Equality and the City

In Equality and the City

Enrique Penalosa Londono 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 Londono 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 Londono'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 Londono, 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, describes the obstacles that are confronted when doing so, and identifies ways to overcome them.