Bold thinking and possibility make a dynamic duo
Sustain Ability
Posted 13 June 2011, by Tanya Rumak, The Western Review, draytonvalleywesternreview.com
“Public space is for living, doing business, and playing. Its value can’t be measured with economics or mathematics; it must be felt with the soul.” – Enrique Peñalosa
Climate foresight and planetary thinking; sustainable design innovations and passivhaus buildings; walksheds; biomimicry and green chemistry; adaptive re-use and rugged green infrastructure, it all sounds pretty exciting doesn’t it?
All of these terms are sustainability lingo and rather than providing you with what could be a somewhat drab reiteration of a definition that I heard once before, I will leave it to you to put on your detective hat and discover their meaning. Instead, I would like to chat about possibility and what could be the result of some of these ideas coming to fruition.
We live on a planet that is quickly moving towards a population of nine billion people, almost all living in or around cities, facing a massive ecological crisis and an unfaltering technological revolution. Ideas like the ones I mentioned above are no longer just provocative, they’re essential and they are a vision of what is possible.
The kind of bold thinking that we need to engage with to build a truly bright green future is abundant and examples of what others believe are possible inspire me every day.
Take, for example, the dynamic duo of Enrique and Gil Peñalosa, two brothers that changed the face of Bogotá, Columbia in the late 90s. Bogotá, a city riddled with crime and violence, was due for change. It was the bold thinking of this elected duo with the assistance of their administration that saw the possibility of what could be in this city.
They focused on social equity — equal access of all people to public spaces, services, and facilities, to create a more socially integrated community.
The ideas they came up with were completely off the wall, but they worked. They hired 400 mimes to mimic or poke fun at poor behaviour or reckless driving. They paved bike lanes and sidewalks and chose to not pave adjacent roadways as an effort to curb vehicle use. A bike path and park were developed in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in the city. Guess what? It brought people out into the public space and the neighbourhood’s crime rates plummeted. This city, once considered one of the most dangerous, took large steps to reduce the problems that plagued it.
All it took was some out of the box thinking and being able to see the long term vision of what was possible. What’s really exciting is that this is happening now! Not in some distant, perfect future.
Questions? Comments? Feedback? I can be reached at 780.514.2221, by email at sustainability@draytonvalley.ca or on Facebook, Sustainability Drayton Valley!
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