This document discusses sustainable urban planning with a focus on the cities of Curitiba, Brazil and Adelaide, Australia. It defines sustainable cities and explores how Curitiba implemented sustainable development through policies like organized transportation networks and zoning laws. While Curitiba is held up as a model, it still faces issues like poverty and lack of public participation. Adelaide also pursues sustainability through practices such as renewable energy, community gardens, and preserving green spaces. Both cities provide examples of sustainable urbanization, though each city faces its own ongoing challenges.

1. Urban Planning Assignment on
sustainability of Curitiba
What is a sustainable city and in what ways does the Brazilian
city of Curitiba provide a model of a sustainable settlement which
could be applied elsewhere? Discuss with reference to Adelaide or
city of your choice?
Introduction
Cities are the prime driving force as far as the economic growth and development of nations
are considered. Although most researchers have viewed cities as the primary source of
pollution, the environment movement has started with the aim of adding green to the cities.
Since the design of the cities is closely associated with the lifestyle and well-being of its
citizens, it is important that cities are developed in a sustainable manner. As a result of
globalization and rapid urbanization mentioned in this Urban Planning Assignment, the
majority of the population of the world lives in urban areas. The urban areas being spatially
isolated from the fertile productive land, the people living in these areas are largely
dependent on the natural resources from the rural areas. Moreover, urban planning was done
in a way that the natural resources of air, water, soil, and others are free and exposed, which
makes them prone to contamination. This, in turn, has a significant negative impact on human
health. In addition, cities are largely reflections of societal values, which make it difficult to
incorporate changes within the same. The issue of overpopulation in recent years implies that
the natural and non-renewable sources of energy are being used up at a much higher pace
than it can be regenerated. Lastly in this Urban Planning Assignment it is mentioned that with
increased urbanization, it is difficult for the government to control the flow of people into the
same. Apart from the above-mentioned issues related with urbanization and development of
cities discussed in this Urban Planning Assignment, it does provide a compact area that
supports a vast majority of the population. Therefore the sustainable development of the same
would ensure that the cities are able to provide shelter to many without causing harm to the
environment.

2. Discussion
Sustainable city: An Overview
Following the publication of “our common future” in 1987, sustainable development became
an internationally accepted concept. Since then this concept has become the guiding light
providing directions for development to the local, state and national governments. At the
world-famous conference held in Rio de Janeiro that discussed issues on environment and its
association with development, agenda 21 was established. Its aim was to identify the factors
leading to global issues and thereby manage them at the local level. UN HABITAT is an
initiative of the UN that promotes sustainable urbanization. Sustainable cities program is an
initiative undertaken by UN alongside United Nations Sustainable Environment program that
encourages planned urbanization taking into account the needs of the future generation. The
prime principles for sustainable urbanization were developed in 1996 the second UN
HABITAT II conference (Diva-portal.org, 2018). In comparison to sustainable cities, the
concept of Eco-city is new. This concept emphasizes the idea based on which cities should be
developed, that would benefit the future generation by causing minimum damage to the
environment (Caprotti, 2014). The eco-city movement was first started in 1975 by a non-
governmental organization in named Urban Ecology, based in Berkley, California. The aim
of this movement was to re-view urbanization and promote the same while maintaining a
healthy balance with the environment (Newman and Jennings, 2012). The first conference
concerning Eco-cities was held in 1990 with the joint initiative of Urban Ecology and other
non-governmental organizations. Since that time, several other international conferences have
also been held across various places in the world. The two most famous among them are the
ones held in Curitiba, Brazil in 2000 and the other one held in Adelaide, Australia in 1992.
Although there has been a significant number of initiatives that aimed to reduce the negative
impact of urbanization on the environment, incorporating eco-friendly or sustainable
measures within the process of urbanization still remains a challenge. The entire value system
embedded within the legal construction has to be altered to an extent in order to bring
changes within the process of urbanization. The various governmental bodies have
conflicting interests concerning sustainable urbanization, which makes it even more difficult
to implement. However, some cities like Curitiba in Brazil, Portland in the USA have
successfully implemented the concept of sustainable tourism. There is a considerable lack of
literature pertaining to sustainable urbanization and eco-city; however, researchers have

