Think Green Live Clean

Photo Credit: Carlos Carvajal

Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city, and most populated city in the country, is being watched and mimicked by cities worldwide for it’s significant efforts to upgrade the city’s infrastructure. With a population of about 8 million, Bogotá’s rapid growth has placed a huge strain on its roads and highways. However, within the last decade, former Mayor Enrique Peñalosa has challenged the city’s congestion and lack for public space with his revolutionary ideas.

Bogotá used to be known as a city deep in urban decay. This once crime-ridden city is now a model for effective transit and urban design. How did this huge transition take place? Politicians and city planners recognized the need for more public space and began to tackle the battle between the needs of people and of cars. Peñalosa began by introducing bike lanes and a new bus transportation called TransMilenio. In order to do so, he prohibited parking on sidewalks and installed a 300-km long bike lane, the CicloRuta, the longest bike lane in the developing world. The new mass-transit system, the TransMilenio, established express bus lanes and transfer stations, which inevitably cut down on traffic and travel time.

Not only did the transformation of the transit system reflect a huge decrease in the city’s crime rate, TransMilenio has allowed the city to remove 7,000 small private buses from its roads, reducing the use of bus fuel and car emissions by more than 59 percent since it opened its first line in 2001! Peñalosa’s goal was to recreate the city for its people, not for cars. He did so by regarding sidewalks as being related to parks, rather than streets, discouraging parking along the streets and holding “car-free” days. The United Nations has recognized the city’s sustainable makeover and granted Transmilenio as the only large transportation project approved to generate and sell carbon credits.

As Peñalosa said, “A city that is enjoyable is also environmentally sustainable. It is one designed for people, not for cars.” He currently works as a consultant on urban vision and gives conferences around the world on how to create more sustainable able livable cities.

Watch this video, Bogotá: Building a Sustainable City to learn more.