"The problem in cities today is the loss of their identity and heritage sentimental"

If I had to choose the best stamp represents the Brazilian city of Curitiba, I keep it. At a street corner Bom Jesus is an imposing building, the headquarters of Petrobras

At about 20 meters is a small church and not far away, the fruit market. Amid the construction, dozens of kids playing in a vacant upholstery wildflowers. They do it, smiling, without any elderly person you care. In what other city would be today that possible?

Architect Jaime Lerner pleased smile, as if it was the first time I heard this comment. At the end of the interview to check the guest book of his study is filled with comments like, dedicated "to the planner of the future."

Bulky, affable man, Lerner us a message of hope: with a share of wit and goodwill, the megacities of the twenty-first century may be living spaces, not the Moloch of concrete and steel that foreshadow the science fiction novels.

Q: For the first time in 2008 the number of urban residents exceeded that of rural populations around the globe. In addition, there are 65 megacities with more than 70 million inhabitants each. Does not it seem alarming?

A: density and quality of life ... Some believe that a thing can not go along with the other. However, Tokyo has 14,000 inhabitants per square kilometer and, as I have seen, they do not feel trapped in a tin of sardines. Is choking on pollution, which is another problem. For me, the density does not scare me as much as the expansion of the urban periphery. The centrifugal force created enormous problems for vehicular traffic, since the beginning of days everyone is moving in one direction and at the end of the day, in the opposite direction. The tranquility offered by the suburbs on weekends to pay high levels of stress during peak hours, which extends more and more. Another issue of great importance is the need for adequate investment in infrastructure are essential.

Q: Everywhere, people with money want to live in neighborhoods away from the bustle, with gardens and good surveillance ...

A: It's true, and represents an excellent business for construction companies, but a bad deal for residents in these condominiums. Because experience says that if the offender fails to penetrate the fortress, there is nothing to prevent his victim to wait for the exit. If it separates people by their income level, you are just creating enemies. In contrast, the interaction between different social classes, through the provision of services or trade, reduces the phenomenon of crime. I am not so naive as to think that the process can be reversed overnight. I speak of a slow evolution. I am fortunate to live in a city where 75% of the population live in diverse neighborhoods. Result: Curitiba is now one of the safest cities in Brazil.

Q: What do you propose to contain the spread of cities?

A: replacement of old central areas. I am not talking about historic, but the ancient towns that after the exodus of its occupants into the mirages of the quality of life, they become ghost neighborhoods, where crime campaign at ease. In some cities such as Santiago de Chile, subsidizes those who buy or rent an apartment in the center. Many young couples have opted for this solution, and believe me, there's nothing better than young people to resurrect the moribund areas.

Q: What is urban acupuncture, the practice that you have exported to several countries?

A: In the heart of Sao Paulo there was a charming downtown district-the-light district where he met writers and artists of all kinds. As a result of neglect, the place was turned into a den of drugs known as Cracolandia on the crack, a cheap derivative of cocaine. Acupuncture in this case is to restore a building to house craftsmen and small high-technology companies. With the opening of a new road, the neighborhood of light is linked to the art gallery at the Free University of Music and a sculpture park. The same type of rapid, inexpensive and painless as applying in Moscow, Havana and Luanda (Angola), to cite other examples. With a little imagination and willingness on the part of authorities, they are above the effects of a cosmetic surgery.

Q: For you, the car is the villain of the film city.

A: The city designed according to the car is a project unfeasible. In such cities are lost countless hours of work because of traffic jams and finding parking. So much so that the World Bank and other financial institutions facing the possibility of cutting the funds to municipalities that do not solve the problem of motorized traffic. Those who consult me, I say that with new ways to draw car is all you get to subtract the green room. It is painful to see how the ring roads and streets superimposed mutilated body of a living city. Rioja carcase disposal plant.

Q: The solution is a good public transport. But you will not like the Metro.

