Ishadeen Abreu-
I really enjoyed watching the first movie in class called “Urban Solutions from Brazil.”
The way they went about doing things was very smart and I wonder when the rest of the world will catch up and adopt the ways of Curitiba, before it is too late. Their road system seems flawless. They have exclusive lanes for buses and emergency vehicles, that way the flow of traffic is smooth. I really liked their bus system with the “tube stations”. They pay for tickets ahead of time so they can jump on the bus right away. They promote public transportation as the best way to travel for convenience of the individual and for the safety of the environment. The use of more public transportation will, indeed, mean less cars on the roads. Also, paying people in bus tokens for their trash is genius in order to keep the city clean!
Alexandra Maclean-
This week i liked the movies we watched in class.Both movies were good, but “Urban Solutions from Brazil” held my attention the most. I really liked the way their transportation system works. More places should start looking into this bus system. It reminds me of Boston and all the buses that people can take to get to work and school. Over the week i have started to change some of the things that i do. At work i have started making my co- workers use rags to clean,instead to paper towels. I think as time goes by i will change more in my life.
Lauren Jump-
The tube stations for the bus stops in Curitiba Brazil seems like a very brilliant, yet simple, system to reduce wasted time entering and exiting buses. Lauren Jump is really surprised cities in the US do not implement this system. Their different color bus codes also seems like a simply brilliant idea, considering other transportation systems- it’s very forward thinking.Lauren enjoyed the flood zone park design segment of the video the most. Not only is it intelligent to have the sheep cutting the public grass, but the park design was purely brilliant. The increased tourism and, above all, increased property value was sustainable business in action. It is so wrong that ghettos are made out of flood zones all over the world when a well planned parks can control flooding and increases the value of land around the parks. Politics are greatly to blame, but at the same time good politics can be beneficial in the future.
Anna Dyson-
I loved learning about the forward thinking city of Curitiba. In "Urban Solutions from Brazil" we are shown how planning a city around people (not cars) is not only friendly to the environment, but to the economy as well. My favorite part of the video was when the mayor acted quickly by making a pedestrian only street, finishing the project over the weekend. At first store owners along the street were furious claiming they would loose business. It turned out that this was not the case, business increased. This lead to more pedestrian only street and more money in local businesses pockets. Humans are creatures who enjoy beauty. A clean green environment, large parks, and less cars everywhere is a wonderful direction to start heading in.
Calvin Thornton-
I find it almost heartbreaking to know that the majority of the steps taken in the two videos are both completely possible to implement,yet, most likely never going to happen. At least not here. I am just as guilty as the rest of the population, but we have more of a, “Think locally, act globally” type of mentality which means that instituting any sort of public transportation system or rerouting of highways will be re-construed not as a step towards progress and away from waste, but instead as an attack on individual choice and freedoms. Also, after watching what they did in Cuba with such success in conjunction with the food forest that I’ve seen, when all is said and done and I start to develop an income, I feel confident that I will grow at least a portion of my own food.
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