Since 2003, ITLS Sydney organizes the Leadership and Policy Seminar Series, and last March they invited Enrique Peñalosa. This presentation was a joint venture between ITLS-Sydney, the Bus Industry Confederation, the Major Cities Unit (Department of Infrastructure and Transport), Infrastructure Australia and our Centre of Excellence. Please find the presentation details bellow.
Photo:
Dorte Ekelund, Executive Director of the Major Cities Unit at Infrastructure Australia
David Hensher, Director of ITLS
Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor, Bogota, Colombia
Date: 11th Mar 2011
Speaker: Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor, Bogota, Colombia; President, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), New York
Topic: Presentation by the Mayor who transformed Bogota into one of the world’s leading examples of mobility and equity
Bio: Enrique Penalosa is currently President of the Board of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy based in New York. He has lectured all over the world in governmental, academic and citizens’ forums. Mr Penalosa is an urban strategist whose vision and proposals have significantly influenced policies in numerous cities throughout the world. As former Mayor of Bogota, the 7 million inhabitants’ capital of Colombia, Mr Penalosa profoundly transformed the city, turning it into an international example for improvements in quality of life, mobility and equity to developing world cities.
During his tenure as Mayor, Mr Penalosa created TransMilenio, a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that is regarded as the world’s best for its capacity, speed and cost efficiency. A similar system in Curitiba, Brazil, was its inspiration.
An accomplished public official, economist and administrator, Mr Penalosa served as mayor from 1998 to 2001. Mr Penalosa helped develop a model for urban improvement based on all people having equal access to quality transportation, education and public spaces. During his tenure, Mr Penalosa was responsible for numerous initiatives to make the city more pedestrian-friendly, including building hundreds of kilometers of protected bicycle paths, pedestrian-and-bicycle-only promenades, greenways and parks.
Mr Penalosa is a 2009 recipient of the Goteborg Award for Sustainable Development; past Award recipients of the prestigious award include Al Gore. He received the Stockholm Challenge Award for organizing a Car-Free Day in 2000, banning car use throughout the entire city for one weekday in the year. He also removed 40% of cars during regular peak hours as part of a license plate restriction program. Mr Penalosa’s work and ideas have been featured in many international media including The New York Times, Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, BBC World, PBS, and others.
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