Australian planning professionals will be told they need to imagine compact cities with pedestrian-and-bicycle-only promenades crisscrossing dense capitals.
The message is among a number to be delivered to the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) 2011 National Congress in Hobart from March 6.
Radical reduction of car use, politicians who can make the hard decisions, creatively designed compact cities and better use of trains and busses are all on the planning wish list of one of the worlds most highly regarded urban strategists.
Enrique Penalosa’s vision and proposals have significantly influenced policies in numerous cities throughout the world.
The former Mayor of Bogota, Columbia, Penalosa is credited with profoundly transforming the city, turning it into an international example for improvements in quality of life, mobility and equity.
He believes one of the key factors to getting better planned cities is to have elected officials who can make decisions under very adverse public opinion.
“Politicians must take risks if change is to occur, they cannot be too obsessed with being loved by everyone all the time. Ideas are never born with majority support,” Mr Penalosa said.
Enrique Penalosa is currently President of the Board of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy of New York. He has lectured all over the world in governmental, academic and citizens’ forums. His ideas have been featured in many of the world’s most important media and he has also published articles in numerous periodicals and books.
He’ll be telling planning professionals at the Hobart Congress that radical reduction in car use is not just a crazy green dream. “Some very car-less cities such as Manhattan, central London or Paris are already very car free, yet extremely attractive and probably the most successful cities on many levels.
“I will be putting the case for higher density. Today most people agree that the compact city is the most desirable urban form. Yet we have not been creative in designing really different compact cities.
“It is not just about putting up some multi-story buildings: it is about imagining compact cities with, for example, networks of pedestrian-and-bicycle-only promenades, very wide sidewalks and greenways hundreds of kilometres long crisscrossing dense cities.”
As Mayor of Bogota, Columbia, Penalosa gained unique insights into social planning.
“Bogota is a typical developing country city, with its inequality. Constructing inclusion and equality of quality of life is one of the main tasks of a great city, he said.
“Although this is much more critical in developing countries, it is also an important challenge for advanced societies: for example it is crucial to avoid any privatization of waterfronts.”
Enrique Penalosa will address planners at the PIA 2011 National Congress on Monday morning 9.45 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart.
Full details of the PIA 2011 National Congress can be found at www.planning.org.au
