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Bogotá for Bogotanos

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May 9, 2012
Mobility
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Last week David and I travelled to Bogotá for the second time to collaborate with the World Bank on a scoping workshop. Throughout the four-day process, we meet and worked with various secretariats, including habitat, planning and mobility on imagining the future of the ‘7a’ avenue, one of the most prominent and historic arteries of the city.

The ‘7a’ project is being lead by the Secretariat of Habitat, under the wing of their ‘Taller de la Ciudad’ or ‘City Lab’. Their aim is to revitalise parts of the city centre beginning by enhancing public life, easing movement and increasing security. The ‘Taller de la Ciudad’ has identified 15 nodes along the 7a where they plan to trial pilot projects. Later this year, they will launch an international ideas competition to help gather innovative ideas for the 15 nodes.

The ‘City Lab’ team has already begun their first pilot between the 19th and 26th streets of the ‘7a’ – cars have been re-routed and the road re-distributed to include space for pedestrians, cyclists and service vehicles. Although it is being pitched to users as a pedestrian street, it seems like the opportunity is much bigger and linked to the current mayor’s slogan – Bogotá Humana (Human Bogotá). The planned initiatives along the ‘7a’ translate into projects that are about making an already incredible and inspiring city into a place that exhilarates our senses by smartly transforming them into destinations, experiences, hubs, and magnetic centers that offer the best of city life to every citizen.

7a avenue pilot

Towards a human-centered Bogotá

Standing and observing the altered flows between the 19th and 26th we were struck by the lack of clarity and conflict between users despite the delineated spaces. There appeared to be very little natural propensity to follow the painted lanes and no alliance between pedestrians and cyclists. It left us wondering how Bogotanos can be moved towards and inspired to respond to something that is entirely new? Does this type of lane segregation and order suit the culture? It seems like an incredible opportunity for both the secretariats and the citizens to investitage city-goer behaviour and to trial innovative urban solutions.

The exponential and ambitious transformations of Bogotá, such as Transmilenio BRT program and associated ‘hardware’ restructuring projects by Enrique Peñalosa, socially experimental and unorthodox ‘software’ approach by Antanas Mockus, have yet to be surpassed in fame or efficiency by successive administrations. These projects were, in thinking and finance a product of their time. Now it seems like a new, more dispersed and open city agenda is surfacing. One in which bottom up processes of small change that inspire participation, social connection and trust are developing, needing an understanding of the inter-play between the hard, and the soft infrastructures of the city. The pilot project shows that one size doesn’t fit all and that intelligent design must come from user and cultural understanding.

Main city centre plaza

Our Cities Ourselves in Rio de Janeiro

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March 15, 2011
Uncategorized
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After a successful run in New York in the summer of 2010, Our Cities Ourselves is on view in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from February 2 – March 13, 2011. In connection with the Exihibit, ITDP is hosting a series of events and special lectures.  David Sim, Director at Gehl Architects held a series of lectures last week along with Michael Sorkin – Terreform, Michael Sorkin Studio, Gabriel Duarte – CAMPO  AUD- Rio, Fabiana Izaga – Architect, IAB and Tim Tompkins – Times Square Alliance.

David Sim at the first of two seminars held in conjunction with Our Cities Ourselves Exhibit

The standing room only public events were attended by a diverse audience; young and old, students, practitioners, and residents

The collaboration between ITDP and Gehl Architects began in Brazil and it is a pleasure for us to continue to develop insight into how transit affects quality of life.  In addition to speaking about mobility and accessibility, David described the benefits of the Copenhagen process that prioritizes the scale of human beings and our sensory capabilities as a precondition for all urban related decisions.  While each city is unique and demands unique solutions, the Copenhagen process provides valuable insights can be tailored to other contexts.

