Curitiba, Brazil

Often referred to as the ecological capital of Brazil, Curitiba has legislation that provides tax incentives for green spaces in building projects. This has allowed the expansion of parks and green areas, like the Public Botanical Garden

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The city of Curitiba is the capital of Paraná, a mainly agricultural state in the south of Brazil. The city is located 900 meters above sea level and 87 kilometers west of the Atlantic Ocean, near the coastal mountain ridge. Its land area covers approximately 435 square kilometers, and its population is around 1.8 million. It is known internationally for its progressive transportation system, social and environmental programs, preservation of the city's cultural heritage, and expansion of parks and green areas, and the city also has achieved international recognition for having charted an effective route to becoming a sustainable city.

Despite its achievements, Curitiba faces the same problems that [Page 126]metropolises around the world do, including social inequality, overcrowding, pollution, and limited public funding. What is different about Curitiba is that its planners have deployed creative and inexpensive ways to respond to these problems. This includes the investment in an extensive transportation system using buses, recycling programs that clean up the environment and also address poverty, and attracting new industry while expanding green spaces and using preserved historical areas to revitalize neighborhoods and to grow tourism.

The city's straightforward approach to city planning, unique not only within Brazil but also within the developing world, began many decades ago. The French planner and architect Alfred Agache developed the first plan to direct urban growth in Curitiba in 1943. At that time, the region's blooming agriculture industry attracted new settlers and immigrants, mostly from Europe. The government did not implement the plan at the time, but its main legacy was to introduce the concept of urban planning to Curitiba's citizens and government.