[sustran] Re: The tenth "Dia sin carro" (Car Free Day) in Bogotá

[Carlos Felipe Pardo]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for forwarding Fabio's article, it is very useful in terms of its 
recognition of your contributions and Peñalosa's to Carfree day in 
Bogotá (they should have mentioned Oscar Díaz more prominently, since he 
was the actual hands-on guy during the planning and implementation of 
the first carfree day!).

Regarding the 10th "anniversary" of the CFD in Bogotá, it was a pity 
that the municipality had very few activities organized for that day. 
They only did 2 (somehwat related) things which were a public signing of 
a document that stipulates that Diesel will now be 50 ppm and the 
inauguration of a "hotline" to call if you see a "chimney bus" (a bus 
that is spewing black fumes).

 From our side (citizens, civil organizations), we organized a series of 
bicycle rides and wrote article in the newspapers, and appeared in TV 
promoting the concept of CFD. We reiterated that the CFD is not just a 
decree that must be followed, but an experience that should be taken as 
an example for the rest of the year, in which people should conclude 
that they can actually ride a bike or bus (or walk!) to work or study 
without the need of a car. We had lots of coverage, but the day would 
have gone much better if the municipality would have contributed (they 
explicitly told us they were not interested in doing anything "big"), 
and if citizens would not be so in love with their cars.

Best regards,

Carlosfelipe Pardo
Country Director, Colombia
Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP)

Regional Office
Carrera 7 Nº 79B-15, Oficina 404
Bogotá, DC, COLOMBIA
Tels: +57 (1) 211-0654 / 235-4240 - Fax: +57 (1) 211-0654
Cel 320 837 5858

Headquarters
127 W. 26th St. Suite 1002
New York, NY 10001, USA
Tel +1 (212) 629-8001 - Fax +1 (212) 629-8334
URL: www.itdp.org - cpardo at itdp.org E-mail 2: carlosfpardo at gmail.com
Promoting environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide
*consider the environment: please think*

