Urban Visonary Enrique Penalosa To Speak Thursday Feb. 5

Enrique Peñalosa will be giving a free talk, hosted by LivableStreets Alliance, at the Boston Public Library at Copley about his vision for urbanism that transformed Bogota into a lively public space.

Livable Streets, a non-profit that promotes “Rethinking Urban Transportation”, will be hosting the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa on February 4-7, 2009.

An accomplished public official, economist and administrator, Enrique Peñalosa completed his three-year term as Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia on December 31, 2000. While mayor, Peñalosa was responsible for numerous radical improvements to the city and its citizens. He promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways and parks. He received the Stockholm Challenge Award for organizing a Car-Free Day in 2000 and a referendum vote then endorsed it annually. As part of the pico y plata license plate restriction program, he removed 40% of cars during peak hours.

Peñalosa also led efforts to improve Bogotá’s marginal neighborhoods through citizen involvement; planted more than 100,000 trees; created a new, highly successful bus-based transit system; and turned a deteriorated downtown avenue into a dynamic pedestrian public space. He helped transform the city’s attitude from one of negative hopelessness to one of pride and hope, developing a model for urban improvement based on the equal rights of all people to transportation, education, and public spaces.

The talk will be held at Boston Public Library, Copley Square at 6:30 pm on Feb. 5th, and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.livablestreets.info or call Jackie Douglas at 617.621.1746.

For a flyer about the event, click here (pdf)

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