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Bogota's urban happiness movement

CHARLES MONTGOMERY

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 8:11 AM EDT 25/06/07

From living hell to living well: A radical campaign to return streets from cars to people in Colombia's largest city is now a model for the world ...Read the full article

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  1. M G from Canada writes: Bogota is truly a beautiful city: the parks, the people, the music, the food, the shopping, the mountainous parks with towering trees overlooking the impressive skyline, and the overall positive ambience provided by its optimistic and friendly people. It's nice to see the real news coming out of Colombia for once.

    BTW, Colombia is spelt with an 'o,' not a 'u' as we do for English locations with the same name. Look it up.
  2. country boy from Canada writes: Good for Bogota for designing for people ahead of cars. Here we continue to destroy Canada by making the wrong choice. If Bogata was able to get it right because they couldn't afford cars, it dosen't look good for us wealthier (and unhappier) unfortunates.
  3. Stalock Rujulus from Toronto, Canada writes: Fantastic - let's do it here. Please.
  4. Joshua Ross from Atlanta, United States writes: Sad to see that in an article highlighting such a great aspect of Colombian life you can't even spell their country's name correctly in the title. It's Colombia, not Columbia. There is no U in the country name Colombia.

    Aside from that thank you for highlighting such a beaming example of how public transportation and alternative commuting can actually make our lives better! Too many times we think adding another lane on the highway for a faster commute is the path to happiness when in reality faster does not equate to happiness in terms of commuting. I regularly take the subway which doubles my commute time. However when I arrive at work after a half mile walk from the subway I am in great spirits. I accomplish much more and the bonus is on my walk home I am able to reflect on the day and relax. I arrive home in similarly great spirits. When I used to drive every day I would arrive at my house completely frustrated and upset because of traffic. I won't ever go back to driving every day.
  5. Paul Thompson from Canada writes: As John Lennon said, there are no problems, there are only solutions.
  6. Andrew Malcolmson from Canada writes: Bicycling to work can make you happy in Canada too. See this Stats Can study on 'Workers' perceptions of their daily commute'. The study shows that bicyclists are the happiest commuters.

    http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-008-X20060069516
  7. All You Need Is Love from Canada writes: Remarkably impressive good news. Hedonics is where it's at. "Increase the peace" had a rather mixed success. The powerful co-opted it to mean "grow the economy". Hope that "increase the happiness" meets with better luck. Life is all about good vibes. People need some community. Less commuting more communing. Bogota is about as radical as it gets. Makes communism look like conservalibism. And it's working like a dream. Imagine what such an enlightened advanced attitude would do for our civilization, which is growing backwards into violence and a million solitudes. "All together now..."
  8. Rayne Koest from Canada writes: Great article... Congratulations to Bogota, it indeed an inspiring place. I think that our "progressive and environmentally aware" leaders really need to wake up and smell the roses. Bogota's leaders have truly shown political guts and leadership, by not only talking the talk of cities for people, but putting their financial commitment into providing enough car-alernatives. Not only is there enough capacity in these alternative to handle nearly the entire popultion, but these are highly attractive alternatives - there is no comparison between Bogota's sophisticated Transmilenio infrastructure and so-called BRTs in North America, and few comparisons between metro Bogota's bike path infrastructure and bike routes back home). Having enough and attractive alternatives in Bogota means that 1) people in Bogota can and do regularly choose to leave their vehicles at home 2) it becomes resonable to use measures like peak-hour car use regulations. This is especially signifcant in culture where the private car is a symbol of "have". The sad reality in Canada is that the alternatives are pitiful- there has not been the political and financial will to address the transit and sprawl issues that prevent us from living happy less car-dependent lives. Canadian governments can regulate private vehicle use to the hilt but until we have ways to accomplish daily tasks using transportation alternatives as easily as we can in private vehicles, most people will not make the jump.
  9. Pamela Achurch from Peterborough, On, Canada writes: Culture plays such a big role in creating change. From colonial times, the emphasis in N. America has been on land ownership. The single family dwelling still is a major goal and is intrinsic to the ecomomy in so many ways. Hence, the geographical distance from our jobs. Our taxation system in cities is based on land ownership. There is no town square tradition in most Canadian cities where people go to walk daily to meet and greet. The Columbian society has that tradition. Winter intervenes in our lives as well. Vancouver is the only major Canadian city that has the climate that encourages biking and walking all year long. We also have legal obligations for our disabled. Our economy is based on consumerism too.... .No doubt we will have to change, but it will be a difficult and painful change for many. There is no one simple answer to our transport problems......On the plus side, if necessary,one can still drive into the heart of Toronto for medical appointments....and arrive on time.
  10. ben bryce from Canada, writes: Historically and literarily, Columbia meant the United States. As such, there is Washington, District of Columbia.

    It refers to Columbus. It some times means other things in the Americas. British Columbia.

    But as everybody has said, Colombia the country is spelled with an O. It follows the same Columbus-worshipping logic as BC and Washtington. However, it is Spanish and we haven't changed the spelling.

    I agree with everyone that already brought it up. It really weakens your article to not spell a country's name right.
  11. garlick toast from mill village, Canada writes: "hedonics" should become the yardstick for urban development.let's hope that our civic planners are paying attention.
    i recently watched the documentary "who killed the electric car?"watch it and have all your worst fears about big oil and general motors confirmed.

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