There is little in the architecture of a city that is more beautifully designed than a tree.
— Jaime Lerner
I always run into these Ph.D.s. They write and write and write about sustainable development. Then these guys ask me, 'But, how do you do it?' They are scared to death to do anything.
There are three major issues now that are becoming important, not only for cities, but for all mankind: Mobility, sustainability - which is linked to mobility - and social diversity.
We have to change from 'ego-architecture' to 'eco-architecture.'
Curitiba is not a paradise. We have all the problems that most Latin American cities have. We have slums. We have the same difficulties, but the big difference is the respect given by people due to the quality of the services which are provided.
Bureaucracy is like a fungus that contaminates everything.
Every city has to deal with the problem of cars and public transport.
A city is like a family portrait - you don't tear it up if you don't like your uncle's nose.
If you want creativity, take a zero off your budget. If you want sustainability, take off two zeros.
Brazil will change when its cities change.
Garbage removal is a citizen responsibility.
If you provide good alternatives for public transport, you won't have traffic problems.
I have realized after all these years that a city that has a good quality of life attracts jobs. People don't want to invest in places if there is no quality of life.
There is no place in a city that can't be better. There is no toad that can't be a princess, no frog that can't become a prince.
I always try to say, 'If you want to help the environment, try to do just two things. One, use less of your car. Second, separate your garbage.'
Cities are not problems. They are solutions.
The design of a city is like a strange archeology.
A lot of people assume that the expensive ideas are the most effective ones, but that is simply not true.
The secret to the city is integration. Every area of the city should combine work, leisure and culture. Separate these functions and parts of the city die.
We can't have landfills forever, and we can't ask others to accept our trash.
A system of bus rapid transit is not only dedicated lanes. You have to have really good boarding conditions - that means paying before entering the bus and boarding at the same level. And at the same time having a good schedule and frequency.
After working in cities for nearly 40 years, I am telling you that every city can improve its quality of life in less than three years, no matter the scale or the financial conditions.
Many cities end up putting off things because they want to understand everything. They don't understand that innovating is about starting. Taking care of a city is a process that you start, and then give the population space to respond.
Sometimes the media gives us the impression that we are terminal patients, because of problems of global warmth or the ozone layer. And the people, they don't understand that they can could change this situation for the better if they could act locally in a city.
A city grows like an organism. It is a structure of living and working together a mix of functions.
A car is like a mother-in-law - if you let it, it will rule your life.
