Bogota: a city where you can enjoy walking
Bogota is a city full of sidewalks, bike paths, parks and spaces to walk and spend time outdoors. Activities that are vital in the "new normal" dictated by the pandemic.
Prove of this, is the recent recognition made by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) to the Colombian capital as one of the most walkable cities in the world, in comparison with sophisticated cities such as London, Paris and Hong Kong.
Among the features that this study takes into account to classify a city as walkable are:
- The car-free space, measured from the proportion of people living in places close to spaces such as parks, pedestrian streets and squares. In this respect Bogota ranks fourth among 1000 cities in the world.
- The proximity to health centers, education and other services, characteristic in which the city is in fifth place.
- The size of the blocks, which are small, allow people to cross more easily back and forth and get to their destinations sooner. In this feature, Bogota is listed as the second best city in the world.
Bogota has more than 5100 public parks, an extensive bike path way, that has helped the city position as one of the friendliest cities in the world for cycling. Also, it is characterized by being a compact city, in which the average distances to transport are between eight and ten kilometers.
This last aspect is one of the most important of the city, as its new Territorial Arranging Plan is being worked on, and it hopes to turn the city into a 15 to 30 minutes metropolis. This means that, on foot or by bike, people will be able to find all the services they need without making great trips.
This is achieved by densifying the city and creating a mixture of uses, so that planning is made from the neighborhoods, and in these you can find homes, workplaces, educational and health centers, entertainment, and small shops, among others.
Living in a walkable city not only means that people can enjoy their time outdoors; it also allows greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced, fewer diseases from sedentary lifestyles, fewer deaths from road traffic accidents, and enables local businesses to grow and thrive.
