FRONTLINE/WORLD Fellows . Brazil - Curitiba's Urban Experiment . Solutions: parks
Curitiba's Many Parks
In 1992, Jamie Lerner designed Curitiba's opera house. The frame of Opera de Arame (arame means "wire") was built with inexpensive Plexiglas and metal tubing. The land surrounding the structure was once a rock quarry.
Jamie Lerner also designed the Jardim Botanico in 1992. Previously the site of a dump, today the garden is one of the city's most popular attractions. Children from low-income families earn money by tending the flowers.
Many parks, like the Japanese House, honor Curitiba's immigrants.
The Ukranian memorial at Tinguí Park is the most recent of Curitiba's monuments honoring immigrant communities. It was dedicated on October 26, 1995, to commemorate 100 years of Ukranian immigration to Curitiba.
Tanguá Park was slated to be a dump when then-mayor of Curitiba Rafael Greca arranged for an alternate dump site in order to preserve the scenic area.
The Free University for the Environment houses local environmental nonprofit groups who conduct environmental training and teach sustainable environmental practices to local businesses. Made of recycled material, it sits atop a platform and spiral walkway build of old city lampposts.
São Lourenço Park was once a shantytown whose waste washed into the city's water during the annual floods. In 1972, to protect the water and enliven the community, city planners moved the shantytown's residents to higher ground and created this park on the vacated site.