A: The future of public transport in the area. In most cities where suburban networks, they were created decades or centuries ago, when it was profitable to dig beneath the surface. The Metro, as a means of mobility and set works well. But if you plan ahead, it will be very difficult to draw new lines. Note that in New York took 30 years - an eternity! - In settling litigation related to the opening of the Second Avenue line, and works to move the drains, sewers, only just starting.

Therefore, after analyzing the different alternatives, created in Curitiba bus three wagons passing through exclusive tracks (for each route), with a frequency of one minute and speed passenger boarding. Under this system, 75% of the public renounced the use of the automobile for travel within the city. You will appreciate that the streets of Curitiba not seem more congested than in a weekend. One day, our metro area, to give a name, moves to 2,400,000 users, rather than the Metro and suburban trains running on a giant Sao Paulo. Know that our model is implemented in Mexico City, Los Angeles, Singapore and Seoul is one of the best incentives for my work.

Q: Visit the darker side of the city: the areas of poverty. Gives the impression that on that front, politicians, sociologists and urban planners have thrown in the towel. What about, for example, in the favelas?

A: Not all share his pessimism. When it comes to Brazil in the last six years urban poverty has declined by 12% and politicians have not thrown in the towel. Architects, urban planners such as myself, of course not. The most serious problem of the favelas, and if we open the spectrum, many cities around the world, is drug trafficking. That has not found the key to disable the bomb, does not mean that there are no ways to reduce the blast. I proposed to the authorities in Rio de Janeiro, the creation of free zones around the favelas: spaces where they can establish small businesses exempt from tax, using the manpower of neighborhood. An inducement to engage young people not to trade in drugs. If it works in the hills of Rio, can operate in any other slum on the planet. Let me tell you something else: the yoke of drugs, the favelas, with its privileged location, with beautiful views of the bay, would be a charming neighborhood.

Q: More than one will say that Jaime Lerner had several factors in its favor: the charisma to be elected mayor, the gift of persuading employers solvents and the ability to build political consensus around its projects in Curitiba.

A: Yes, but I am shy and I can still see me horrors scrutiny of politicians and businessmen. (Meditate a few moments). Perhaps to compensate for this shortcoming, I endeavor to produce well-finished proposals. If one believes what he wants, it's easier to convince others.

Q: How did your team Prize United Nations Environment? There were dozens of candidates for this award.

A: Thanks to the trash (laughs). During my tenure at the helm as mayor, the accumulation of waste on the coast of Paraná had become a danger to the health of swimmers. Rather, it was forbidden to swim in these beaches. Instead of seeking a contractor to do the cleaning, we talked to fishermen in the area. They proposed buying the garbage caught in their nets, and then recycle. The experiment created a virtuous circle, as the schools who had fled returned by pollution to those waters. The same principle applies today in other coastal cities such as Brisbane (Australia), Dubai (UAE) or Puerto Limon (Costa Rica). In Curitiba reached a similar agreement with the local people to clean up garbage dumps in the north, where my successor later in the mayor created an artificial lake with aquatic birds and flowers.

Q: There is an existential point of order that may never be resolved. Is that many perceive the city as an anthill cruel and frustrating that nullifies their own identity.

The city as an entity outside the control of men, fired by its own momentum in a race to the carnage, is a reason that is reflected in the film Blade Runner or the novel Manhattan Transfer (John Dos Pasos). I think that perception is not tied to the size of a city such as the loss of their identity. Therefore, along with a historic-Cathedral, a monument, is sentimental consevar heritage can be an old warehouse, a former factory. What goes unnoticed in the eyes of a tourist, but that makes sense of belonging to the villagers. Destroy those relating rip is like a portrait of our family.

Jaime Lerner

Occupation: Urban Affairs Advisor of the UN

Age: 71 years

Education: Degree in Architecture from the University of Paraná (Argentina)

Creed: Jewish tradition

Sleep: Working on the largest and most varied number of cities.

Interview with Jaime Lerner, AGECU Award 2008, and published in the newspaper El Mundo on 24 January 2009.