Customer Reviews

A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This film is a must see for anyone involved in urban/regional planning, city councils, and concerned citizens. Curitiba debunks the myths that logical solutions to cities biggest problems only exist on paper or take billions of dollars to develop. A well made and inspiring documentary. When you see what they've done here, you will realize that our standard of living in the US is not really so high and solutions are far easier than our leaders lead us to believe.

Environmental changes you always hoped could happen are documented in this delightful, enlightening film.

Take an ordinary, not-so-beautiful, not-so-successful, non-environmentally positive town and think. A vision to improve in 3 major areas became reality; public and private transportation were revamped, housing created and improved, and recycling became a matter of public pride. Beautiful parks were created on top of blighted areas and dumps. The city of Curitiba became a destination instead of a place to pass through.

You look at the figures involved in these fantastic changes and say, gee, they look like ordinary people, and yet this whole thing is pure genius!

Then the whine is, Why Can't We Do This In The USA? Is it the bureaucracies? Is it too big an idea for us? It can't be the money -- the project's leaders tell how the projects became self-sufficient and paid for themselves in a short time.

I'm a teacher in Adult Education, where adults receive a High School Diploma (accredited) (not a GED) and I am incorporating this DVD in classes of Economics, Geography, Sociology, and Earth Science. The more people who see it and are inspired by it, the better. I recommend it to everyone on the planet.

This film that tells what one city in Brazil has done to make a difference on the problems facing most cities. The film is great for it gives you a feeling that there is a chance. The one problem is that only about half is in English and the other has subtitles. It would have been better to have voice over, but the film is great

I would have never seen this film if I hadn't gone to the Santa Cruz Pacific Rim film festival. It's a movie worth passing onto others if they haven't seen it yet. a positive documentary about the city of Curitiba, Brazil and how they re-created their city into a healthy, green environment with the little money they had. It made me feel like so many changes are possible for a better place to live in America. Please consider this movie, its only an hour long!

This is a very educational DVD for anyone interested in Urban Planning, sustainability, the "green" movement, etc. The documentary covers the transformation of the city of Curitiba, Brazil from a poor, backward city into what they now regard as one of the most livable cities in the world. The filmmakers talk to the city mayor, along with the planners, architects and citizens who helped to implement these innovative urban solutions to the common problems of the modern, urban world. The issues covered include public transportation, recycling, affordable housing and landscape modification. Such innovations like special lanes exclusively for efficient buses, buying trash from citizens to clean up the favelas, and turning dangerous flood plains into modified public parks(not to mention using sheep to trim the grass!) are some of the interesting policies that Curitiba has utilized. I also found notable that the entire project was done with a focus on job creation, that is they made a concerted effort to put as many citizens to work as possible, encouraged entrepreneurship, and offered various types of education and job training for citizens.

This is one of the most inspirational, hopeful stories about environmental and community justice issues that's out there. We need this kind of hope to help combat all the doom/gloom reality. See it and be glad for such creative politicians and thinkers in the world to learn from .

As inflation rages in food and energy and housing, Curitiba Brazil shows that Government can increase real estate property tax revenues while increasing real estate values, build housing, employ the poor, develop employment in green industries, and build small home offices for middle classes and formerly unemployed . Amazingly the public parks eliminate flooding and provide green space ; and the public bus transportation serves the entire city; thereby, assisting all income sectors in the society to move ahead socially and economically. It is a great example of vision and courage to solve persistent social and economic problems in a free society. Easy to understand beautifully depicted with subtitles when necessary.

Watch this movie, and start save your city to save the earth from global warming.

It makes you see the cities around the world in a new light. They've manged to do so much for their city with a little common sense and allot of thinking outside the box.
There is plenty that can be learned from this DVD.

When governments such as the municipal government of Curticiba in Brazil have limited funds, governments can still be effective. This is a fantastic overview of how a city can be green and cutting edge in transportation without much economic cost. See why many municipalities have looked to Curticiba as a model of urban resilliance.