International Support for Bogotá's Car Free Day
As you can see here the City of Bogotá has its hands full with organizing and funding all the activity that goes into making this challenging day a success. And as you can also see, this project is being carried out as an international cooperative effort with considerable backing and support.
We feel that additional finance and technical support is now needed -- and needed fast, since these are all time sensitive tasks that link to the 24th and its preparatory period and activities -- to carry out several important accompanying projects, so any ideas that you have can usefully be shared with us here. Bearing in mind that the lessons of Bogotá are going to be of great use for cities and city dwellers around the world, it strikes us as only fair that such resources should come from external resources. Here are the immediate priority tasks to which we hope the international community will give its closest attention and support.
Additional Resources Sought
To conclude: The city of Bogotá is doing its part. Now it is up to the rest of us to build on and make an effort to extend these valuable lessons to other places which are in need of new ideas for sustainability. This is where YOU come in.
Both from the expert community and the policy makers most directly charged with these matters. Supporting messages from international organizations such as the World Bank and members of the UN family, from the European Commission and European Parliament, from the national organizations, formal and other, who have started to mobilize to support car free days in their won countries and regions, mayors who have already tried or considered trying this approach, and others. Now is the time -- before the 24th and not after -- that these public manifestations of support are going to be important for the organizers and the proponents of this ambitious undertaking.
The idea here is to use this pioneering innovative effort as a source of inspiration, education and instigation for other cities around the world that are facing similar problems of transport, amenity and economy. Specifically, we are trying to find support for a program that would bring a number of mayors of large cities to Bogotá in order to observe preparations for and the actual events of the Car Free Day. Efforts are being made to contact the mayors of a number of other large Latin American cities to invite them to come for a three day program of observation and discussion, though mayors and decision makers from other parts of the world are equally welcome. Funding and support is being sought for this. The time available to getting this support is of course extremely limited.
To determine lessons and ferret out recommendations for measures and initiatives to follow for the regional transport system in Bogotá. This is a task to be carried out primarily by the organizers and others directly concerned, but which will also benefit from international inputs and reviews.
(We would estimate that something on the order of $100,000 could be creatively channeled to do a good and highly useful job here. As a rule of thumb, we would suggest that 90% of this funding be spent locally.)
Seeking the lessons for other cities, including as a definite priority Third World cities with highest priority problems in their transport systems. (Funding on about the same order as the above would appear to be appropriate, with in this case more perhaps only about a third fo the total spent in country. This project should target the main international organizations and bilateral aid agencies dealing in these matters, as well as networks of cities and expertise that can help get the messages to the places and groups who are best equipped to put them to work in the field.)
Resources are needed to fund an interesting, topical film/video of the project from its first inception through the final "lessons" phase. Such a video can help others as they decide about and organize their own days, building on the experience of Bogotá and the other pioneering cities. (One interesting recent example is the video sponsored by the W. Alton Jones Foundation that reports on another innovative South American transport project that may have much broader potential, this one being in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. The Alton Jones video helps make the concept come alive for those who are seeking new ideas but may not know the project or be able to make the trip to see for themselves. We think that something along these lines based on the Bogotá experience could be very timely and highly useful.)
The Bogotá Challenge is a great idea that needs recognition, not so much locally or for the Bogotá team, who are getting substantial accolades for their courage in moving into new terrain and will see the results in their own city, but to improve its profile internationally. Awards help focus the attention of mayors, planners, administrators and decision makers, who often are interested to learn about new initiatives but somewhat hesitant to try them on their own (the transport world being a highly conservative one and therefore somewhat averse to non-standard ideas). A concept that comes with strong international recognition, however, can be a much easier sell locally. So if you have any ideas for us here, please!
Note to the Translator:
If you have been asked to translate these materials, may we ask that you share them with us all, sending a copy of your translation to The Commons Postmaster so that we can add it to the site for those who may not be so comfortable working in English. We thank you, and they will thank you as well. The Commons . . . . sustainability, sharing, team work!
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Updated 9 February 2000