Pratt Institute

Graduate Center for Planning and The Environment

Directed Research
Professor: Ayse Yonder

Ernesto Diaz

Curitiba, Brazil
An International Model For Sustainable Urban Planning
Introduction
Curitiba, perhaps the best-planned city in Brazil and an international model for
sustainable development, is more than simply the result of a few successful projects.
The city's achievements are the result of strategic, integrated urban planning. This
overarching strategy informs all aspects of urban planning, including social, economic
and

environmental

programs.

Curitiba's strategy focuses on putting people first and on integrated planning, and these
influences are apparent in all aspects of the city. The strategy is what underpins the
individual projects system-wide that improve the environment, cut pollution and waste,
and

make

the

quality

of

life

in

the

city

better.

A clear strategy and vision of the future in Curitiba has meant that decisions large and
small made over the course of 38 years have added up to a city that's public-spirited and
eco-efficient. Strong leadership resulted in successful, long-term implementation of
strategy.
Curitiba
is the capital of the State of Paran,
The setting.
a mainly agricultural state in southern Brazil.

The city had few outstanding historical or

natural features, but its architects and urban
planners have transformed it into a vibrant
center with good quality of life that draws
many tourists. Curitiba's population has
doubled to 1.6 million over the past 30
years.

Despite major challenges that came with rapid growth, significant improvements have
been made to the city's quality of life in areas including public transportation,
preservation of the city's cultural heritage, expansion of parks and green areas, and
social

and

environmental

programs.

Curitiba has a long tradition of innovative and integrated urban planning geared toward
the strategic imperative of making the city a better place to live, as outlined in the city's
Master Plan of 1965.
In the 1970s and 1980s, physical, economic and demographic growth was rapid and the
city became an important industrial and commercial center. Urban planning focused on
building the city and decentralizing it. From the 1990s until today, the city's main
planning focus has been on sustainable development and integration of Curitiba's
metropolitan region.
Challenge
To guarantee a good quality of life for Curitiba's citizens over the long term, ensuring
social inclusion, accessibility, public amenities, urban transparency and environmental
sustainability for the city and metropolitan area
Strategy

Accelerate the Transition to Sustainable Communities and Societies.

They have had a very different set of values driving their evolution.

They value relationships highly, they create long-term visions of what might be;
delivering
results to all in their society.

They grow leaders and are very focused on people and enhancing the quality of
their lives and maintaining consistent governance.

Above all they focus on getting things done in ways that constantly turn every
challenge
faced into an opportunity somewhere in society

Leadership And Vision

Consistent, cohesive leadership has been a key ingredient of the city's success since the
late 1960s. Those in leadership roles, like mayors, councilors, city agencies and
departments, business leaders, have strong values. They care, they are inspirational,
they display genuine leadership qualities, working together to develop solutions to
problems and they appear to have had fun doing it. They genuinely seem to 'live the
dream' of the Curitiba they want future generations to inherit.
Mayors over the last 32 years have consistently articulated a vision based on the quality
of life for all. A clear direction has been established and a framework set that allows for
innovation and flexibility. Risk taking appears to be encouraged, in line with a philosophy
of finding simple, pragmatic solutions and implementing them quickly. The Curitibans
have very deliberately fostered a leadership group, to a large degree from within the
central planning organization for the city, and thus built capacity in the institutions and
community over the last three decades.
Using a Continuous Planning Cycle
The fact that most senior politicians, have shared the
Curitiban vision over most of the past 35 years, has
led to consistency of development. The city appears
to invest a lot of effort in listening to its citizens. The
mayor holds regular public hearings in the regional
offices and there are an array of web based
resources and hot lines.
These have very high user rates because they are a means for citizens to convey how
they would like their rates spent in their area or where they would like a new bus stop or
route. These communication tools are also used for reporting problems.
Considerable political will and skill has been needed in delivering practical steps to
implement the plan in the long term. This has included a continuous planning cycle and
a determined policy of constructive incentives to induce appropriate land use.

