Showing the way: Curitiba – Citizen city

On the southern plateau of Brazil one city, Curitiba, has lifted itself out of tough circumstances, by the strength of good design and cohesive political leadership. The results are highly visible and show how to combine a healthy ecology, a vibrant economy and a society that nurtures people.

Study tour comments

At first sight of Curitiba driving in from the airport in the dark, nothing special about the city is apparent. Peri-urban industry business sprawl is evident. On closer inspection "in daylight" and with the economic constraints on social programmes in Brazil in mind, then the achievements that have been made are remarkable ...Charlie

Parks, pavements, public places for encounters, and pedestrian precincts have planning priority over the private motorcar in Curitiba. These hard and courageous decisions taken years ago underpin the emergence of a city that is a delight to walk and live in ...Joel

Health clinics, schools, environmental education centres all appeared to have high levels of integration-working together to provide education, health and employment opportunities for all ages, socio-economic groups and cultures. Moreover, they managed this with less money and more cooperation than is apparent in NZ. All the people we talked to took integrated planning as a 'given' and were openly proud of how their programmes make a difference for Curitibans. ...Pam

I was most impressed by the emphasis on action, low tech practical solutions, integrating infrastructure and landuse planning getting things done rather than concentrating only on process, law and plans. We need to be smart (like the Curitibans!) and adapt good ideas to our cultural and political landscape. ...Dave B

Curitiba looks and feels as though it is a good place to live and an efficient city to operate in. It oozes connections between city and business leaders, places and spaces, institutions, solutions to many needs, the needs of today and the opportunities for tomorrow ...Morgan

Ideas for action

Within New Zealand there are already a number of local, imaginative solutions being proposed to help raise the 'liveability quotient' for our communities. However, our experience in Curitiba has resulted in a conviction that there are a number of easily transferable actions that should not be too difficult 'to do', sooner rather than later.

These include:

• More pedestrian streets - imagine most of Lambton Quay and Lower Queen Street without all the cars and emissions
• More and improved 'people encounter' spaces - with permeable paving and seating areas arranged to encourage interactions
• Creative use of quarries - for music, recreation and community activities
• More recreational areas - 'dead' sections of the city could be made into informal sport and activity areas
• Heritage parks - to celebrate our cultural diversity, for example, Samoan, Chinese, Indian, Tokelaun ...and more
• Better lighting - brighter and soft-toned in public areas, especially where people have to wait
• Integrated transport fares - in all regions, with discounts for regular commuters
• Transferable development rights - to preserve heritage areas and provide income for community programmes.

We invite you all to become active participants in taking all available opportunities to advance, where appropriate, these relevant and transferable ideas.

At the same time we can be working together to advocate for better coordination and integration of the innovations, and the urban research and planning, already in progress in Aotearoa.