Equality and the City

"Enrique Peñalosa Londoño has been a powerful advocate for making better cities; cities that embrace the human experience and equality for all citizens. As Mayor of Bogotá, Peñalosa Londoño made that city inviting and accessible to people of all incomes through transformative achievements in public transport, green infrastructure, and neighborhood civic institutions. In this brilliant book, Peñalosa Londoño demonstrates how a vibrant pedestrian realm is at the heart of a healthier, more livable and truly equitable city."—Amanda M. Burden, former New York City Planning Commissioner

"For the last twenty years, Enrique Peñalosa Londoño has tirelessly campaigned for equitable cities. His message has been transformational at many levels, not just in his native Bogotá, but in cities worldwide. This book offers a charismatic mayor’s insights into how a city’s DNA can be shaped to promote greater social inclusion, environmental equity, and human well-being at a time when cities are at the frontline of planetary change."—Ricky Burdett, London School of Economics

"There is no one with a more complete and realistic vision of how our cities should develop to achieve a better country than Enrique Peñalosa Londoño. Few have such clear ideas for improving our society. In Bogotá, he demonstrated the tremendous importance of public space as the only place where we all are equal. After his first term as mayor of our capital, most mayors in Colombia understood the importance of quality pedestrian spaces and public buildings of dignity and meaning. In this book, Peñalosa Londoño presents himself as he is: an idealist who keeps dreaming of a better city and a more just and egalitarian society."—Daniel Bermúdez, Colombian Biennial National Architecture Prize–winning architect

"It is a saying that every city planning problem has been solved somewhere. The key is to find out where and combine all the good solutions. Bogotá and the work of Enrique Peñalosa Londoño have been offering inspiring solutions for decades, and in this excellent book, it seems that all the good solutions have finally come together. Based on Peñalosa Londoño’s unique experiences during his terms as mayor of Bogotá, as well as his first-hand studies in cities all over the world, Equality and the City is a fabulous handbook for twenty-first-century cities everywhere."—Jan Gehl, author of Cities for People