Jaime Lerner.
Lerner is credited with being the visionary leader who has made an enormous
contribution to the development of present day Curitiba. As a 33-year-old architect,
engineer, urban planner and humanist he first became mayor in 1971.
He is a man with a vision and ability to change the wider community .A thinking per-son
who also likes action. It is easy to see why he became Brazil s most popular Mayor and
more recently State Governor.
Focus a Quality Life For All
Facilitating economic development is also a major activity for the City Council. The
master plan called for land to be set aside for industry on the outer edges of the city, in
some cases requiring private land acquisition. Promotional material indicates that
industry was attracted by the combination of quality infrastructure (especially transport),
an educated workforce, quality of life (heritage, parks and public set-tings for
encountersthe description given to pedestrian precincts), and the presence of other
industry. Today Volvo, Bosch and a total of nearly 500 other international and South
American companies are located in and around Curitiba.
Values.
It was clear to the group that underpinning the leadership is a set of values that have
grown out of the culture and history of the people of Curitiba. These values are holistic
and integrated and include:
Respect for all people
According dignity to peoples social responsibility
Civic pride
Solidarity (unity of fellowship arising from
common responsibilities and interests)
Passion
Focus on the quality of life for all
When Lerner listed his three most important key to Curitiba's progress they were:
quality of life, qualifications/education and infrastructure/logistics. Notably, the Vice

President of the Federation of Industries (Luiz Guilherme Pauli) had the same list, with
quality of life and education as the two priorities to pursue. Get those right and
successful commerce will flow was his sentiment and that of the Federation's
promotional literature.
There is a genuine commitment to improving the way of life for citizens of Curitiba. To
achieve this there has been major focus on participation and access: participation in the
life of the city via provision of good sports and recreation places and spaces, and
transport to access them all; and access to education, health and housing and
employment.
Transformation of Urban Development.
Today 1.6 million people live in Curitiba, a city of 432 square kilometers. About one
million people also live in the surrounding metropolitan districts. Growth has been rapid
(from 0.5 mil-lion in 1965), a result of successful urban development, which in return
brings further challenges as people pour into the city from the outlying areas. As a result
there are what is known as 'invasions' where a community establishes subsistence
dwellings virtually overnight on the outskirts of the city on public or private land. These
favelas or slums have provided some of the biggest challenges for the developing city
but also some of the opportunities for innovation.
From the beginnings (in the 1960s) of the cur-rent development phase the city took a
proactive approach towards ecological issues, with restrictions on tree felling. Today
Curitiba has twelve municipal parks, including two environmental protection areas
totaling 18,680 hectares, 10 public preservation woodlands and 600 small squares and
public gardens. Therefore they boast a relatively high amount of green space per capita,
which has earned them the title of Ecological Capital in Brazil. The approach to the
environment, which will be expanded on later, is integrated with social and economic
needs, as are many facets of this city. While the environment is regarded as important in
its own right, the overriding impression for the visitor is that the Curitibans see it as a key
component for a good quality of life and therefore integral to healthy city living.
Orienting Urban Planning to Sustainability

Although Curitiba is known internationally as a sustainable, ecological city, it calls itself

"the city of all of us." In almost any area of Curitiba's urban planning over the years, it is
possible to see how consideration has been given to people in the big picture--and also
to see the associated, system-wide sustainability benefits of integrated planning.
This is what's most unique about the city's strategy: it maximizes the efficiency and
productivity of transportation, land-use planning and housing development by integrating
them so they support one another to improve the quality of life in the city.
The following individual examples all reflect the city's people-first strategy, and the
benefits

of

integrated

urban

planning

and

sustainability

system-wide.

Integration of traffic management, transportation and land-use planning in the 1970s

allowed the city to meet strategic objectives which sought to minimize downtown traffic,
encourage social interaction by providing more leisure areas and pedestrian zones in the
center of the city, and encourage the use of public transport and cycling in order to
achieve an environmentally healthy city.
Transport Corridor
Linking mobility, land use and services in guiding and coordinating growth. Expansion of
the existing city center as a compact form was restricted, and linear centers were
established as an alternative along transport corridors ex-tending toward the
suburbs of the city. This has led to the development of growth corridors or radial
centers instead of compact centers or growth nodes. Allowable building densities
vary in relation to available transportation. Thus land zoning is in the form of varying
density contours parallel to and along main transport corridors.

Efficient, Reliable Public Transportation.

