Of Happiness and Inclusive Cities
Exciting changes are shaping our cities and behaviour, with the Mobility Indaba (#CoCreateSA) and #Bike2Work (KFM) opening a legendary Transport Month in Cape Town. Habitat III on sustainable urban development is happening as you (hopefully) read this email, so we borrowed Enrique Peñalosa’s words on making better cities (Cityscope).
Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa on making better cities
“I am obsessed with the idea of happiness. It’s difficult to define and impossible to measure. Yet it’s the only thing that really matters. One of the biggest obstacles to happiness is feeling inferior or excluded. A good city can be very powerful means for this not to happen. After I finished college, I was an extremely poor student in Paris. But I never felt poor. I felt extremely happy and thankful, because I had Paris. I had a fantastic city that gave me cultural activities, public transport, beauty, possibilities to walk, joy, an education. A good city can make life better for everybody, for the rich, for the poor, for everybody. We are not going to have income equality. But we can have what I would call democratic equality. Which is that public good will prevail over private interests.”
Read our Picks on how to get involved
Our Picks
*Contribute to the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) by voicing your needs for Cape Town by taking the survey
*Push your transport boundaries and take a Transport Challenge, whether it's bus, car pool, or a bike ride
*Download the Transport for Cape Town App for integrated transport
*Explore the streets of Cape Town by going for walks – Open Streets Langa is on the 30th October, read all about their mobility challenge here
*It might take us some time to get there, let's add to the #TransportMonth discussion online and with friends
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