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Enrique Peñalosa
Enrique Peñalosa was the mayor of Bogota, Colombia from 1998-2001. He engineered perhaps the most swift and dramatic livable streets renaissance ever seen in a major international city. In just three years in office (Bogota law limits mayors to 1 term), he led a transportation revolution so complete that Bogota was transformed from a traffic-clogged mess into one of the most transit and bike friendly cities in the world. [1] His most notable accomplishment was the creation of a highly effective bus rapid transit system, Transmilenio , a project that was continued by his successor, Mayor Luis Eduardo Garzon. Peñalosa’s credits also include ciclovia , a weekly car-free event, as well as the vast expansion of bike paths, sidewalks, parks and public open space.
Peñalosa now lectures and consults in cities around the world, while writing a book about his innovative development principles.
Enrique’s brother,
Gil Peñalosa+
, served as Bogota’s Parks Commissioner and now directs Walk and Bike for Life, a nonprofit organization based in Canada.
Key Accomplishments As Mayor
Transportation:
• Canceled disastrous plans to build an elevated freeway network throughout the city.
• Built a
bus rapid transit
system for a fraction of the cost of the proposed highway project.
Transmilenio
, which now carries a half million people every day, is like a surface subway that runs on busways and features raised platforms that are level with the bus entrance. Feeder buses run through neighborhoods and transport commuters to the main line. A goal is to reduce the need for feeder buses by further expanding bicycle networks.
• Increased the gas tax and used the revenue to fund bus rapid transit [2].
• Bikes, not cars: Peñalosa installed bicycle “arterials” through neighborhood centers [1]
• Banned cars from parking on sidewalks; installed bollards everywhere to protect sidewalks
• Established a city model that continues to restrict car use: the “Pico and Placa” system reduced car use by 40% during 4 peak hours daily [3]
• Created Ciclovia, a weekly street-opening event in which "an average of 1.5 million (up to 2 million) people use more than 70 miles of city streets for everything but driving cars” [4]
• Initiated the world’s first Car-Free Day in 2001, banning cars throughout the city and opening streets for biking, walking and all sorts of recreation. With wide popular support, Car-Free Day was made an annual event [5] .
• Constructed or refurbished several hundred kilometers of sidewalks, bike paths and greenways [5].
Parks and Open Space:
• Established or reclaimed more than one thousand parks, including two large urban parks: the 45-kilometer long Juan Amarillo Greenway and a 17-kilometer pedestrian avenue, The Alameda El Porvenir, which runs through Bogota's poorest neighborhoods [3]
• Planted more than one hundred thousand trees
Current Work
While Peñalosa is often referred to as “the former mayor of Bogota”, he is an urban innovator who is looked upon as a rock star within the livable streets movement. He is currently a scholar-in-residence at New York University [5], where he is working on a book detailing his revolutionary design principles for Third World cities. He currently travels the world lecturing and consulting on progressive planning and transportation issues. For example, in February 2009, he captivated a large crowd at the Boston Public Library.
In Peñalosa’s Words
On public space:
• “The least a democratic society should do," he says, "is to offer people wonderful public spaces. Public spaces are not a frivolity. They are just as important as hospitals and schools. They create a sense of belonging” [6]
• "We all need to see other people. We need to see green. Wealthy people can do that at clubs and private facilities. But most people can only do it in public squares, parks, libraries, sidewalks, greenways, public transit" [6]
On urban planning:
• “Third World cities are still two-thirds unbuilt… we can take advantage of what's been done--mistakes and successes--by cities in the developing world.”
• “The 20th century was a horrible detour in the evolution of the human habitat. We were building much more for cars’ mobility than children’s happiness.” [7]
• “We can have a city that is very friendly to cars or we can have a city that is very friendly to people. We cannot have both. “ [8]
On transportation:
• “The upper-income people in developing countries never walk. They see the city as a threatening space, and they can go for months without walking one block.” [7]
• “We cannot continue to deceive ourselves thinking that to paint a little line on a road is a bike way. A bicycle way that is not safe for an 8-year old is not a bicycle way. “ [8]
ALSO ON THE LIVABLE STREETS NETWORK
REFERENCES
Each source is referred to by the same number every time it is cited. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1] The Bogotå Transformation: Vision and Political Will. Streetsblog, October 29, 2007
[2] A Tale of Two Mayors: The improbable story of how Bogota, Colombia, became somewhere you might actually want to live. Grist. April 4, 2002.
[3] About Enrique Penalosa. American Planning Association.
[4] Ciclovia: Is NYC Ready? Streetsblog, June 6, 2007.
[5] Enrique Peñalosa. Project for Public Spaces.
[6] City of Joy. Project for Public Spaces.
[7] Man With A Plan: Questions for Enrique Peñalosa. The New York Times, June 8 , 2008.
[8] Interview with Enrique Peñalosa. Streetfilms, February 1, 2007.
PICTURE REFERENCES
Pictures are cited in the order they appear above. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1]
[2]
FURTHER READING
- "Man With a Plan." New York Times Magazine, June 7, 2008.
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