The city of Curitiba

Up until now, I've viewed each city I've been to in a similar way. Chicago, IL; Rochester, NY; Raleigh, NC; Tampa Bay, FL; New Orleans, LA. All of these big cities started off focused mainly on one thing: to create unique attractions and restaurants in order to bring people to their city and eventually create a family friendly environment. Unfortunately, all of these ended up the same way. Public transportation and attractions turned into dirty and sometimes dangerous situations for citizens who lived in the city. In order to still enjoy these cities, but not have to deal with the "dirty" habits adopted by the inner-city, sub-burbs were created so families could be raised with the influence of both the quite "suburbian" lifestyle and the exciting influence of a city. Unfortunately, big cities have one enormous flaw. There is no sense of community between the residents of any of the cities listed above. Sure, there are a lot of separate communities within a city that thrive. But, when it comes to involving everyone in decisions, cities ultimately fail.

Curitiba in Brazil literally shocked me when I read chapter 2 of Hope, Human and Wild by Bill McKibben. He described a place that I thought only existed in fiction books about the future. A city where there are hardly any cars in the streets. Where you feel comfortable walking without the fear of theft. Where public transportation is clean, efficient and affordable. In this city, residents are encouraged to pick up trash around the city, for every bag of trash they bring in the city supplies them with a meal. The one thing that separates Curitiba from the rest of the cities around the world is the fact that most residents live close to the center of the city. There are only small clusters of homes and slums on it's outskirts due to the population boom within the past decade. Reading about this city restored some hope inside of me that every city could someday be like Curitiba. Any city that doesn't strive to be like this will most likely be forgotten in the future.

With this in mind, let us make future cities cleaner and stronger than ever before.