3. defined the concepts differently. As opined by Roseland, “Eco-city can be defined as the
most sustainable kind of settlements that can be built, which provides an acceptable form of
shelter to the population of a nation, without harming the ecosystem or disrupting the
functioning of the biogeochemical cycles within a region”(Pickett et al., 2013). The non-
governmental organization Urban Ecology gives a slightly different definition to the concept.
It says that Eco-city provides high-quality human settlements without disturbing nature.
In the following section of this Urban Planning Assignment, the city of Curitiba would be
explored as a sustainable city.
Curitiba: An example of a sustainable settlement
Curitiba located in the Southern region of Brazil has a temperate climate. The city is the hub
of economic activities because of its strategic location and well connected regional
transportation system. Despite the rapid population growth, market inflation and widespread
poverty, Curitiba followed a different pathway to drive urbanization. Following the partial
failure of the “Agache Plan” in 1943, a preliminary plan for urbanization was developed by
the Public Administration of Curitiba. Considering this as the base, the various consultancy
firms of Brazil came together to develop the Curitiba Masterplan, which was then
implemented by the Curitiba research and urban planning institute (IPPUC)(Diva-portal.org,
2018). This plan led its prime focus was on changing the radial urbanization into a linear
form, developing efficient transportation by making minimum use of land, controlling and
managing demographic growth, proper preservation of historic and cultural remains and
gaining adequate financial support from the government to ensure sustainable urbanization(de
Freitas Miranda and da Silva, 2012). There are several policies and legislation guiding the use
of land in Curitiba; namely 1979, Introduction of social fare, 1979, law 4773, 1975, law 5234
and others (Diva-portal.org, 2018). Democracy being a comparatively recent phenomenon in
Brazil, public participation in the successful implementation of the framework of sustainable
urbanization is comparatively low. However, there have a considerable number of
neighborhood associations that worked in a coordinated manner in order to challenge the age-
old traditions concerning urbanization. The land use pattern framework developed by the
IPPUC emphasized the development of a triple road system that would have two lanes
dedicated to express buses. The structural axes of Curitiba expanded to five in 1982 and it
was finally completed with the addition of inter-district lines and feeder lines. In addition, the
zoning laws that were developed based on the purposes for which it was used; residential,

4. industrial or commercial. This helped in maintaining a high density of development, good
traffic conditions and making most of the streets suitable for pedestrians (Macedo, 2013).
From 1970s Curitiba has been transformed into an industrial economy from an agro-based
economy. Since the Curitiba Industrial City, commonly referred to as the CIC has been
isolated from the residential areas of the city and is located in the western zone of Curitiba.
This serves to protect the citizens from the harmful industrial pollutants in the air which
might cause a variety of health hazards. Moreover, the urban structure of Curitiba is such that
several areas of legal importance have been provided special protection and stays well
connected with the rest of the city. It is observed in this Urban Planning Assignment A proper
drainage and sewage system along with flood control designs are the two major factors that
dictate the maintenance of green spaces in the city. Streams that pose potential risks have
been protected and the flood-prone regions have been converted to parks that contribute to
greenery all around.
However, there have been some problems associated with sustainable urbanization in
Curitiba. As estimated by the Curitiba Social Development Secretariat, 4.9% of the
population dwells below the poverty line, while 28% of the same requires attention in order
to improve their economic conditions. In order to improve the condition of this section of the
population, the local government of Curitiba initiated two programs; one was based on
reusing garbage and another was a garbage purchase program, where people dwelling below
the poverty line could exchange garbage for food(Diva-portal.org, 2018). This exchange
would take place at designated collection centers. Another important parameter that ensures
sustainable development is public participation. Democracy is a comparatively new concept
in Curitiba, public participation in the successful implementation of sustainable urbanization
has been relatively low in this region. However many neighborhoods have work in
collaboration in order to keep their environment clean and prevent unplanned urbanization.
The transportation system in the region has been criticized by many, as it has been developed
by the municipality of Curitiba and the surrounding municipalities which are present around
the regions where the poor people live have little idea about the same. Most people believe
that the transportation system has specifically been developed for the middle-class people and
the poor people are unable to afford it (Cervero, 2016). Moreover, since the development of
the new transportation network the population of Curitiba has seen a massive rise, which
implies an increase in the number of private automobiles, resulting in, enhanced traffic
congestion and pollution. Additionally, the national automobile industry of Curitiba has been

