Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa tells Bostonians how they can create a happier city
Katie Shushtari
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Former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enrique Penalosa, told a Boston Public Library audience Thursday that it is a struggle to achieve urban happiness. Penalosa, known for his beliefs in public space and public transportation, focused on how open and shared space can create a happy city environment. The talk was sponsored by the LivableStreets Alliance, a collaboration of different groups in Boston whose goal is to rethink urban transportation, and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).
"Happiness is difficult to define and impossible to measure. Yet it is the only real objective. A city can contribute to making people happy," Penalosa said. He highlighted five things that are necessary for happiness: to walk, to be with people, to be in contact with nature, to play, and not to feel inferior. Penalosa explained that space is needed to achieve those things, but instead cars, malls, and highways take up that space.
During Penalosa's three-year term as mayor, he created a Car-Free Day, limited private car use, built many sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways and parks. Awarded the Stockholm Challenge Award for organizing the famous Free-Car Day that takes place annually, Penalosa said, "88 percent of the people get to work the same or more quickly on this day than on any other day."
Pictures from all over the world flashed on a screen in front of the audience in the Rabb Lecture Hall. Images of pedestrian walkways, beautiful paved sidewalks and bike paths, green parks full of people and public transportation. The audience cheered as Penalosa said, "If there was less space for cars, there would be less cars." He clarified how building more highways for cars would just create more traffic, the goal should be to create something new.
Penalosa said Boston could create raised cross-walks so cars have to slow down and pedestrians do not have to walk off the sidewalk, and make certain areas or days car free. "Parking is not a constitutional right in this country," Penalosa said, emphasizing his point that if there is space for curbside parking then there is space for bicycles.
"LivableStreets is trying to change public consciousness and promote sustainable transit in the Boston area," said George Zisiadis, a Livable Streets volunteer. Zisiadis is working on short "streetfilms," one of LivableStreets' projects. According to LivableStreets' website, streetfilms "highlight the great uses of streets in Boston that are making it a more connected, enjoyable, livable city. The films also encourage progress where change is still needed."
The LivableStreets Alliance is made up of five Boston groups: WalkBoston, Institute for Human Centered Design, Bikes Not Bombs, Charles River Conservancy, and MassBike. "Listening to Penalosa will inspire citizens and policy makers in the Boston area to consider allocating our urban street space to better uses, such as transit, biking, walking," said Jackie Douglas, Transportation Advocate for LivableStreets Alliance who was responsible for coordinating Penalosa's visit.
The NY-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a co-sponsor of Penalosa's lecture, focuses on environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation policies and projects all over the world.
Penalosa, The LivableStreets Alliance, and ITDP are all working on creating happier and healthier cities. "Different from other beings, we don't have to accept the world as it is, we can dream a better one and create it," Penalosa said.