ITDP staff Anna, Juliana and Helena with Tim Tompkins and David Sim

In addition to the public lectures and events, David also held a workshop for ITDP staff and local authorities from Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte.  Prior to the workshop, the group tested the new bus priority lanes.  While the new system is not perfect, the experience provides views of the natural beauty of Rio that underground metro passengers miss out on when moving through the city.  The workshop built upon the test ride to consider the experience of public transport from a people perspective.  This analysis considered waiting, info that is available, ticketing, boarding, sensual experience while traveling, arrival at a place, and ease of transfer to name a few people oriented considerations that should be considered in addition to capacity and speed when evaluating the quality of public transport systems.  In the future, Gehl Architects and ITDP plan on creating a people centered quality criteria for public transportation.

The opportunity to enjoy the beauty of Rio is a great aspect of riding the bus through the City

“Our Cities Ourselves” exhibit travels to Mexico and Brazil

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February 6, 2011
Cities, News
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The 10 principles for sustainable transport at the Our Cities Ourselves exhibition at the AIA in New York City

“Our Cities, Ourselves”, a traveling exhibition about the future of urban areas, opened February 2nd in Mexico City and in Rio de Janeiro. The exhibition builds on “10 Principles for Transportation in Urban Life” created by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) in consultation with Gehl Architects.

In Mexico City the exhibit will include lectures from Jan Gehl, Gehl Architects, and in Rio de Janeiro David Sim of Gehl Architects will be speaking.

Read more here.

Our Cities Ourselves – 10 principles for transport in urban life

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July 6, 2010
Books, News
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The 10 principles for sustainable transport at the Our Cities Ourselves exhibition at the AIA in New York City (Photo: Samuel Lahoz, for ITDP)

The Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) celebrates its 25th anniversary this year with an ambitious new exhibition at the Center for Architecture, in New York. As part of the celebration Gehl Architects together with ITDP have published a new publication, “Our Cities Ourselves: 10 Principles for Transport in Urban Life”. David Sim, Jeff Risom, Ewa Westermark, Henning Thomsen and Ola Gustafsson together with Jan Gehl, all from Gehl Architects, have worked on the publication.

Here is what US Politics writes about the new publication:

In a publication released today (24 June), visionary urbanist Jan Gehl and Walter Hook, Executive Director of the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), together set out ten keys to building successful cities. “Our Cities Ourselves: 10 Principles for Transport in Urban Life” shows how cities from New York to Nairobi can meet the challenges of rapid population growth and climate change while improving their competitiveness.

In a concise, vibrant and accessible format, the booklet promises to be a “must read” for all those involved in city design and urban planning, and forms the backbone of the ITDP exhibition “Our Cities Ourselves,” which opens on June 24 at New York’s Center for Architecture, before traveling to China,Brazil, Mexico and beyond.

“Cities of the twenty-first century should be lively cities, safe cities, sustainable cities and healthy cities,” says Jan Gehl. “All of these qualities can be achieved if we embrace these ten principles, which means putting people first.”

Cities face massive population growth, particularly in the developing world. By 2030, 60 percent of the world’s population, or 5 billion people, will live in cities. The transportation sector currently accounts for around a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, a growing proportion derived largely from cars and trucks.

From the exhibition Our Cities Ourselves, ITDP 25th anniversary, at the AIA in New York City (Photo: Samuel Lahoz for ITDP)

Without a significant move away from car-dependent suburbanization to pedestrian-friendly and public transit-oriented urban planning, cities will face growing difficulties financing the necessary infrastructure. As a result of inaction, preventing the two-degree rise in global warming that threatens cataclysmic climate change will be nearly impossible.

“When I was growing up, we used to think that in the future we would all be traveling around on monorails, or in flying cars. In cities with 25 million people, this sort of thing just isn’t workable,” saysWalter Hook, Executive Director of ITDP. “Now, our dreams are full of elegant pedestrian promenades along waterfronts alive with fountains and children playing, of great bike paths connecting to public squares alive with cafes, musicians, and performance art.”

Some cities are waking up to this reality, and changing direction. “Our Cities Ourselves: 10 Principles for Transport in Urban Life” showcases examples of cities reaping the benefits of integrating urban planning and design that gives priority to pedestrians and transit. It is designed as a guide to cities and countries wishing to make their cities more competitive and livable, while helping to solve the problem of climate change.

