Jessica Maliszewski

Curitiba Summary and Reflection

Curitiba was founded by Portugal in 1693 and today hosts about 2 million people;
geographically is located about 1000 kilometers away from Rio De Janeiro. It is one of the first
cities in the world to have a recycling service. In 1988 Jamie Lerner, an architect, became mayor.
He felt that people matter more than economics when building a city. He implemented so many
smart growth ideas into the city, such as turning busy streets into pedestrian malls. There must be
political will and citizens who will back up the ideas.
Curitiba is very well known for their recycling and garbage. They ring a bell when they
come around. Garbage is separated between organic and inorganic. Enough recyclables have
been collected to fill several thousand skyscrapers. All of the recyclables go to a plant and get
sorted. Curitiba recycles 2/3 of its garbage, which makes the city cleaner and creates more jobs.
There is even a library of recycled books and a museum of peoples garbage that they have
thrown away without knowing its value. One of the items in the museum is a sculpture that has
great value you to it and was originally at the Louvre in Paris.
Lerner created a solution of parks. It solved the citys flood problem by turning river
banks into parks. More trees were planted and factories that were not being used were turned into
sports facilities. Water from floods are diverted and put into lakes, which takes away the
flooding. Skyscrapers received a few extra stories on top, but in return had to make the bottom a
more green space or they would pay cash to fund low income housing.
The integrated transport system uses buses that move people quickly and for cheap. They
use buses only lanes in the middle of car lanes and are express routes. A regular bus would take
about 1000 people a day, the transportation system was made to take about 2,000 people a day,
but takes an even bigger number of people a day, 4,000. People pay to get on the bus before the
enter, that way drivers to not have to take their fair while leaving the bus idle, that causes less
pollution. Curitiba has one of the lowest rates of pollution in Brazil, even though there are many
factories involving heavy machinery located there.
Volvo is one of those companies located there, and they even helped to design the buses
used for the integrated transport system. Also, the oldest university in Brazil is located there, so
many people are educated.
Curitiba is also home to many poor people, and the city tries to help them in the decent
ways. They use The Green Exchange where people in low income areas separate their garbage
and make an exchange for green belt products. The people bring their garbage to the exchange
and get food or bus tickets in return. That way food does not go to waste and it encourages
citizens to use the buses. It also saves the town money, because is those areas the roads are small
and the garbage trucks cannot fit down them, so the city does not have to widen the roads.
Jamie Lerner wanted the city to become sustainable in 48 hours. His secretary thought
her was crazy and said it could be done in six months, they came to a compromise and said 72
hours. They did it. Within 72 hours Curitiba became a sustainable city. Lerner wanted to do this

to avoid merchants opposition. They were not happy at first and had planned to bulldoze the
whole pedestrian mall, but Lerner had put little children in the middle of it to paint, so no one
could bulldoze anything. In about two weeks the merchants realized that it was a great idea. Still,
every Saturday, down the center of Flower Street, they have children painting, which gets the
young people involved in what is going on.
Curitiba was built on a plateau. Their buses carry 270 people at a time. Instead of solving
problems look at potential of a situation or a city. Technology opens up potentials. Libraries were
established. Libraries were associated with lighthouses, as a gateway to knowledge. Old buses
were used as traveling classrooms for various different subjects and skills; they moved from
place to place every week. If you wait to have all the answers before you start, you will not
start, said Allan Jacobs, Professor of City and Planning at the University of California Berkley,
referring to smart growth.
In a Ted Talk that Jamie Lerner did, he said, City is not a problem, city is a solution.
There are now 83 cities in the world that use the BRT of Curitiba. Cars generate carbon
emissions, using the integrated transport system creates less. In 1983 they started to develop a
sustainable transportation system that connects buses and subways, combing all systems. Lerner
says that a car is like your mother-in-law, you have to have a good relationship but cannot be
commended for life.
Lerner also says that we much teach children about recycling and how to separate their
garbage, who can then go teach their parents. 70 percent since twenty years, Brazil has had the
highest ratio of separate garbage in the world. In order to have a sustainable world we must work
with everything we have, and we must work together. Planning takes time, but once planned we
must work fast.
Jamie Lerner is my new role model. He created a sustainable city within 72 hours. He did
what he knew was right and just did it. His ideas are completely genius. The integrated transport
system is so resourceful, easy to manage, easy to understand, and is cheap! Paying before you
get on and then just walking right on the bus makes so much more sense than having to pay the
driver and wait for him to give you your change. Plus, the bus does not idle as long and that
means less carbon emissions.
Turning a busy street into a pedestrian mall gets more people together in one area and
creates better business for merchants. Although the merchants did not agree at first. The idea of
using kids as a decoy to not run down all of the work put into the area is so simple and so
practical, it seems too easy to think of, but it is so smart. And I think its great that still today,
every Saturday the children still paint in the middle of Flower Street.
Also, I think that sorting through recyclables is worthwhile, and I dont understand why
more places do that. Not only is it better for the environment, but it creates more jobs for people.
Helping poor people by exchanging their trash for food or bus tickets is so smart as well. It helps
them out, and helps the city out by encouraging them to you the transportation system. And the
fact that they do not waste food by doing that is also important.

Sustainability can be achieved in cites, politicians and citizens just need to come together
in order for it to happen. Im not exactly sure what I want to do with my major yet, but I have
had smart growth in mind and after watching these documentaries I feel like it is something I
would do well with.
Curitiba is the city I have to my presentation on when we are in Brazil. Im immensely
excited to visit it and see how the city is actually set up. If I do end up working with smart
growth being able to say that I have been to Curitiba will make me a step ahead of the rest and
companies, agencies, or towns will more likely want to hire me. Curitiba seems to be one
remarkable city.