Greenways, accessible public spaces key to sustainable growth, citizen’s well-being
Published:Thursday | October 10, 2024 | 12:07 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Enrique Peñalosa, a renowned urban planning expert and former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, believes countries must develop inclusive cities through the incorporation of green spaces and easily accessible public areas, as this will enhance citizens’ quality of life and foster a more sustainable urban environment.
Speaking at the 2024 staging of The Honourable Maurice Facey Lecture, hosted by The C.B. Facey Foundation on Tuesday at the S Hotel Kingston, Peñalosa shared that inequality is most keenly felt during leisure time.
“In a good city, you have many great public spaces such as a Central Park in New York where billionaires and low-income people meet ... they’ll meet as equals,” he said.
He asserted that people must have access to cultural and sporting facilities, along with other forms of recreation, without having to be a member of a country club.
“Parks are not a luxury, they are as necessary as hospitals and schools,” he said.
Speaking under the theme ‘A City for People: Reimagining Jamaica’s Transportation System’, Peñalosa stated that human beings are the most important factor in economic development.
Improving cities to make them more people-centred was one method of deterring the number of young people migrating, he said.
According to him, strengthening equitable urban environments is essential for a country’s survival.
“A city like this makes us happier, and it retains people,” he said.
He shared that countries had to begin to think about how they want their people to live, what kind of lives would make them happier, and what kind of city model would accomplish this.
In reference to Kingston’s waterfront, Peñalosa stated that the government was “sitting on an amazing treasure” which could be transformed and utilised in better ways to increase foot traffic and tourists to its view.
“This is one of the most beautiful places in the planet, no exaggerating, but you are not using well your waterfronts. You could have something amazing,” he remarked, emphasising that easy pedestrian access rather than car access is the optimal scenario for areas adjacent to waterfronts.
“Just in a very short drive, I saw that you have parking lots next to the water, you have a jail next to the water, you have a non-use bus terminus stationed next to the water, and I say ‘my God, if I were in Kingston’,” said Peñalosa, who described Kingston’s waterfront as “something world class”.
He shared that the most attractive part of cities are their waterfronts and that, based on what he had seen so far, Kingston has misused its.
Between 1998 and 2001 when Peñalosa was in office, some 1,500 parks were established or renovated, along with 100 nurseries, 51 schools, and 14 libraries.
In 2015, he was elected mayor once more for the 2016–2019 term.
He pointed out that Bogotá currently has more than 120 kilometres of greenways connecting affluent and impoverished communities.
“In Kingston, for example, a 100-kilometre pedestrian and bicycle trail along the waterfront would be revolutionary and then it could leave the waterfront and go around the urbanised area of the city and, in the first time, you don’t have to do the whole thing, you just have to reserve the area, plant the trees,” he added.
Peñalosa has issued a challenge to Jamaica to redevelop the downtown Kingston area over the next 50 years and to add more greenery and footpaths to make it more pedestrian-friendly and attractive.