The ecological capital of Brazil

May 24th, 2007 Alex

The New York Times Magazine published a great article this past Sunday on Curitiba and its eco-friendly planning. Curitiba is the capital city of Parana, in southern Brazil and is considered one of the best examples of urban planning in the world. In 1965, the population was 350,000 and called itself “the ecological capital of Brazil” in the 1980s for its “Green” policies and systems. Today, the city has 1.8 million people and 3.2 million in the metropolitan region. The streets have a bus system that gets used by 85% of Curitiba’s population. The roads consists of two one-way streets surrounding a smaller two-lane street which is exclusively used by the express buses. Buses arrive at the tubular boarding stops every 30 seconds. The city has a garbage-recycling program that separates its garbage for recycling and has 82 sq ft. of green space per inhabitant. As a result of the huge growth in population, keeping the city Green has been a continuous battle. The city’s only landfill is running out of room and cars are becoming more popular while less people are taking the buses. You can read more about this ecocity in a six page article here.

Entry Filed under: Green Tech