Innovative land use and public transport policy : The case of Curitiba, Brazil

This paper examines the land use policies implemented in the city of Curitiba, Brazil, from 1965 to the present. Curitiba used land use planning, the hierarchy of the road network, an economic development policy and public transport to coordinate the parameters for the location and density of homes, work, recreation, services and commerce. The city was planned as an integrated structure for living and working. Curitiba was also the fastest-growing city in Brazil during the 1970s, which demonstrates that the above approach has been successful as an effective instrument to control and direct rapid urban growth while contributing to sound environmental management. The paper describes the integration of land use/transportation policies and the instruments that contributed to its enforcement and attempts to draw selected lessons from the experience.