Father of the BRTS, Enrique Penalosa, praises projects transforming city.
Along with making a presentation on what a good city should be like and how it should be developed, Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, suggested to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi that Ahmedabad should be developed into a city that reflects its character and values, on Monday.
Talking about the suggestions he made to Modi, Penalosa said, “Unlike cities in China, Indian cities have a great opportunity to be developed in a different way, so that they reflect the character of the country. A city can be developed to reflect its spirituality, traditions, street life and other such characteristics.”
Penalosa is the man behind the transformation of Bogota, which was once infested with crime, drugs and pollution, into a city that is now celebrated worldwide as model of urban renewal.
Regarding the importance of a correct and contextually suitable design of a city, he said, “Cities should be designed to reflect their values. If the design of the city is done wrongly, we may end up destroying ourselves. The planning and development of a city should not be like that of Chinese cities.”
The former mayor of Bogota was impressed with the ambitious projects in Ahmedabad and applauded the chief minister for these projects. “The Sabarmati riverfront project and Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) are two great projects that are being undertaken in the city. I congratulated the chief minister for the same,” Penalosa said.
Regarding traffic problems in the city, Penalosa said that wide roads did not provide a solution for traffic jams. “City roads should be systematically divided into separate routes for pedestrians, cyclists, cars and buses,” he said.
Comparing the BRTS in Delhi with that in Ahmedabad, Penalosa praised the latter, saying, “The BRTS in Ahmedabad is definitely better than the one in Delhi.”
On Monday, Penalosa made a presentation at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), where a discussion on urban vision was held with various experts from Ahmedabad.
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