The urban transportation system is one of Curitiba's best-known planning successes, a
model for cities around world that want to implement eco-efficient transportation
networks that are well-integrated with urban form and produce environmental benefits.
The city pioneered the idea of an all-bus transit network with special bus-only avenues
created along well-defined structural axes that were also used to channel the city's
growth. The transit system is rapid and cheap, and is currently being integrated with the
metropolitan

region.

Its efficiency encourages people to leave their cars at home. Curitiba has one of highest
rates of car ownership in Brazil, and high population growth. Yet auto traffic has dropped
substantially; Curitiba has the highest public rider ship of any Brazilian city (about 2.14
million passengers a day), and it registers the country's lowest rates of ambient pollution
and

per

capita

gas

consumption.

In addition, an inexpensive "social fare" promotes equality, benefiting poorer residents

settled on the city's periphery. A standard fare is charged for all trips, meaning shorter
rides subsidize longer ones. One fare can take a passenger 70 kilometers.

Curitiba's eco-efficient, bus-only transportation system is a model for cities around the world.
The "speedy bus" runs along a direct line and stops only at tubular stations specially designed to
move passengers quickly

Curitiba's public transport system is entirely based on buses, though there are plans to
introduce a high capacity monorail system in the near future.
The system emphasizes accessibility, mobility and quality of life and is one of the most
heavily used, yet low-cost, public transport systems in the world. It offers many of the
features of an under-ground system
There are four main types of bus service, all of which interconnect at terminals.
Conventional orange buses provide feeder services. Articulated (bendy) green buses
provide clockwise and anti-clockwise services around the city's three-orbital or loop
networks providing inter-district links. Conventional silver buses, known as speedy
buses, provide direct links without stops between highly traveled destinations. All of
these run on normal roads with cars without priority lanes.

Red Volvo bi-reticulated buses, each carrying 270 passengers were introduced in 1991.
These run on 60 kilometers of dedicated bus lanes within city streets planned as growth
corridors (the linear centers) and run north, south, east and west.

Red Volvo bi-articulated buses

Tube stations are spaced regularly along these bus lanes. Passengers pay a flat fare
(also called a social fare because short haul rides subsidize long haul rides) at the
turnstile on entering, and wait less than three minutes for a bus. There is no ticket. A
hundred people could get on and off the bus in seconds. The fare entitles passengers to
four bus changes if necessary, enabling people to go two blocks or right across the city
for a single fare.

Central city bus interchange

The different types of bus service interconnect at integration terminals. These terminals
are often situated by large shopping centers or civic destinations. There are no park and
drive car parks. The aim is to en-sure that everybody, no matter where they live, should
be within 500 meters of a bus stop with a bus frequency of less than five minutes.

Rapid loading is a feature

Publicly owned Urbanization of Curitiba Co. (URBs) is responsible for implementing and
managing the transportation system. Ten private operators own and operate their own
fleets of orange, green, silver and red buses. Public investment covers the cost of roads
and stations, while the fares cover all bus operation and purchase costs. URBs sets the
fare level annually after negotiations with operators who get paid daily according to how
many kilometers their buses run. URBs have access to all turnstile and trip data, and
varies bus route frequencies on a daily basis.
Places And Spaces For People.

Pedestrians reign supreme.

The master plan focuses on high-density development along the five structural arteries.
This helped reduce traffic movement within the city center while providing easy access
via the bus exchanges.

Central City Street

Low inner city traffic densities enabled the development of a pedestrian network
covering nearly 50 blocks in the downtown area. Although retailers were initially opposed
to the creation of pedestrian streets they quickly found the pedestrian zone was a more
profitable place to trade. More space is now available for customers, rather than cars,

and more people spend more time in the area because the shopping environment is
more pleasant.

Riverside park, cycle way and grazers!

Urban Form.
Curitiba is designed to accommodate the needs of people at macro and micro levels. At
the macro level, transport needs are integrated with the location of housing, hospitals,
schools, childcare and work centers. At the micro level, the city is filled with places and
spaces that enrich encounters between people and offer opportunities for recreation,
reflection and leisure. Things that particularly impressed the group were:

The inner city

Central city shopping centers that are full of life and not dominated by cars
Parks and trees everywhere, many tiled seating areas for people encounters

 Location of parks and recreation spaces in high-density areas, skateboard parks,

soccer pitches, running tracks, basketball courts at the citizenship centers, and children's
play equipment in pedestrian streets.

