Curitiba, a sustainable city ?
Brian O Brien 2001

Curitiba is a city about the size of Dublin yet has no waste mountains or traffic jams. It's a city where almost everything is done differently than the way we do things; and where everything seems to be done more effectively. Curitiba is a de-facto sustainable city. It achieves the goal of creating a self-supporting urban system and successfully optimizing between the competing demands of environment and people, adding up to an efficient resilient urban experience. The most astounding thing is that this city, Curitiba, is in the so-called Third World, in Brazil.

Curitiba's success is based on its openness to change and innovation. It is also an excellent exploration of the difference between hardware and software, both of which have a part to play in sustainable urban design. The hardware of the city; buildings parks, streets, and public transport perfectly complement the software; the social programmes, regulations and rituals. Under its Mayors Jaime Lerner (an architect and urban designer trained in Berkeley) and Casio Tanaguchi, who have run the city for thirty years, it has been developing a nature mimicking, socially focussed, solutions driven philosophy of local governance since long before Agenda 21 or 'sustainability' was thought of

Curitiba's innovative solutions are the fruit of a native creativity and concern. Its famous former mayor Jaime Lerner admires two professions in particular; architects who he says are the only profession who, no matter what, will propose a solution to every problem and journalists who 'finish their days work every day'. The city fuses these two work processes, design thinking and deadlines (employing the architectural 'charette' ) in all its operations from policy to project. The city does however believe in knowledge and research is given very high importance in the city planning office (IPUC).

Curitiba's determination to balance the needs of people and environment, indeed to feed one with the other can be seen from the beginning in earliest public projects.

In the 1960s Lerner and his collaborators proposed a cheeky alternative to the massive metro (underground system) being imposed by national Government. Rejecting the plans proposed for a gargantuan metro they opted instead to apply the strengths of underground metro systems to the surface, saving time on construction (perhaps a generation) and saving vast sums of money. The planners re-examined the city and laid out 4 'growth axes' along the lies of desired growth (a fifth followed in the late 80s) each consisting of three parallel streets. The center street is reserved for a new high speed bus-train system (and it seems bicycles), and the two flanking ones, each a block away, serves other traffic in each direction.

The bus system itself then took the main advantage of metro, that when a train stops everyone can board immediately, having paid before getting to the platform and transferred it to the new bus train system. Lerner and his team redesigned the buses to have multiple doors, be higher off the ground and run smoothly. They also redesigned the bus stops inventing architecturally expressive 'tube' stations to coax commuters out of their cars by appealing to their design aspirations. The 'tubes' simultaneously allow the passenger pre-pay and move up to the platform to board quickly through the tubes sliding doors (which align themselves with the doors in the bus-train). They are also, interestingly, located in the central reservation of the streets reducing competition for footpath space with other traffic, and calming traffic.

Having solved the hardware problem software; the issue of running the system and the incentivising of commuters was the next challenge. Again the city took an innovative approach. They decided to provide the stops, routing and timetable, collect the fares and then they contracted with private companies to provide and drive the new buses paying them by the mile not the passenger. Flat fares independent of journey distance, and the distribution of bus tickets in place of social welfare (to encourage other types of programmes) by the City ensure that the poorest can afford the system, its style and reliability ensure that the rich use it also.

Next the planners zoned development along these transport axes to be much denser than in the rest of the city. Flying into Curitiba today one sees the success of this approach, five ridges of high buildings stretch from the cluster of tall buildings downtown reaching out along the transport axes to the clearly defined edge of the city.

At that time Curitiba created, perhaps the first, pedestrian streets outside of Europe. Rua de los Flores gives Curitiba the elegance of Copenhagen with the delight of Lisbon and with its pocket parks, cafes and street life, is still an excellent example of everything a pedestrian area should be. Federal funds were only available for flood control but Lerner's US training told him parks were the most urgent necessity for the city. With the skill of the designer he is he turned the 'or' into an 'and' solving the flood problem by creating a series of new parks which double as flood retention beds (letting nature do the work) for the city. Curitiba now has 26 parks adding up to more open space per head of capita than any city in the world and its vitality defies conventional urban design wisdom which sees vegetation as a weakening in the urbanness of city.

The city's zoo doubles as a free public square while community gardens contribute to nutrition, healthiness (the city teaches poorer citizens how to grow medicinal plants in order to relieve stress on the public hospital system) and create community spirit. Habitat is of course as valuable to a city whether publicly or privately owned. Privately held trees and habitat is also fiercely protected under the 'two for one' rule. Under this a householder or developer must provide two semi mature trees, in advance, for each tree they want to remove on their property

In the 1980s the City began to underpin its environmental and social values with a series of new buildings, inventing new building typologies unique to their marriage of environmental awareness and social focus. In an old quarry they created a new 'university' of the built environment (perhaps a precedent for our own 'Earthlab' project). Constructed from recycled telegraph poles, it houses exhibitions, classrooms and workspaces for environmental professionals. Unilevre is the City's primary teaching tool by which it educates Curitibans on environmental issues and their roles in upholding the process.

In another quarry the City built a new opera house. Constructed of steel and glass (for economy and ecology sake) its porous floors and walls allow natural ventilation by inducing cool air up from the quarry floor lake through the auditorium. The city next created a number of mini town centers. Marking node points in the transport network these clusters of public offices and social facilities called 'citizenship streets' were conceived to create an urban focus which reinforces the public transport strategy and creates a 'sense of place' at the end of the transit lines. The city also created a 24 hour street, renting space to private cafes, shops and bars, who commit to remaining open permanently, as a way of bringing vitality to the downtown.

Curitiba is now completing a massive childcare facilities programme using a new building type that contains a small childrens library, care room and a watch point for policemen on night duty). These 'lighthouses of knowledge' have trained staff to look after children between school closing time and parents arriving home from work. By using books as the cornerstone of the programme literacy levels improve while parents can rest easy and work to support the family. With similar vision the new Botanic Gardens employs youths from the nearby shanty, essentially buying their support and preventing vandalism.

Curitiba has a network of 100km bicycle lanes many of them linking the parks. They are designed in the Scandinavian model; separated and safer thus encouraging far more use (only the fit or foolhardy dare cycle on Dublins cycle lanes) and serving both as social linkages during the day and, perhaps as wildlife corridors after dark.