Proper planning holds key to cut in city’s crime rate

• Man who transformed Bogota’s infrastructure gives tips to Nairobi planners

The answer to Nairobi’s growing crime problems lies, not in the tightening of arms laws, but in the proper planning of the city.

Shifting the transport focus from cars and matatus to pedestrians and bicycles could reduce the city’s crime rate and raise the overall quality of life.

In a presentation at the 8th International Conference on Urban Health, former mayor of Bogotá, Columbia, Enrique Peñalosa, said dedicated public vehicle lanes should also be established.

The presentation focused on how the former mayor transformed Bogotá’s transportation infrastructure and created more public spaces. It also highlighted how the changes increased the quality of life, and how it could all be done in Nairobi.

The presentation by Mr Peñalosa, the chair of the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy, was titled “What is a Good City: Public Space, Transport and Quality of Life.”

During his three-year term as mayor, Mr Peñalosa fought to reduce the number of cars in the urban centre while improving pedestrian and bicycle pathways.

By the time his term came to an end in December 2000, Bogotá’s murder rate had dropped from 82 per 100,000 to 16 per 100,000, simply because of the increase of “human dignity”, he said.

Lack of democracy

He said the biggest problem in cities like Nairobi today was not the traffic jams, or crime. Those are merely symptoms. The problem is equality, he said. There is a lack of democracy and a lack of respect for the dignity of all citizens, said Mr Peñalosa.

“Up to 95 per cent of people in under-developed cities do not drive to work, and almost as many don’t even own a vehicle, so why are we so focused on expanding roads for this elite five per cent? That’s not democracy,” he said.

Bogotá narrowed major roadways in the city centre, expanded pedestrian pavements and constructed a state-of-the-art public transport system that covered all regions of the city, including the slums.

“Nairobi shows a lack of respect for human dignity. This shows that first-class citizens with cars are more important, more valuable than third-class pedestrians,” said Mr Peñalosa, adding that this was not a sign of a democratic society.

Democracy doesn’t just mean casting a ballot; it means the collective good of the public is more important than the good of a few private citizens, he added.

The former mayor, who is billed as a “visionary politician and urban strategist”, said that cities like Nairobi that are trying to solve traffic issues by building more roads have their thinking backwards.

“Trying to solve traffic issues by building more roads is like trying to extinguish a fire using gasoline,” he said.

Mr Peñalosa said he was not suggesting that under-developed cities should not have a proper road network, but that trying to curb traffic jams by building bigger roads was backwards thinking.

“A politician who tells you he can solve the traffic issues by building more roads is no different than one who tells you he can solve poverty by printing more money,” he said.

During his time as mayor, Bogotá implemented a major public bus system known as TransMilenio which runs alongside major roadways on dedicated bus lanes, inaccessible to private vehicles. In many cases, the bus lanes are the only roads in areas of the city, with the rest being pedestrian spaces.