Enrique Peñalosa, a renowned urban planning expert and former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, believes countries must develop inclusive cities through the incorporation of green spaces and easily accessible public areas, as this will enhance citizens’ quality of life and foster a more sustainable urban environment. Speaking at the 2024 staging of The Honourable Maurice Facey Lecture, hosted by The C.B.
Facey Foundation on Tuesday at the S Hotel Kingston, Peñalosa shared that inequality is most keenly felt during leisure time. “In a good city, you have many great public spaces such as a Central Park in New York where billionaires and low-income people meet ..
. they’ll meet as equals,” he said. He asserted that people must have access to cultural and sporting facilities, along with other forms of recreation, without having to be a member of a country club.
“Parks are not a luxury, they are as necessary as hospitals and schools,” he said. Speaking under the theme ‘A City for People: Reimagining Jamaica’s Transportation System’, Peñalosa stated that human beings are the most important factor in economic development. Improving cities to make them more people-centred was one method of deterring the number of young people migrating, he said.
According to him, strengthening equitable urban environments is essential for a country’s survival. “A city like this makes us happier, and it retains people,” he said. He shared that countries had to begin to think ab.