“We are thrilled to launch the ‘Our Cities Ourselves’ global program at the Center, but also to see this important booklet arrive. The principles outlined–and beautifully so–offer a promising future for New York and other growing cities,” says Rick Bell, FAIA, Executive Director of the Center for Architecture and the American Institute of Architects’ New York Chapter. “I think I speak for the architects of New York when I say we look forward to realizing these principles in our designs.”

What are the ten principles of sustainable transport?

  1. Walk the walk: Create great pedestrian environments.
  2. Powered by people: Create a great environment for bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles.
  3. Get on the bus: Provide great, cost-effective public transport.
  4. Cruise control: Provide access for clean passenger vehicles at safe speeds and in significantly reduced numbers.
  5. Deliver the goods: Service the city in the cleanest and safest manner.
  6. Mix it up: Mix people and activities, buildings and spaces.
  7. Fill it in: Build dense, people and transit oriented urban districts that are desirable.
  8. Get real: Preserve and enhance the local, natural, cultural, social and historical assets.
  9. Connect the blocks: Make walking trips more direct, interesting and productive with small-size, permeable buildings and blocks.
  10. Make it last: Build for the long term. Sustainable cities bridge generations. They are memorable, malleable, built from quality materials, and well maintained.

Read more about the exhibition and the publication on ‘A daily dose of Architecture‘, ‘Sustainable Cities Collective‘, ‘Time Out New York‘, ‘WNYC‘, and visit the exhibition website.

And watch President Clintons special message to ITDP:

Stepping up the cycling movement

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June 30, 2010
Cycling, News
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On June 21, 2010, the first day of the Velo City conference, city representatives and bicycling advocates from multiple countries – including Canada, Mexico, Australia, China, Turkey and the United States – met at the office of Gehl Architects to investigate how cycling is a means to contribute to create a City for People (please find the presentations from the workshop at the bottom of this post).  The multi-disciplinary background of the attendees came together across nationalities to share experiences and best practice in terms of promoting cycling, as well as ways to most effectively shift advocacy in order to successfully gain ridership and city support, were discussed amongst the group.

Yvonne Bambrick and Andy Thornley mingling before the workshop began

The discussion was kicked-off by Senior staff at Gehl  Architects – David Sim, Lin Skaufel, Jeff Risom and Gil Penalosa – that stressed the importance of consideration of the human scale and experience of mobility in urban planning, as well as strategies for promoting bicycle infrastructure.

David Sim kicks things off with a presentation about the human dimension in creating bikable and livable cities

A key topic of discussion was the sense of urgency with which the movement for cycling should be approached.  After hearing a presentation by Gil Penalosa encouraging the stakeholders present to take action quickly, many agreed that the time has come to “step up” the movement.  City officials, private interests, and the general public must be pushed through action– encouraging words and good ideas are not enough to promote effective change.  A key aspect of this “push” is the way in which bicycling is perceived by the public.  The idea that cycling is a counterculture movement, an activity pursued only by isolated groups such as teenagers, alternative minds, and environmentalists – must be changed, especially in nations such as the U.S. and Canada.  In order to do so, marketing of bicycle culture should promote its universality, sex appeal, practical advantages, and social aspects.  From an early age, members of the public should feel individually empowered to ride – this can perhaps be achieved by rebranding cycling as a positive experience associated with personal mobility rather than larger environmental or political concerns.  Attendees agreed that a balance must be struck between supply and demand driven change – infrastructure such as bicycle lanes must be better incorporated into cities, while at the same time, public attitudes towards cycling must become more positive, perhaps reconciling the notion of the automobile as a status symbol.

Jan Gehl poses after his presentation with Quanle Huang and Manying Hu

The last words of the workshop were given by Jan Gehl.  Bringing the discussion back to the perspective of the experience of the individual within the city, he stressed the importance of humanistic urban planning.  Gehl stressed that a key component of high- quality urban environments is the ease, independence, and comfort with which people can move through the city.  As the room broke out into applause, it was clear that a general agreement had been reached:  Creating Cities for People is strongly supported by the mobility, personal freedom, and societal benefits that bicycling affords.

Here are the presentations from the workshop:

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