Eric Britton wrote:
> Last Thursday was“Día sin carro”  (Car Free Day) in Bogotá. A really big
> day, the tenth anniversary of the original which I had the honor to work on
> in close collaboration with the then mayor, Enrique Penalosa and his
> assistant Oscar Edmundo Diaz. Planning it was a huge challenge, and making
> it actually work an even larger one. And if I feel somewhat ambivalent about
> all the Car Free Days out there that are not able to make a dent in the
> transport policy and habits of their cities – that being the original idea –
> there are a much smaller number of them that really do manage to pass this
> acid text. And of course Bogotá right up at the top of the lot.
>
>  
>
> I was in a way sad not to be there for this important anniversary, but it
> would have been a long way to go (and lots of CO2 ) just to watch a huge
> number of cars no moving for those hours. Still, I wrote a note to my
> collaborators on it, and one wrote back inviting me to have a look at an
> article by Dr. Fabio Arévalo Rosero a very active and ingenious soft
> transport innovator (and medical doctor - he worries about obesity,
> respiratory infections, and injuries as a result of traffic, hence his
> interest)), which appeared in a Colombia weekly Semana at
> http://comunidades.semana.com/noticias/tutores-del-dia-carro/4116.aspx which
> I copy below along with a quick machine translation that follows. 
>
>  
>
> Thanks very much Fabio. A very nice present from Colombia on this cold wet
> morning in Paris. (PS. And for those of you who do not know it, teams of
> doctors and medical personal from Colombia arrived in Haiti very quickly
> after the disaster and are still there working under very tough conditions.)
>
>  
>
> If you ever want to see what the original idea was back in 1994 – the title
> was "Thursday: A Breakthrough Strategy for Reducing Car Dependence in
> Cities"--  you can find the original paper referred to in the article (in
> English) at www.thursday.worldcarfreedays.com . Not so bad and here it is 16
> years later and still going strong. 
>
>  
>
> Eric Britton 
>
> - - - 
>
> Los tutores del "Día sin carro"
>
> Autor: Fabio Arévalo Rosero MD
>
> 	
>
> 	
>
> http://comunidades.semana.com/Comunidades/20100204/Cliente_125023/Noticias/G
> randeimages%5b3%5d.jpg                        Eric Britton, el "Papá" del
> Día sin carro en el mundo 
>
> Si el 80 por ciento de los bogotanos pueden vivir sin auto propio todo el
> año, ¿por qué ese 20 por ciento, o quizá menos, no pueden prescindir de esa
> comodidad si quiera por un día? Lo que menos puede significar esta jornada
> es solidaridad, democracia, integración, etc. Una propuesta innovadora que
> se le debe originalmente al señor Francis Eric Britton. 
>
> El Carfree Day o “Día sin carro” DSC, nace en la Conferencia Ciudades
> Accesibles realizada en Toledo el año 1994 gracias a la idea y presentación
> del activista franco-norteamericano Eric Britton. Originalmente el DSC
> estaba pensado para ser implementado en una ciudad, en un barrio o para ser
> organizado por cualquier grupo de personas. Sin embargo, luego del año 2000
> cuando la Comunidad Europea se suma a la iniciativa, la propuesta se
> convierte en un llamado planetario a realizar un día libre de automóviles
> por acuerdo de todos los habitantes de las distintas ciudades adherentes.
>
> Hoy la ciudad con la mejor experiencia en el mundo es Bogotá. Una iniciativa
> que nació hace 10 años con Enrique Peñalosa, quien para ello invitó a
> Colombia al “padre” del DSC, Eric Britton. Así quedó instaurado de manera
> obligatoria, por norma y acto democrático, el primer jueves de Febrero. Hoy
> se celebra la jornada número 11 como una manera de imaginar una ciudad sin
> automóviles, o al menos motivar su empleo racional.
>
> El DSC es una acción colectiva y concertada entre ciudadanos y autoridades
> para hacer un gran experimento. Es la oportunidad de probar nuevas formas de
> movilizarnos, de buscar maneras más sustentables de resolver nuestros viajes
> diarios, de difundir masivamente las externalidades negativas del uso
> indiscriminado del automóvil, de relacionar calentamiento global,
> contaminación acústica y deterioro del aire con el incremento del parque
> automotriz.
>
> Es un espacio para invitar a combatir la epidemia del sedentarismo y la
> obesidad con el uso del transporte activo, de comenzar a comprender la
> integración de la bicicleta y de la tracción humana como imperativos éticos
> de equidad, democracia, ampliación del acceso de todos a los bienes de la
> ciudad. Es una intervención en la salud pública para reflexionar sobre los
> males de la mecanización excesiva y una invitación a explorar mejores
> posibilidades de salud mental y social.
>
> Britton es uno de los expertos internacionales más reconocidos en el campo
> de las políticas urbanas, con una gran experiencia tanto en el campo
> económico y empresarial como en el de las administraciones públicas. Es uno
> de los miembros fundadores de EcoPlan, prestigioso organismo internacional
> de consultoría, con sede en París, que desde 1966 lleva ayudando a la toma
> de decisiones estratégicas a gobiernos e instituciones de medio mundo. 
>
> Como consultor internacional, Eric Britton ha servido como consejero a más
> de treinta agencias nacionales a través de los contactos mantenidos con la
> OCDE y la Comisión Europea. Ha realizado cientos de documentos y ha
> publicado más de doscientos artículos, informes y libros, algunos de
> importancia capital en el campo del transporte. Eric Britton fue,
> precisamente, miembro del consejo de redacción del informe World Ttransport
> Policy & Practice, referencia obligada sobre la política y la práctica del
> transporte en el mundo. 
>
> En Junio del 2000 Eric Britton, junto a Enrique Peñalosa, recibió el
> prestigioso premio "Stockholm Prize" por su trabajo para reestructurar el
> sistema de transporte de la ciudad de Bogotá conforme a intereses
> sostenibles y de justicia social. Si Britton gestó la iniciativa DSC en
> Toledo hace 16 años, Enrique Peñalosa la acogió y la modernizó. Hoy Bogotá
> es el referente para el mundo.
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Google machine translate – untouched by human hands
>
>  
>
> The Guardians of the Car Free Day 
>
>  
>
> Eric Britton, "Papa" of the World Car Free Day 
>
>  
>
> If 80 percent of Bogotá itself can live without a car all year, why this 20
> percent, or even less, can not do without this comfort if you want for a
> day? What this may mean less time is solidarity, democracy, integration,
> etc.. An innovative proposal that was originally owed to Mr Francis Eric
> Britton. 
>
>
> The Carfree Day or "Day without a car" CFD, was born in the Accessible
> Cities Conference held in Toledo in 1994 thanks to the idea and presentation
> of the Franco-American activist Eric Britton. CFD was originally intended to
> be implemented in a city, in a neighborhood or to be organized by any group
> of people. 
>
> However, after 2000 when the European Community endorsed the initiative, the
> proposal becomes a global call to make a car-free day by agreement of all
> the inhabitants of various cities adherents. 
>
>
> Today the city with the best experience in the world is Bogota. An
> initiative that was born 10 years ago with Enrique Penalosa, who called on
> Colombia to do the "father" of the CFD, Eric Britton. This was introduced on
> a compulsory basis for democratic rule and act, on the first Thursday of
> February. Today is the day number 11 as a way to imagine a city without
> cars, or at least encourage its rational use. 
>
>
> The DSC is a collective and concerted action between citizens and
> authorities to make a great experiment. It is an opportunity to try new ways
> to mobilize them to seek more sustainable ways to solve our daily trips to
> spread the negative externalities of mass indiscriminate use of cars, to
> link global warming, noise pollution and deterioration of air with increased
> car park . 
>
>
> It is an inviting space to combat the epidemic of inactivity and obesity
> with the use of active transport to begin to understand the integration of
> cycling and the human drive as ethical imperatives of equity, democracy,
> expanding access for all to property of the city. It is a public health
> intervention to reflect on the evils of excessive mechanization and an
> invitation to explore a better chance of social and mental health. 
>
>
> Britton is one of the most recognized international experts in the field of
> urban policies, with extensive experience in both the economic and business
> field as in the general government. It is one of the founding members of
> EcoPlan, a prestigious international consulting agency, based in Paris,
> which since 1966 has been helping to make strategic decisions for
> governments and institutions of half the world. 
>
>
> As an international consultant, Eric Britton has served as advisor to over
> thirty national agencies through contacts with the OECD and the European
> Commission. He has made hundreds of documents and has published over two
> hundred articles, reports, books, some of importance in the field of
> transportation. Eric Britton was, precisely, a member of the editorial board
> of the World Transport  Policy & Practice a benchmark policy and practice of
> transport in the world. 
>
>
> In June 2000 Eric Britton, along with Enrique Penalosa, received the
> prestigious Stockholm Prize "for his work to restructure the transport
> system of Bogotá under sustainable interests and social justice". If Britton
> gestated in Toledo CFD initiative 16 years ago, Enrique Penalosa welcomed it
> and put it to work. Today Bogotá provides the benchmark for the world.
>
>  
>
>
>   
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