Equality and the CityEquality and the City

"In Equality and the city, Enrique Peñalosa draws on his experience as mayor of Bogota, Colombia, as well as his many years of international work as a lecturer and consultant, to share his perspective on the issues facing developing cities, especially sustainable transportation and equal access to public space. As mayor of Bogota, Penalosa initiated development of the TransMilenio Rapid Bus Transit system, among the largest and most comprehensive public transit systems in the Global South, which carries 2.5 million passengers a day along dedicated bus lanes, bike paths, and a rapid metro line. The system emphasizes accessibility for the entire population. Penalosa's efforts to create public space were similarly ambitious: over the course of his two terms, more than a thousand public parks were created or improved. Underlying these policies was a conviction of how cities should be -- a compelling humanistic philosophy of sustainable urbanism. For Penalosa, city design is not just engineering; it defines human happiness, dignity, and equality. 'An advanced city is not one where the poor own a car,' Penalosa writes, 'but one where the rich use public transport.' Equality and the city provides practical criteria for conceiving and constructing different and better cities, not simply from an academic perspective but from that of a mayor who dreamt and achieved changes, overcame obstacles, and also failed at times"--