【题目】The Most Innovative City

1 Continual migration and lack of city planning has created an unfriendly environment for many cities in the world today. Problems such as poverty, crime, public education, and pollution control plague the majority of the world’ s cities. Each one, it seems, is struggling to avoid urban disaster. But Curitiba, Brazil, a city of 1. 6 million people, is dealing with these problems. This little-known city in southeast Brazil is being recognized as the place that has solutions to many of the world’ s growing urban problems.

2 Like most other overcrowded and poor cities in the world , Curitiba had a serious garbage problem , until it introduced its “garbage that is not garbage” program. Through this program, more than 70% of its trash is recycled – compared with the 25% in Los Angeles. Christano Pinheiro, a seven-year-old boy shows how it’ s done. At the start of the school year, Pinheiro traded 8 pounds of recyclable garbage for a 632 packet of new notebooks. Each week , he and his two older brothers exchange trash for fresh fruit or 2 pounds of protein-rich beans. The program helps the poor. In 1995 , the city exchanged nearly 2 million pounds of food , 348 ,000 Easter eggs and 26 ,000 Christmas cakes for recyclable trash. Hundreds of quilts for the needy were stuffed with crushed Styrofoam. Christiano was one of 25 ,000 poor children who received these supplies. Curitiba is now known as the world’ s recycling capital.

3 Household garbage was not the only reason to begin a recycle program. Old worn out equipment was frequently being replaced with new technology and equipment. Like every other city, old, yet usable materials were being dumped around the city of Curitiba. This gave engineers and architects an opportunity to work together to use the materials creatively. Old wooden telephone poles are now reused in office buildings , bridges and public squares. Retired buses have become mobile classrooms for adult education. “Virtually everything has more than one use,” said Mayor Rafael Greca, whose airy office overlooking a park is made of old poles and glass. “It’ s just a matter of figuring out how to reuse things and then teaching people how to do it. “

4  Environmental efforts were only a small part of the plan for Curitiba. The latest additions are the Lighthouses of Learning, based on the great lighthouse and library in Alexandria. Egypt , one of the ancient world’s seven wonders. The first lighthouse was built as an experiment in 1995 to determine exactly who would use it, and the effect it would have on the surrounding neighborhood. Within six months of being opened, it was clear that it was popular. Soon after, a lighthouse was built in each of the city’ s neighborhoods.

5 The brightly coloured lighthouses have 5. OOO-volume libraries on the first floor ,

reading rooms on the second and a guard in a light tower that transmits a strong beam to provide community security.  “One of the lighthouses is three blocks from my home , so 1 use it for all my school projects,” said Deucina Costa, a high school senior who stops in every couple of weeks. “So do my 10-year-old brother and 12-year-old sister. Mom lets them come because it’ s safe. ” Now, the lighthouses have become the focal point of neighborhoods and have cut crime rates. They each cost about $ 180 ,000. “It’ s cheaper to build libraries than prisons ,” said Greca.

6 Curitiba is also taking government to the people.Unlike other cities where government buildings are located in an often isolated , high rent area , government offices in Curitiba are accessible to everyone on what is known as Citizen Streets. These Citizen Streets are colorful covered avenues of government offices and shops where residents can pay utility bills , get a marriage license , have a haircut , buy groceries or file a police report. And instead of zoning the city into commercial , institutional and leisure facilities as most cities do , Curitiba’ s planners have merged them all together so that people can use their time effectively at a minimum cost. The Citizen Streets have 600-seat open theaters , sports areas , and classrooms that offer professional training for $ 1 a course. In one recent computer class , Marta Penha , a 28-yearold teacher , said she enrolled because “the price is right. With my income , this is the only route to advancement. “

7 In 1991 , Curitiba built the Free University for the Environment – from old telephone poles. Short courses on how to make better use of the environment are tailored for homemakers , contractors and merchants. Taxi drivers have to take a course to get an operator’ s license. By the end of 1993 , 34 environmentally friendly daycare centers were up and running. Children get a chance to interact , and learn about their environment. The activities include making masks of animals facing extinction from magazine pages. They are then sold in a string of souvenir shops , with profits helping to pay for the facilities. In small gardens out back , the kids grow vegetables for their snacks.

8 “We’ re trying to create a whole new set of attitudes and a sense of involvement in this city ,” Greca said. “To the people of Curitiba, this city is the best human invention there is. “

 Marriage licenses can be got in Citizen Streets.

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