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Lessons from Bogotá: Reclaiming Public Space for Public Health

4:40 PM EDT on October 14, 2007

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What does it take for a city of 8 million people to get 1.5 million of them outdoors and physically active on a Sunday?

According to Guillermo Peñalosa, the former Parks Commissioner of Bogotá, Colombia, all it takes is the political and community will to provide people with the necessary public space. And, he should know: he has done it.

Please join Transportation Alternatives, Harlem Community Development Corporation, Project for Public Spaces and the NYC Food & Fitness Partnership for an evening presentation and discussion with Guillermo Peñalosa about Ciclovía and car-free spaces as a means to improving public health and social equity.

Aaron Donovan
Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

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