Curitiba

Ópera de Arame

Parque Tanguá

Paraná is remarkably different from any other state in Brasil with its well developed cities and unique landscapes. There is definitely a better standard of living in the south compared to the northern and northeastern regions of the country. 

Ever since seeing a documentary on the famous Curitibano models for urban development in my very first international development class I have wanted to visit the city. Curitiba was designed to have the most efficient transportation system, and has made many progressive decisions concerning social issues. Many other cities all around the world have copied and been influenced by the Curitibano transportation system.

Pedestrian shopping streets and green praças are the main focus of the city. The visionary mayor Jaime Lerner radically altered the development plans of the city in the 1970’s, when there was great pressure to expand roads and buildings.  Instead Lerner turned a downtown street into a pedestrian walkway, constructed secretly at night in 72 hours before the opposing parties could put a stop to it.  In order to prevent cars from driving in the new pedestrian zone Lerner enlisted a few hundred children to come and paint on the street. Since then pedestrian walkways have become a trademark of Curitiba. Lerner also created an efficient public transit system with 5 bus express lanes, and special cylinder shaped boarding platforms.  Some buses can hold close to 300 people and the entire system is used by over 2 million passengers. Lerner also directed urban planning to focus more on green space and public parks (which double as protection from flooding). Trees were planted on a massive scale something crazy like over a million in 30 years. 

In the 1900s Paraná encouraged Italian, German, Polish, Japanese, and Ukrainian immigrants to come and develop the land. Today there are several memorial parks dedicated to the immigrants that built Curitiba.

Memorial Ucraniano

The Serra Verde Express is a fantastic 3 hour train ride through the mountains to the coast of Paraná stopping in some old colonial towns. The train goes over 67 bridges and 13 tunnels, even in the rain it was absolutely brilliant.

Morretes, an old colonial town built in the 1700s.