The land of the pines

We are departing from Curitiba after only three short days and I wish we could stay in this city for longer! We lucked out with the weather being 75 and sunny for the whole duration of stay and the city although with 2 million inhabitants felt fairly relaxed. The landscape is unlike most cities: there are patches of green space and parks on nearly every city block. Our hotel was situated close to a pedestrian-only street where people were bustling to their day’s agenda but were also able to enjoy nature’s beauty as the street went right through a patch of tall trees. The city lay out was really impressive as there was little traffic compared to Sao Paulo’s streets and the high use of public transportation. We were actually able to visit URBS to learn about the famous BRT system before riding it for ourselves. There, we learnt about the techniques they use to make their transportation system quicker, cheaper, and more convenient than most public transportations systems in the world.

We also made a visit to Secretaria Municipal do Meio Ambiente (Secretary of the natural environment). We got a tour around the premises and offices built from all recycled building materials which were beautifully integrated into nature with large windows that allowed for the workers to have a good view of the outdoors. They explained to us that preserved forest space is typically owned privately but the owner has a legal responsibility to maintain it. The only way land can be sold and build on is if there is another piece of forested land that is of equal size can be preserved so that there is never diminishing forest space. They even have laws that property owners cannot cut down certain types of trees even if it’s on their property. The regulation they practice was interesting because it far exceeds the power of local government in the United States but by the looks of the city of Curitiba- something is going right.