Archive for February 12th, 2008
Penalosa: five human needs a city should serve
February 12, 2008Cities should be a habitats for people, first and foremost, Enrique Penalosa believes. Not for animals. Not for cars. For people.
And this former mayor of Bogotá, Columbia, would create his ideal city for people with the following beliefs in mind, each of which I have taken from my notes on his remarks at Griffith University last Thursday night.
1. People want to be with people. When parks are constructed with benches facing lakes or rivers or other scenes of natural beauty and with benches facing places where people walk or congregate, it is the people-oriented benches that get the most use.
2. People need to walk as surely as birds need to fly. And riding a bike, Penalosa said, “is just a more efficient means of walking.”
3. People want to be outside. If a neighbourhood is dangerous or uninviting, people huddle around their television sets indoors, but that does not make them healthy or happy. They want to be outside, and walking around in a mall is not being outside. “A shopping mall,” he said, Read the rest of this entry »