Work Fast

Posted by Sheila Redick on February 13, 2006

Jaime Lerner, who as mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, practiced what he calls "urban accupuncture" to change his city radically, told listeners at the Tropical Green conference last week that urban leaders must work fast so that they can avoid their own bureaucracy, avoid political problems, and avoid their own insecurities. Urban leaders must always ask, "How can we speed things up?

He also offered his formula for creating the sustainable city. There are five rules:

(1) Drive less.
(2) Separate garbage.
(3) Live closer to work or bring work closer to home.
(4) Save more and waste less.
(5) Find multiple uses for buildings.

He urged leaders to "avoid the complexity sellers." Just pick a place to begin changing the city and begin. (Very Zen-like words of wisdom)

Jaime offered the example of the Second Avenue subway in New York. It has taken 50 years to plan and will take another 20 to build at a cost of $3.8 billion. A surface transportation system could have been planned and built in two years and would be 100 times cheaper per kilometer.

It was a pleasure once again to hear the magical story of Curitiba and to see sketches of Jaime Lerner's latest projects developed with his Urban Accupuncture consulting group.