By Michael J Morris
Enrique Penalosa, referencing Jan Gehl, the brilliant Danish urban
planner tells us that a great city is where people want to go out of their
homes and where we all feel not excluded.
Rhonda Winter, in an article in ecolocalizer.com in July 2009, 'What is a
good city?' refers to Gehl's thinking while discussing the merits of Ciclovia,
the brainchild of the former visionary mayor of Bogota, Colombia, Enrique
Penalosa. Ciclovia has now become an integral part of community life in cities
around the world.
Referencing Jan Gehl, Penalosa said: "A great city is one where people want
to go out of their homes. Public space is a magical good and never ceases to
yield pleasure: we should pay it a lot of attention. Public good prevails over
private interest. A great city is where we all feel not excluded."
And he added, to my delight as one who walks everywhere I go: "The quality
of sidewalks in a city is a most telling thing. Just as a bird needs to fly,
fish need to swim and deer need to run, we need to walk."
When Penalosa was mayor of Bogota, a city of about seven million people,
120 km of the city's streets started to be closed to traffic every Sunday for
seven hours for the hugely popular Ciclovia.
On some Sundays Ciclovia attracts1.5 million citizens who came together to
walk, bike, play and socialize. They have continued for about 30 years
now.
In her article Winter argues that how an urban environment is planned,
designed and constructed greatly influences how we live, get around and
interact. Ciclovia has been a major factor in changing Bogota in a society where
walking and biking are becoming more important.
Penalosa also cautioned that doing what benefits everyone in the name of
the public good requires real political leadership and risk.
"I want to emphasize the things that make people happy are not very costly,
but they are politically difficult," he said.
He also noted: "I would say that the great city is not the one that has
highways, but one where a child on a tricycle or bicycle can go safely
anywhere."
When I was a child, I was able to travel safely around the community on my
tricycle and later my bicycle. As I walk about Cranbrook today, and turn back
the clock, there is no way I would feel safe. As I watch vehicles roar by me on
Victoria Avenue, Second Street North and The Strip for example, I get the
feeling all the drivers want to be in the Indianapolis 500.
Back to Ciclovia. As I read more about it, I
thought -- this is something that might work in downtown Cranbrook.
By other names some of it already occurs -- the Farmers Market, Sam Steele
Days, the two major parades a year and the Children's Festival.
I discovered that for the past four years Winnipeg, Manitoba, holds a
Ciclovia, in the downtown area, and looking at a map of the boundaries for the
event, and having lived in the city at one time, they really do close it down
for one day, for "a free eco-friendly, healthy, lifestyles festival". It is
sponsored by Downtown Winnipeg BIZ with support from many stakeholders.
The activities include a wine and cheese festival, kids' activities, animal
rest area, music and cardio on the stage (live music followed by a fitness class
on the hour all day), a live art zone, book readings, story telling, a chill
zone (Yoga, tai chi, massages), a bike show, farmers' market and the list goes
on.
In Bogota, Ciclovia is held every week while in Winnipeg it is only once a
year, but no matter how often, they bring people from their homes and none are
excluded, which serves the public good, but in so doing, private interests,
(i.e. businesses) also benefit.
Imagine if Ciclovia happened in downtown Cranbrook in public space, where
the "magical good" would occur as Jan Gehl suggests, and citizens would focus on
those things that bring us together, rather than divide us throughout the city,
in all we do.
Penalosa again: "Children are
a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we
will have a successful city for all people."
Think about the possibilities. Please feel free to share your thoughts with
me. My email is mj.morris@live.ca.
Full disclosure: I am not now and never have been a member of the Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook Society; however, I did conduct a workshop for its members for which I was paid.
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