Urban Planning Assignment on sustainability of Curitiba

Urban Planning Assignment on sustainability of Curitiba What is a sustainable city and in what ways does the Brazilian city of Curitiba provide a model of a sustainable settlement which could be applied elsewhere? Discuss with reference to Adelaide or city of your choice?

Introduction Cities are the prime driving force as far as the economic growth and development of nations are considered. Although most researchers have viewed cities as the primary source of pollution, the environment movement has started with the aim of adding green to the cities.

Since the design of the cities is closely associated with the lifestyle and well-being of its citizens, it is important that cities are developed in a sustainable manner. As a result of globalization and rapid urbanization mentioned in this Urban Planning Assignment, the majority of the population of the world lives in urban areas. The urban areas being spatially isolated from the fertile productive land, the people living in these areas are largely dependent on the natural resources from the rural areas. Moreover, urban planning was done in a way that the natural resources of air, water, soil, and others are free and exposed, which makes them prone to contamination. This, in turn, has a significant negative impact on human health. In addition, cities are largely reflections of societal values, which make it difficult to incorporate changes within the same. The issue of overpopulation in recent years implies that the natural and non-renewable sources of energy are being used up at a much higher pace than it can be regenerated. Lastly in this Urban Planning Assignment it is mentioned that with increased urbanization, it is difficult for the government to control the flow of people into the same. Apart from the above-mentioned issues related with urbanization and development of cities discussed in this Urban Planning Assignment, it does provide a compact area that supports a vast majority of the population. Therefore the sustainable development of the same would ensure that the cities are able to provide shelter to many without causing harm to the environment.

Discussion Sustainable city: An Overview Following the publication of “our common future� in 1987, sustainable development became an internationally accepted concept. Since then this concept has become the guiding light providing directions for development to the local, state and national governments. At the world-famous conference held in Rio de Janeiro that discussed issues on environment and its association with development, agenda 21 was established. Its aim was to identify the factors leading to global issues and thereby manage them at the local level. UN HABITAT is an initiative of the UN that promotes sustainable urbanization. Sustainable cities program is an initiative undertaken by UN alongside United Nations Sustainable Environment program that encourages planned urbanization taking into account the needs of the future generation. The prime principles for sustainable urbanization were developed in 1996 the second UN HABITAT II conference (Diva-portal.org, 2018). In comparison to sustainable cities, the concept of Eco-city is new. This concept emphasizes the idea based on which cities should be developed, that would benefit the future generation by causing minimum damage to the environment (Caprotti, 2014). The eco-city movement was first started in 1975 by a nongovernmental organization in named Urban Ecology, based in Berkley, California. The aim of this movement was to re-view urbanization and promote the same while maintaining a healthy balance with the environment (Newman and Jennings, 2012). The first conference concerning Eco-cities was held in 1990 with the joint initiative of Urban Ecology and other non-governmental organizations. Since that time, several other international conferences have also been held across various places in the world. The two most famous among them are the ones held in Curitiba, Brazil in 2000 and the other one held in Adelaide, Australia in 1992.

Although there has been a significant number of initiatives that aimed to reduce the negative impact of urbanization on the environment, incorporating eco-friendly or sustainable measures within the process of urbanization still remains a challenge. The entire value system embedded within the legal construction has to be altered to an extent in order to bring changes within the process of urbanization. The various governmental bodies have conflicting interests concerning sustainable urbanization, which makes it even more difficult to implement. However, some cities like Curitiba in Brazil, Portland in the USA have successfully implemented the concept of sustainable tourism. There is a considerable lack of literature pertaining to sustainable urbanization and eco-city; however, researchers have

defined the concepts differently. As opined by Roseland, “Eco-city can be defined as the most sustainable kind of settlements that can be built, which provides an acceptable form of shelter to the population of a nation, without harming the ecosystem or disrupting the functioning of the biogeochemical cycles within a region”(Pickett et al., 2013). The nongovernmental organization Urban Ecology gives a slightly different definition to the concept.

It says that Eco-city provides high-quality human settlements without disturbing nature.

