Urbanist Enrique Peñalosa comes to PennDesign 2/27 to talk equity and mobility in city planning

As Mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa radically changed the city’s urban environment. His planning agenda centered on making equitable changes to provide the most benefit for the most people. His rule of thumb: make the city good for kids and you’ll build a more humane city for everyone. So under Peñalosa, Bogotá prioritized public space improvements while restricting car usage. Instead of building and paving more more roads, Bogotá built bike paths and bus rapid transit. His policies were divisive but very effective at transforming the city.

Lucky us, Enrique Peñalosa will be in Philly on Monday (2/27) to talk about “Mobility, Quality of Life and Equity in Urban Environments” at PennDesign (Meyerson Hall, 210 S. 34th Street). The event is free, but you should pre-register online. The talk begins at 6pm, but I hear it’s going to fill up quickly so come early. See you there?

IIDEX 2009 Environment Keynote Enrique Penalosa from Matthew Searle on Vimeo.

For snappier video of Enrique Peñalosa, check out this series from Big Think.