply to every city anywhere in the world. Here are some suggestions to make your city for people:
More parks
Lester R Brown from the Earth Policy Institute believes that the ratio of parks to parking lots may be the best single indicator of liveability of a city. Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogota, perhaps summed up the situation best:
“Roads, the public space for cars, receive infinitely more resources and less budget cuts than parks, the public space for children. Why are the public spaces for cars deemed more important than the public spaces for children?"
Makes you think, doesn’t it?
More pedestrianised areas and cycle paths
Like Jan Gehl did when he Copenhagenized Copenhagen. Why can’t there be more Nyhavns in the world, where a road and car park is turned into one of the most beautiful areas in the city? Or Portland, an American city with the surprising fact of having more kilometres of cycle paths than Copenhagen?
Inspiring new developments...
...that show a brighter future, a vision of sustainability and source of pride for the residents. Like the Western Harbour in Malmö, the prime area of the city and one of the most sustainable developments in the world. Or the Commerzbank tower in Frankfurt, the tallest building in Europe when it was built in 1997 and 30% more energy efficient than a typical skyscraper.
Fantastic public transport facilities...
...that put the need of people above the need of cars. And we should do it profitably. Who could not fail to be inspired by the phenomenal transformations of Curitiba and Bogota? And it a large part of it was due to a humble bus system.
Facilities that treat our waste as a resource...
...not as waste. The garbage that is not garbage campaign in Curitiba showed how a simple idea can make a big difference – Curitiba claims to have the highest recycling rate in the World . It all started with the children, who then convinced the adults.
More local renewable energy...
...and technology to use energy more effectively. The Western Harbour in Malmö has 100% locally produced renewable energy, thanks to an intelligent combination of wind, solar and geothermal energy production, as well as some of the most energy efficient buildings money can buy.
A culture of sustainability
Involve people to determine their own futures. Like in Toronto where people who use the public transport system formed a group and are now helping the city build a system they want. Like when Curitiba planted a million trees and asked their people to look after them, watering them as necessary. And they did because they wanted to. They shared the vision of new Curitiba. A city for people, not for cars.
Is it a coincidence that both Curitiba and Toronto were featured in Harvard
Business Review’s Breakthrough Ideas for 2008?