A bit of good news about prospects for green cities comes from an unlikely place—Dubai. In itself, Dubai is perhaps the most unsustainable place on Earth, a city lavishly built with oil money where everyone’s air conditioner runs full tilt 24/7/365. That’s what’s so amazing about the recent International Herald Tribune report about plans for…
Carolyn Whelan, International Herald Tribune Mass transit projects regularly perish in the process, when special interest demands may derail the best intentions of public policy makers. So it often goes in Latin America, where wealthy land owners exert strong influence. But not in Bogotá, under Enrique Peñalosa, who is credited by many as the architect of…
Until recently in Guayaquil, a city of 2.3 million, the quality of public services like transportation was at an all-time low. Traffic congestion and air pollution were ever-increasing problems as over 80% of the city’s residents made their trips in individual cars or 20-year old buses. In 2006, Mayor Nebot opened the first 15 kilometers…
My mom would rush out with whatever bottles, jars and newspapers she had saved and exchange them for a few pesos with those Bogotános who eked out an existence in repurposed trash. I didn’t think much about it then but I realize now that this type of recycling was an adaptation, an innovation if you…
TPR spoke with Executive Director Walter Hook about what the Third World is learning from the West, and what the West—and L.A.—can learn from the Third World. Last month the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) sponsored a talk by former Mayor of Bogotá Enrique Peñalosa, which attracted a large audience of transportation experts,…
A decade ago, the Bosa slum was the black hole of Bogotá. Its darkest corner was Laurel Park, a grassless, trash-strewn lot with open sewage and gun-toting gangs bent on muggings and murder. Today, Bosa has paved streets, new schools, health clinics and cafeterias, and links to a new mass transit system. Laurel Park has…
Bill Clinton, a man whose self-deprecating charm has carried him far in life, likes to tell a story about his appearance on a Shanghai radio show. It was a historic event: The president of the United States would field questions from everyday citizens in a nation notorious for its tight lock on information. But to Clinton’s…
“ITDP is honored to have Mr. Peñalosa join us as a Senior Fellow,” said ITDP Executive Director Walter Hook. “Enrique Peñalosa’s transformation of the city of Bogotá from a nightmare of traffic congestion to one of the world’s most livable cities has made him an inspiration for leaders around the world. ITDP has never had…
The Cantoris were in the final stage of a rigorous adoption procedure, one that required them to take a figurative test drive with their prospective daughter. Things couldn’t have gone better. Eleven-year-old Andrea proved to be the girl of their dreams. Surprisingly, Bogota also stole Greg’s heart. “I felt like I was in Utopia,” he…