In the 1970s, Mayor Jaime Lerner transformed the city of Curitiba, Brazil through innovative urban planning focused on pedestrian access, public transportation, environmental protection, and social programs. He created the world's first pedestrian island in the downtown area, improving foot traffic and business. An integrated bus system with three-coach buses and tube stations increased public transportation efficiency. The city also built bike paths, parks, and emphasized environmental education and waste recycling. These changes made Curitiba a model for sustainable development and inspired other cities in Latin America.

1. CURITIBA-BRAZIL In the city Curitiba, Brazil, citizens has lived a transformation in urban planning, transport, environment and social programs in the last three decades, which has transformed the city in world reference of sustainable development. Constructing the first pedestrian island of the world, an innovative system of transport, environmental education and numerous social interventions that transformed the city.

2. In 1971 Jaime Lerner mayor of Curitiba, decided to create the first pedestrian island of the world in the downtown. Lerner knew that a great part of the city did not like his project, because they believed that the trade would be ended for limiting the access of the vehicles. With dread of a judicial requirement, Lerner achieved what many people believed impossible. Friday after the courts were closed, he began the work with a workers' invasion in the center, the streets started paving, digging hollows, sowing trees and flowers. Working with an abysmal effort the workers' battalion finished the work in 48 hours, before the court opened on Monday.

3. Impressed the citizens stayed on having seen similar work that appeared suddenly in the center of their city. The surprised merchants observed as the center was living a rage of trade and massive visitors. They observed million plants and flowers that were dazzling the center and started taking for decorate their houses. Lerner had foreseen this capture of flowers and had an equipment of gardeners ready to plant new flowers at once. With this initiative of cultural conscience the theft of flowers stop in a few days. Another problem was on the part of the cars club that tried to recover their territory in the center planning a take over, but Lerner created a wall of culture, with million children painting enormous strips of paper on the streets. Since then every Saturday the children of the city draw in big strips of paper in the pedestrian island.

4. An essential foundation to influence the conscience of the citizens in Lerner's administration was the efficiency of the means of transport. With a revolutionary integrated transport of buses for the principal streets and with stations (in transparent pipes) managed to increase the efficiency. Implementing buses of three coaches, with big doors and stations creating an easy movement to all parts of the city, including the poorest neighborhoods. Due to this innovation there was obtained a more quick, efficient and economic system; in addition, to offer other alternatives of transport, there were constructed 115 kilometers of rails of bicycle to create an environmental and healthy offer. For 1991, 28 % of the citizens who were using cars resigned these for the efficiency of the public transport.

5. The environment plays a fundamental paper in the strategy of the sustainable development, for this, an initiative was given to construct big parks and forests in order that the citizen had a space for a social and environmental interaction. Curitiba, nowadays possesses one compromised environment policy. Likewise, the University of the Environment and the Botanical Garden take as a purpose the diffusion of the practice of the auto sustainable development. Another program to stand out was the managing residue, where there was created a system of cultural conscience where the citizens who delivered the separated garbage would obtaining a prize or benefit. Thanks to this, the companies of residues managed to recycle and to classify the residues of an economic and efficient way.

6. In order to optimize the education in Curitiba, the administration decided to improve the educational facilities; to construct big libraries, colleges and universities endowed with an education of high quality. Also to strengthen the education and civil conscience, in the first years of study, the children read a few books that have as end know and love his city.

7. Curitiba went out forward in all her urban development aspects managing to be one of five more attractive cities to invest in America for his economic, social and environmental development. With simple ideas and cultural ideas, an architect transformed a city and guided it towards the sustainability. It is a clear example to bear in mind in the cities of Latin America. Curitiba's success was an inspiration for many cities as Bogota (Transmilenio), Santiago of Chile (Transantiago), Mexico City (Metrobus).