The Brazilian city of Curitiba became famous in the 1980s for its environmental strategies and public transportation system, introduced by three-time mayor, Jaime Lerner. Many leaders from around the world travelled to Curitiba to observe and try to copy what the city had accomplished. In recent years, however, with the political scandals, economic malaise and social problems that have dogged Brazil, some now question whether Curitiba remains a relevant model. In a recent paper, Professor Deborah Bleviss explains why the city’s experiences remain relevant today. Read More
As Curitiba was growing in the mid-20th Century, Lerner offered a unique vision for the city: growing without sacrificing quality of life and environmental integrity. To realize this, the city needed to be built around a widely-used public transport system that would largely substitute cars. With fewer vehicles, air pollution and traffic congestion could be avoided. Lerner believed that public transport should be affordable, high-quality and easy-to-use, so that residents wanted to use it.
To accomplish this, Lerner embraced four major principles that were implemented as a single package:
1: A hierarchical, integrated public transport network was created. In Curitiba’s case, this was built with buses, ranging from high-capacity buses downtown that connected to lower-capacity buses in less dense areas, and finally to neighborhood buses. Easy transfers between different buses made it simple to move across the city. Lerner’s goal was that no one would need to walk more than 10 minutes to catch a bus.
2: He changed the pattern of urban development in the city to make it denser along the high-capacity bus lines. As a result, a significant fraction of the city’s population was within walking distance of a bus stop.
3: He embraced and expanded a public-private partnership where the private sector owns, operates and upgrades the vehicles, while the public sector invests in road infrastructure and oversees the system. Neither the public nor private sectors felt strapped for investment, while planning and oversight by the public sector ensured the system ran well.
4: Lerner created a municipal governance structure which extended beyond city borders. As the population extended into the suburbs, the transport system remained effective.
Within a short period, the city’s residents saw clear benefits to their quality of life. By 1992, 70% of the population used the system. This saved an estimated 27 million car trips a year. Curitiba had one of the lowest rates of air pollution among similarly sized cities in Brazil.
Bleviss argues that the implementation of all four principles is what enabled these benefits to be realized. Many visitors to Curitiba sought to emulate the city’s success, but usually copied only one principle. Unsurprisingly, the systems they built became less functional over time as cities grew and sprawled, while oversight and planning lagged.
As transportation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, effective public transport like Curitiba’s will be critical for meeting the global goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
