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.

Mr Peñalosa added that a public system of buses like TransMilenio if properly designed, could move 95 per cent the people that subway systems like the one in New York does. And at a fraction of the cost.

Another issue Bogotá tackled was parking. The former mayor pointed out that parking was not a constitutional right but a private matter that should sort itself out.

“Wherever there is room for parking, there is room for wider pedestrian pavements,” he said, again pointing out that the number of pedestrians far outweighed the number of drivers.

Mr Peñalosa said that what created traffic was not the number of cars, but the number of trips and the length of trips people make.

He said cities that had highly utilised, expansive transport systems and citizens who used bicycle trails don’t have them because they are more concerned about the environment, but rather it is simply too difficult to drive and find parking.

Another suggestion offered by the urban strategist was to increase and improve public areas such as parks and recreation fields which, along with schools and libraries, can be built with the money saved from road expansion.

“Recreation and play are not luxuries; they are necessities of life,” Mr Peñalosa said, noting that the combination of public transport, a pedestrian-friendly urban core and more recreational areas could bridge the gap between rich and poor.

Pedestrian pavements

“In cities like Nairobi that is so segmented and unfriendly to pedestrians, people don’t walk around, especially the rich. They leave their gated communities, travel by car to work, to the country club, to the shops and can go weeks without taking one step in the city centre,” he said.

The greatest equaliser in a city is public space, where the rich and poor are on the same level, said Mr Peñalosa. Both can walk in well-maintained pedestrian pavements and ride bicycles along dedicated pathways.

The former politician acknowledged the challenge for Nairobi’s leaders was significant, saying change was never easy.

Mr Peñalosa said that when he was introducing the plans his approval rating was around 15 per cent. But at the end of his three-year term when everything was in place, he enjoyed the highest approval rating in history.

Studies showed 93 per cent of the population supported the urban enhancements.