5. shifted to CIC which also has a significant impact on the transportation system of Curitiba.
Despite these issues associated with sustainable urbanization in Curitiba, the city is
exemplified as one of the cities which have turned the theory of sustainable urbanization into
practice.
Adelaide in comparison to Curitiba
Adelaide has been known as the “city in the park” for maintaining its strong connection with
nature. The city is known for maintaining and preserving its natural ecosystem which is
reflected by the fact that the city is surrounded by parklands occupying an area of seven
square kilometers. The state and the local governments are guided by certain authorities to
manage and maintain the parklands. In addition, instructions are also provided to the
authorities regarding the ways in which the aesthetic, as well as the natural values of the
parkland, would be enhanced. Preserving the cultural heritage of the parklands is another
major responsibility given to the local government. Since 2010, the Glenelg Adelaide Park
Lands Recycled Project emphasizes the use of water from Glenelg wastewater treatment plant
to water all the parks and gardens around the city (McCormick et al., 2013). In addition, the
council has a biodiversity team dedicated to protecting the natural vegetation and biodiversity
across the city along with cultivating several indigenous varieties of plant in the nursery of
the council. It has been seen that the Council has planted about 100,000 indigenous varieties
of plant in its nursery that help in maintaining a clean and pollution-free environment
(Gracepointisacult.net, 2018).
Moreover, the State government’s program known as the million trees program focuses to
maintain the forest environment of the Adelaide city. The city encourages community kitchen
gardens that help them to grow organic food in the surroundings of their own homes while
helping them to build healthy social relationships. Moreover, the council has the aim of
bringing down the carbon footprint by encouraging the businessmen and the residents of the
city to be a part of the City switch and green office program. Introduction of sustainable
transport systems including buses that would be run on solar power and encouraging
residents and industries to make use of LED lights that consume the least energy are the other
steps taken by the council to ensure sustain development (Sadorsky, 2014). It can be said that
in comparison to Curitiba, Adelaide could implement the concept of sustainable urbanization
more successfully. The concept of ‘urban sustainability’ refers to the idea when the
concerned city is able to manufacture power from renewable sources of energy and is able to

6. reduce its reliance on conventional power sources. This is the focus of the NBE strategic
framework, which helps the country to achieve the objective of ‘urban sustainability’. Since
this objective has already been achieved in Adelaide, wherein ‘green power’ is largely used
in transportation and other utilities, special need for development of new strategy using NBE
framework 8is not required for Adelaide.
However, both these cities have set examples for sustainable urbanization.
Conclusion
This Urban Planning Assignment dealt with sustainable cities and Eco city which resulted
due to sustainable urbanization. The concept of a sustainable city and planned urbanization
has been defined and illustrated along with shedding light on the importance of the same. The
section that followed explored Curitiba, a city in the southern part of Brazil as a sustainable
city. The factors that led to the sustainable development of this city have been illustrated in
detail along with the issues associated with sustainable urbanization. In the last section of this
Urban Planning Assignment, the focus has been laid on the city of Adelaide in Australia and
the sustainable development practices that have been used in this city.

7. References
Caprotti, F., 2014. Eco‐urbanism and the Eco‐city, or, Denying the Right to the
City?. Antipode, 46(5), pp.1285-1303.
Cervero, R., 2016. Public transport and sustainable urbanism: global lessons. In Transit
Oriented Development (pp. 43-56). Routledge.
de Freitas Miranda, H. and da Silva, A.N.R., 2012. Benchmarking sustainable urban mobility:
The case of Curitiba, Brazil. Transport Policy, 21, pp.141-151.
Diva-portal.org. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.diva-
portal.org/smash/get/diva2:4809/FULLTEXT01.pdf [Accessed 4 Nov. 2018].
Gracepointisacult.net. (2018). Map. [online] Available at:
http://gracepointisacult.net/map.php [Accessed 4 Nov. 2018].
Macedo, J., 2013. Planning a sustainable city: The making of Curitiba, Brazil. Journal of
Planning History, 12(4), pp.334-353.
McCormick, K., Anderberg, S., Coenen, L. and Neij, L., 2013.Advancing sustainable urban
transformation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 50, pp.1-11.
Newman, P. and Jennings, I., 2012. Cities as sustainable ecosystems: principles and
practices. Island Press.
Pickett, S.T.A., Boone, C.G., McGrath, B.P., Cadenasso, M.L., Childers, D.L., Ogden, L.A.,
McHale, M. and Grove, J.M., 2013.Ecological science and transformation to the sustainable
city. Cities, 32, pp.S10-S20.
Sadorsky, P., 2014. The effect of urbanization and industrialization on energy use in
emerging economies: implications for sustainable development. American Journal of
Economics and Sociology, 73(2), pp.392-409.