In the following section of this Urban Planning Assignment, the city of Curitiba would be explored as a sustainable city.

Curitiba: An example of a sustainable settlement Curitiba located in the Southern region of Brazil has a temperate climate. The city is the hub of economic activities because of its strategic location and well connected regional transportation system. Despite the rapid population growth, market inflation and widespread poverty, Curitiba followed a different pathway to drive urbanization. Following the partial failure of the “Agache Plan” in 1943, a preliminary plan for urbanization was developed by the Public Administration of Curitiba. Considering this as the base, the various consultancy firms of Brazil came together to develop the Curitiba Masterplan, which was then implemented by the Curitiba research and urban planning institute (IPPUC)(Diva-portal.org, 2018). This plan led its prime focus was on changing the radial urbanization into a linear form, developing efficient transportation by making minimum use of land, controlling and managing demographic growth, proper preservation of historic and cultural remains and gaining adequate financial support from the government to ensure sustainable urbanization(de Freitas Miranda and da Silva, 2012). There are several policies and legislation guiding the use of land in Curitiba; namely 1979, Introduction of social fare, 1979, law 4773, 1975, law 5234 and others (Diva-portal.org, 2018). Democracy being a comparatively recent phenomenon in Brazil, public participation in the successful implementation of the framework of sustainable urbanization is comparatively low. However, there have a considerable number of neighborhood associations that worked in a coordinated manner in order to challenge the ageold traditions concerning urbanization. The land use pattern framework developed by the IPPUC emphasized the development of a triple road system that would have two lanes dedicated to express buses. The structural axes of Curitiba expanded to five in 1982 and it was finally completed with the addition of inter-district lines and feeder lines. In addition, the zoning laws that were developed based on the purposes for which it was used; residential,

industrial or commercial. This helped in maintaining a high density of development, good traffic conditions and making most of the streets suitable for pedestrians (Macedo, 2013).

From 1970s Curitiba has been transformed into an industrial economy from an agro-based economy. Since the Curitiba Industrial City, commonly referred to as the CIC has been isolated from the residential areas of the city and is located in the western zone of Curitiba.

This serves to protect the citizens from the harmful industrial pollutants in the air which might cause a variety of health hazards. Moreover, the urban structure of Curitiba is such that several areas of legal importance have been provided special protection and stays well connected with the rest of the city. It is observed in this Urban Planning Assignment A proper drainage and sewage system along with flood control designs are the two major factors that dictate the maintenance of green spaces in the city. Streams that pose potential risks have been protected and the flood-prone regions have been converted to parks that contribute to greenery all around.

However, there have been some problems associated with sustainable urbanization in Curitiba.

As estimated by the Curitiba Social Development Secretariat, 4.9% of the

population dwells below the poverty line, while 28% of the same requires attention in order to improve their economic conditions. In order to improve the condition of this section of the population, the local government of Curitiba initiated two programs; one was based on reusing garbage and another was a garbage purchase program, where people dwelling below the poverty line could exchange garbage for food(Diva-portal.org, 2018). This exchange would take place at designated collection centers. Another important parameter that ensures sustainable development is public participation. Democracy is a comparatively new concept in Curitiba, public participation in the successful implementation of sustainable urbanization has been relatively low in this region. However many neighborhoods have work in collaboration in order to keep their environment clean and prevent unplanned urbanization.

The transportation system in the region has been criticized by many, as it has been developed by the municipality of Curitiba and the surrounding municipalities which are present around the regions where the poor people live have little idea about the same. Most people believe that the transportation system has specifically been developed for the middle-class people and the poor people are unable to afford it (Cervero, 2016). Moreover, since the development of the new transportation network the population of Curitiba has seen a massive rise, which implies an increase in the number of private automobiles, resulting in, enhanced traffic congestion and pollution. Additionally, the national automobile industry of Curitiba has been

shifted to CIC which also has a significant impact on the transportation system of Curitiba.

Despite these issues associated with sustainable urbanization in Curitiba, the city is exemplified as one of the cities which have turned the theory of sustainable urbanization into practice.

