Summaries:
“Sustainable Development in Brazil”:
Curitiba was one of the first cities in the world to offer a citywide garbage & recycling. City is broken up between urban sprawl, and parks. The slow, but progressive, changes made in Curitiba had it change from agriculture, to industry, in a relatively short period of time. One of the main reasons that this city has evolved so smoothly, is because of the citizens involvement. The involvement of the people has led Curitiba to being one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world (recycles ~⅔ of its garbage). Flooding prevented via parks, trees, and riverbeds. Integrated Transport System uses buses to transport people too and from the city, with ‘Bus Only’ lanes. Buses follow certain colored buses, red = express, orange = into the city, green = within the city, gray = non-express. Efficient, bi-articulated buses boost passenger efficiency nearly 400%. This efficiency reduces traffic by reducing the necessity of personal cars.
“The Smart City Learning From Curitiba”:
Curitiba is a highly efficient system in the transference of information and people. In the 1970’s the city was spending millions of dollars in order to manage water issues with the evolution of the city. Hence the implementation of parks. Curitiba used its previous bus and routes to establish its current, highly efficient, routes. Volvo created the bi-articulated buses in order to maximize rider efficiency. The evolution of the bus system in 1992 caused the city to develop in such a way that maximizes the city, not only efficiently, but socially. Curitiba is a very open minded city, developmentally, and measure things potentials and problems. Gradually implements technology to see if it can become a potential solution into a systemic problem (i.e. the use of GPS in cars and buses to measure accidents and injuries, and using this information to alter intersections and interactions, in order to maximize efficiency.)
“Jaime Lerner: Sing a Song of Sustainable Cities”:
The city is not a problem, it is a solution. Its possible to change any problem in less than 3 years. You shouldn't divide the city into different sections (living, working, leisure, etc…) because it fragments the social mentality, and eliminates cooperative effort to improve areas. If a certain area is isolated as an industrial workplace, the people who live, work, and reside elsewhere, won’t care about the conditions of that area. But if you have people living and working in a common area, everyone wants to live under better conditions, so it becomes a communal effort to improve the area. Implementation of boarding tubes on buses, drastically increases the efficiency of the buses, which, in turn, decreases the use of personal transit, which increases the sustainability of the city.
Reflection:
Of all of the points made throughout the videos, I feel the most prominent thing is that these buses, although a very simple addition or change, can be a dramatic alteration to any cities infrastructure. These bi-articulated buses with the loading tubes and dedicated lanes, increase the efficiency of classic buses by upwards of 400%, and that with this massive uptake in efficiency, it can lead to the substantial decrease of carbon emissions of a whole city. Buses like this can decongest massive amounts of traffic in places like NYC, while also drastically decreasing the carbon footprint of the entire city. New York already has the infrastructure in place that can be used to adapt to a more efficient Curitibian model.
Secondly, the US’s inability to function in a cooperative manner slows down our progress immensely, Curitiba manages to fix any problem the city has in at most three years; and yet if America completes anything within three years of the problem being identified, its a miracle. Meanwhile, Curitiba adopts new uses for things based on (inexpensive, yet efficient) trial periods. They will measure the practical use of these new technologies, and compared to the amount of use they get out of it, will decide whether or not to actively pursue the use of such continuously.
“Sustainable Development in Brazil”:
Curitiba was one of the first cities in the world to offer a citywide garbage & recycling. City is broken up between urban sprawl, and parks. The slow, but progressive, changes made in Curitiba had it change from agriculture, to industry, in a relatively short period of time. One of the main reasons that this city has evolved so smoothly, is because of the citizens involvement. The involvement of the people has led Curitiba to being one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world (recycles ~⅔ of its garbage). Flooding prevented via parks, trees, and riverbeds. Integrated Transport System uses buses to transport people too and from the city, with ‘Bus Only’ lanes. Buses follow certain colored buses, red = express, orange = into the city, green = within the city, gray = non-express. Efficient, bi-articulated buses boost passenger efficiency nearly 400%. This efficiency reduces traffic by reducing the necessity of personal cars.
“The Smart City Learning From Curitiba”:
Curitiba is a highly efficient system in the transference of information and people. In the 1970’s the city was spending millions of dollars in order to manage water issues with the evolution of the city. Hence the implementation of parks. Curitiba used its previous bus and routes to establish its current, highly efficient, routes. Volvo created the bi-articulated buses in order to maximize rider efficiency. The evolution of the bus system in 1992 caused the city to develop in such a way that maximizes the city, not only efficiently, but socially. Curitiba is a very open minded city, developmentally, and measure things potentials and problems. Gradually implements technology to see if it can become a potential solution into a systemic problem (i.e. the use of GPS in cars and buses to measure accidents and injuries, and using this information to alter intersections and interactions, in order to maximize efficiency.)
“Jaime Lerner: Sing a Song of Sustainable Cities”:
The city is not a problem, it is a solution. Its possible to change any problem in less than 3 years. You shouldn't divide the city into different sections (living, working, leisure, etc…) because it fragments the social mentality, and eliminates cooperative effort to improve areas. If a certain area is isolated as an industrial workplace, the people who live, work, and reside elsewhere, won’t care about the conditions of that area. But if you have people living and working in a common area, everyone wants to live under better conditions, so it becomes a communal effort to improve the area. Implementation of boarding tubes on buses, drastically increases the efficiency of the buses, which, in turn, decreases the use of personal transit, which increases the sustainability of the city.
Reflection:
Of all of the points made throughout the videos, I feel the most prominent thing is that these buses, although a very simple addition or change, can be a dramatic alteration to any cities infrastructure. These bi-articulated buses with the loading tubes and dedicated lanes, increase the efficiency of classic buses by upwards of 400%, and that with this massive uptake in efficiency, it can lead to the substantial decrease of carbon emissions of a whole city. Buses like this can decongest massive amounts of traffic in places like NYC, while also drastically decreasing the carbon footprint of the entire city. New York already has the infrastructure in place that can be used to adapt to a more efficient Curitibian model.
Secondly, the US’s inability to function in a cooperative manner slows down our progress immensely, Curitiba manages to fix any problem the city has in at most three years; and yet if America completes anything within three years of the problem being identified, its a miracle. Meanwhile, Curitiba adopts new uses for things based on (inexpensive, yet efficient) trial periods. They will measure the practical use of these new technologies, and compared to the amount of use they get out of it, will decide whether or not to actively pursue the use of such continuously.