Creative Curitiba - the urban design of Curitiba, Brazil

Architectural Review, The, May, 1999 by Lucien Kroll

It was necessary to design an original Brazilian bus, ie the suspension, the width of the entry and exit doors and above all the low platform, etc. Existing buses were never anything other than disguised lorries (though Brazil is a large manufacturer of buses). The average speed of the express buses in Curitiba (those on the Ligeirinho) is 20km/h, compared with 7km/h for buses in other Brazilian towns. The integrated network measures 500km by 50km on its own ground and carries 1 200 000 passengers.

At present, the pioneer line is overburdened; at peak hours it needs convoys of articulated buses (or bi-articulated, three buses in one, in accordance with the 'Curitiba' design - 370 passengers at once). The express buses and their metro-type stations allow travel at an average speed of 30km/h, which must be a world record. Soon there must be a changeover to the tram. In the past, 27 towns in South America were equipped with trams (Rio had 400km of lines), but they have all disappeared, as in most of Europe.

Initially Curitiba had half a million private cars, but they are no longer to be seen. There are still as many private car owners, but the cars remain in the garage. Bicycles however remain very important for walkers and workers. There is a 150km network of bicycle paths.

In 1990 Curitiba won the United Nations prize for environmental planning. Its bus system had received an award from the International Energy Conservation Institute at Washington. Its system consumes nearly 2.5 per cent less fuel than other towns. During the crisis, buses used fuel from sugar cane.

Lerner's success has certainly put him under an obligation to advise other towns throughout the world in order to improve their public transport.

Save the children

Children are the wretched victims of Brazilian town development. They are abandoned without protection and thrown into the street. When very young they form gangs, become dangerous and are massacred by the police. The object of the Pia (street-urchin) programme is to collect these children, who are in a critical situation. At Curitiba a count was made of 500 children who had lost every link with their family and slept in the streets or in the parks. They are admitted (voluntarily or otherwise) into children's homes, and are given work, food, education (below age 14); 8000 children have been admitted. There will soon be 11 000 in 40 establishments.

Curitiba has also constructed creches which it 'sells' to businesses. The children there are of pre-school age. Owing to lack of space, schools often operate in two four- or five-hour shifts, but are now being increased in order to provide a complete day. Before then, children were accommodated in disused buses.

Lerner is also trying to attack the problem by requiring businesses to adopt small groups of 10 to 15 children, feed them and give them work and teach them a simple trade or enable them to earn a little money in exchange for small, easy services such as errands, gardening, caretaking or minor office duties. Brazilian law forbids child labour but Lerner points out that, as in numerous situations where survival is difficult, the law turns a blind eye. 'In this country, if you are over-protective nothing will work. According to law a child must not work, but the law looks aside when the child is hungry, homeless or is working for a drug trafficker'. We visited the first of these homes. Curitiba is now considered the safest town in Brazil.