Adelaide in comparison to Curitiba Adelaide has been known as the “city in the park” for maintaining its strong connection with nature. The city is known for maintaining and preserving its natural ecosystem which is reflected by the fact that the city is surrounded by parklands occupying an area of seven square kilometers. The state and the local governments are guided by certain authorities to manage and maintain the parklands. In addition, instructions are also provided to the authorities regarding the ways in which the aesthetic, as well as the natural values of the parkland, would be enhanced. Preserving the cultural heritage of the parklands is another major responsibility given to the local government. Since 2010, the Glenelg Adelaide Park Lands Recycled Project emphasizes the use of water from Glenelg wastewater treatment plant to water all the parks and gardens around the city (McCormick et al., 2013). In addition, the council has a biodiversity team dedicated to protecting the natural vegetation and biodiversity across the city along with cultivating several indigenous varieties of plant in the nursery of the council. It has been seen that the Council has planted about 100,000 indigenous varieties of plant in its nursery that help in maintaining a clean and pollution-free environment (Gracepointisacult.net, 2018).

Moreover, the State government’s program known as the million trees program focuses to maintain the forest environment of the Adelaide city. The city encourages community kitchen gardens that help them to grow organic food in the surroundings of their own homes while helping them to build healthy social relationships. Moreover, the council has the aim of bringing down the carbon footprint by encouraging the businessmen and the residents of the city to be a part of the City switch and green office program. Introduction of sustainable transport systems including buses that would be run on solar power and encouraging residents and industries to make use of LED lights that consume the least energy are the other steps taken by the council to ensure sustain development (Sadorsky, 2014). It can be said that in comparison to Curitiba, Adelaide could implement the concept of sustainable urbanization more successfully. The concept of ‘urban sustainability’ refers to the idea when the concerned city is able to manufacture power from renewable sources of energy and is able to

reduce its reliance on conventional power sources. This is the focus of the NBE strategic framework, which helps the country to achieve the objective of ‘urban sustainability’. Since this objective has already been achieved in Adelaide, wherein ‘green power’ is largely used in transportation and other utilities, special need for development of new strategy using NBE framework 8is not required for Adelaide.

However, both these cities have set examples for sustainable urbanization.

Conclusion This Urban Planning Assignment dealt with sustainable cities and Eco city which resulted due to sustainable urbanization. The concept of a sustainable city and planned urbanization has been defined and illustrated along with shedding light on the importance of the same. The section that followed explored Curitiba, a city in the southern part of Brazil as a sustainable city. The factors that led to the sustainable development of this city have been illustrated in detail along with the issues associated with sustainable urbanization. In the last section of this Urban Planning Assignment, the focus has been laid on the city of Adelaide in Australia and the sustainable development practices that have been used in this city.

References Caprotti, F., 2014. Eco�urbanism and the Eco�city, or, Denying the Right to the City?. Antipode, 46(5), pp.1285-1303.

Cervero, R., 2016. Public transport and sustainable urbanism: global lessons. In Transit Oriented Development (pp. 43-56). Routledge. de Freitas Miranda, H. and da Silva, A.N.R., 2012. Benchmarking sustainable urban mobility: The case of Curitiba, Brazil. Transport Policy, 21, pp.141-151.

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Macedo, J., 2013. Planning a sustainable city: The making of Curitiba, Brazil. Journal of Planning History, 12(4), pp.334-353.

McCormick, K., Anderberg, S., Coenen, L. and Neij, L., 2013.Advancing sustainable urban transformation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 50, pp.1-11.

Newman, P. and Jennings, I., 2012. Cities as sustainable ecosystems: principles and practices. Island Press.

Pickett, S.T.A., Boone, C.G., McGrath, B.P., Cadenasso, M.L., Childers, D.L., Ogden, L.A., McHale, M. and Grove, J.M., 2013.Ecological science and transformation to the sustainable city. Cities, 32, pp.S10-S20.

Sadorsky, P., 2014. The effect of urbanization and industrialization on energy use in emerging economies: implications for sustainable development. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 73(2), pp.392-409.