Questions
and Answers with Enrique Peņalosa
 |
|
Enrique
Peņalosa
|
Mr.
Peņalosa, the former Mayor of Bogotá,
gave a fascinating presentation on urban development
in the Third World in April, 2002. Following
the presentation, we collected questions from
the audience, and forwarded the most interesting
to Mr.
Peņalosa for his response. Also, we are asking
the same final question of all members of our Colombia
2002 series; he was the first to respond.
See
also:
Background
paper: "URBAN TRANSPORT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT:
A DIFFERENT MODEL"
Pictures
from Mr. Peņalosa's Berkeley presentation
Mr.
Peņalosa's biography
Analysis and photo from Mr. Peņalosa's Speech
Pictures of Civic
Improvements in Bogotá
How were
your ideas shaped by First World experiences,
and what can the First World learn from urban
planning in Third World cities? What
is the role of multinational agencies in this
context?
Of course
I was influenced by the advanced cities' experiences.
It is obvious for urbanists that the suburban
American model is undesirable in many respects.
However, I do not think exactly as the new urbanists,
that the answer is simply to go back to the 1900
city center. I believe that a radically more
pedestrian city, with both more pedestrian streets
and parks, can be created in a dense urban environment.
It is not necessary to have high-rises in order
to achieve high densities. The importance of
parks in developed countries, the importance
of pedestrian streets in Europe, the importance
of bicycles in Holland and Denmark, were significant
influences. We in the Third World do not have
much to show the world in terms of urban design.
There are few exceptions, such as Jaime Lerner's Curitiba,
where we learned quite a bit. But in general,
I do not think that there are great models in
advanced countries either. I dream of a tropical
city, crisscrossed by large pedestrian avenues,
shaded by enormous tropical trees, as the axes
of life of those cities. The World Bank and other
agencies can be very influential. For example
they can be strict demanding pedestrian spaces
for their projects. If they finance drainage
canals, they should suggest and even require
pedestrian and bicycle paths alongside it. They
should not finance roads without sidewalks and
bicycle paths alongside them. That is the least
of the least!
Your
vision for sustainable Third World cities is
inspiring and in some ways revolutionary. What
were the politics of planning and implementation
of the projects during your administration?
How did you galvanize widespread support? Who
were key brokers? Who provided the most opposition?
In some
issues such as the car-free day we used polls
and referendums in order to support our projects.
it is difficult to muster support before the
project is done, just on the idea. Once people
know what pedestrian streets, bike paths or bus
rapid transit systems are, it is easier to have
popular participation. But where there is only
the idea, it is difficult to be participative.
How can
Third World cities deal with trash?
To recycle
can be costly. It is great just to be able to
have clean cities and to properly dispose of
trash in "relleno sanitario" (I don't
know the English word.) In environmental terms
one must be very careful. A city cannot do sewage
water treatment, for example, before all citizens
have proper water supply and sewer systems.
The following
question is being asked of all of the participants
in our "Colombia 2002" series:
What concrete
(and realistic) steps do you think are necessary
to start bringing Colombia out of the current
crisis?
To answer
this would be very long. The fact is that Colombian
guerrillas have neither the popular support,
nor the policy proposals to justify their political
legitimacy. Therefore it is almost a police problem.
I think it is necessary for the system to gain
legitimacy before the population. Colombian democracy,
with all its failings, has been real. Despite
being 60 or more years behind Brazil or Mexico
in terms of economic development, Colombia has
better social indicators than both those countries
in many respects. It also has a longer and more
solid democratic tradition in terms of elections.
It does not seem to have more corruption than
other Latin American or other developing countries,
and probably it has less corruption in government
than most. I would implement a radical urban
land reform, both to solve popular housing needs
and to create very large parks, as well as other
measures to make a more egalitarian and thus
more legitimate society. But Colombia has a lot
to show for in terms of income redistribution
mechanisms, that most of the population is not
aware of. It is necessary to construct legitimacy
through various means. And from there, it is
basically a police problem. No society in the
world would tolerate what the Colombian democracy
and its people are being subjected to by an insignificant
minority of violent so-called guerrillas and
self-defense groups.