Inner city high-density accommodation

Creative craters; imaginative use of old quarries, now housing an opera house, Open
University for the Environment, outdoor concert area and parks

 The enormously successful passenger trans-port system

High-density living

Innovative architecture and design mosaic footpaths, opera house, and tree house for
the State Governor
Knowledge lighthouses, community libraries and now Internet centers attached to
schools, all highly visible

 Heritage buildings and green areas, creating light spaces between tall apartment and
office blocks

Parts of the historic town remain

Ethnic parks celebrating cultural diversity, even a Hansel & Gretel story trail in the
German Woods.
All these initiatives are evidence of the city focus on amenity values; places and spaces
for people important components of the quality of life in Curitiba. They are examples of
intensive development planning and livable spaces.

Street murals

An environmental education focus

There is a focus on clean water, air and soil linked to recycling and reuse. Extensive
programs involve the poor in recycling programs.
Water care programs, involving students and community to protect and restore rivers
and streams, are incrementally spreading.

Garbage Management
The "green exchange" employment program focuses on social inclusion, benefiting both
those in need and the environment. Low-income families living in shantytowns
unreachable by truck bring their trash bags to neighborhood centers, where they
exchange them for bus tickets and food. This means less city litter and less disease, less
garbage dumped in sensitive areas such as rivers and a better life for the
undernourished poor. There's also a program for children where they can exchange
recyclable garbage for school supplies, chocolate, toys and tickets for shows.
Under the "garbage that's not garbage" program, 70% of the city's trash is recycled by its
residents. Once a week, a truck collects paper, cardboard, metal, plastic and glass that
has been sorted in the city's homes. The city's paper recycling alone saves the
equivalent of 1,200 trees a day. As well as the environmental benefits, money raised
from selling materials goes into social programs, and the city employs the homeless and
recovering alcoholics in its garbage separation plant.

Delivering waste at the Green Exchange

Receiving food at the Green Exchange

Community Participation
The "capacity building job line" was created to generate a better quality of life for people
in the region surrounding a new economic development axis of Curitiba. Key initiatives
include the South-Circular bus line, which links the southern and eastern regions of
town; Entrepreneurial Sheds, business incubators designed to help small companies get
established and prosper; and the Crafts Lyce, which trains people for professions such
as marketing and finance so that they can find employment in new companies that
emerge

from

the

business

incubator.

Specifically, the goal is to provide jobs and income for the unemployed among 400,000
people living in 15 peripheral towns, and to structure and develop the region according
to integrated planning principles. About 15,000 new jobs have been generated so far,
and 15,000 more are expected.
They do this in a way that includes public participation. They have also fostered the need
to develop means of private/public partnerships, in key areas such as transport and
housing. The business community is a key player, working alongside the council in the
development of Curitiba. Community ratings of the current ad-ministration are high. The
actual implementation of strategy appears directive and prescriptive. The council is keen
to start making a difference, based on the information they have. Social action programs
start out as pilot projects, advertised widely to the community.

Minimum sized houses40 square meters

Low cost housing built in partnership with COHAB

Development housing for low-income families

There is a continual process of adaptation and refinement of projects and logical

improvements are made (without sacrificing the original direction) in response to ongoing
evaluation and consultation with the community. Planning for Curitiba is based on spatial
thinking, and a focus on outcomes and systems, rather than an emphasis on process,
legislative framework and outputs such as narrowly focused reports or projects. There is

also a strong reliance on relationships, partnerships and co-responsibility and buy-in

from the community.

Funding for infrastructure, urban transport and employment

initiatives comes from a mix of city, state, federal, World Bank and Development Bank
sources. Following an interactive process with the mayor and council, the planning
institute, makes the final decision on what will be funded each planning period and to
what level.
Conclusions.
Curitiba is more than a city that has a number of outstanding projects: in fact, the key to
its success is the underlying, cohesive strategy with a focus on improving life for
residents and on integrated planning that underpins all of its projects.