Of bicycles and bipeds in Bogota.

• Author: Hagen, Jonas
• Position: Field Watch

Enrique Penalosa's enthusiasm is contagious. When he began his three-year term in 1997 as mayor of Bogota, Colombia, the city was one of the most polluted and traffic-ensnarled in the world. Now that residents can ride their bicycles or take an innovative bus system to work, and enjoy more green public spaces, he travels worldwide with his message of making cities in developing countries more livable.

One of the tools he used to convince Bogota residents of the benefits of leaving their automobiles at home and taking public transport or riding a bike was the Car-free Day--an event organized with the help of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the United Nations, and their involvement together with local government is giving the movement for sustainable urban development and alternative transportation momentum, energy and direction.

A visiting Professor at New York University's Center of Latin American and Caribbean studies, Mr. Penalosa thinks cities in the developing world are at a critical moment when they can learn from the mistakes of industrialized nations and choose to develop in a more people-friendly way. He told the UN Chronicle that cities are "the most important places in the world--over the next thirty years there will be more than 2 billion people in cities" in the developing world.

"In order for these cities to prosper, they must provide happiness for their citizens", the former mayor said. "This happiness does not come from individual wealth, but quality of life. This is extremely crucial for the developing world because it is our competitive edge--we cannot give high income, but we can give quality of life", adding that this would enable the cities to retain their most educated citizens who might otherwise be tempted to move to developed countries where wages are much higher. He also said that one has to look at what wealthy people in developed countries do in their leisure time. "Maybe they like to take a walk in a park or ride a bike, or swim in an unpolluted river. Maybe we can achieve that in developing countries without being rich."

Reducing automobile use in cities is an effective way to provide a better quality of life for all citizens, said Mr. Penalosa, because it improves air quality and makes transport quicker and more efficient. Furthermore, public funds are not wasted on expensive road-building and maintenance programmes that only benefit car owners (a minority in the developing world), and they can be...