Paul Romer & Enrique Peñalosa

On February 12 former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa sat down with Paul Romer at NYU Stern for a Conversation on Urbanization. Peñalosa urged cities to use public spaces and public transport to address urban inequality, ensuring that all residents can make use of public space and transit regardless of their socioeconomic status. He also echoed Donald Shoup‘s concerns about the high social costs of free on street parking in New York City, suggesting that this incredibly valuable space could be put to far more socially productive uses.

Both Peñalosa and Romer both emphasized the need for rapidly growing cities in the developing world to acquire sufficient public land in advance of urban expansion. Doing so now, while peripheral land prices are relatively low and dense settlement has not yet occurred, will allow cities to delineate the public spaces—such as parks, arterial roads, bike paths, and pedestrian ways—that are critical to guiding successful and inclusive urban expansion.

You can view the conversation in its entirety below.

Paul Romer & Enrique Peñalosa