12 de February de 2025

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‘Mobility is the system that brings people closer to the places where opportunities are’ | Estadão Mobility |

4 min read

He participates in the process that has seen Medellín, Colombia, go from the most violent city in the world to a metropolis recognized for innovation. In the 1990s, the city recorded 6,349 homicides per year, a number that fell to 319 in 2022.

“Cities that promote protection, opportunities and exchanges between people are the most innovative”, says Santiago Uribe, an anthropologist by training, university professor and the first Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) in Medellín and the second to hold a similar position in the world. Among the aspects that he defends as essential for the well-being of the population is a good mobility system.

His work focuses on neighborhood transformations, violence prevention and urban renewal. Among his beliefs is that social technology is a vector of transformation and that participatory planning and engagement of local communities are essential for pacification. Check out excerpts from Uribe’s exclusive interview with Mobilidade Estadão below.

How can urban public facilities and the mobility system promote people’s safety?

Santiago Uribe: First of all, we need to understand that mobility is not a transport system, but it is equipment that facilitates and brings people closer to opportunities. A challenge for cities is when, when building their transport system, they need to decide which regions it needs to cover. And the answer is very simple: he needs to bring the places where opportunities are to the people who need them most.

But the opportunities are not just jobs, but also education, higher education, culture, leisure, exchange of ideas, among others. A rich mobility system is what brings the population closer to all these services and rights.

Then, we have parks, libraries, public squares, spaces for sports, recreation, among others. Medellín, for example, is being very innovative because it inaugurated a structure called Listeners, with specialized professionals dedicated to treating the population’s mental health.

It was detected that there was a problem and, based on this, 161 stations were built to assist people. So, I believe that these structures I mentioned are some of those that promote safety in urban centers.

In your view, is Brazil dealing with the issue of violence in cities correctly?

I believe that the country has done many good things, but they are being carried out at the level of municipalities, that is, by city halls. Some examples are what is happening in Pelotas (RS), which has been implementing the Peace Pact for a few years, and initiatives in this direction in Recife (PE), Curitiba (PR), among other good examples.

But a nation is the construction of a collective idea, energy and political force. I don’t think it has been systematically said that Brazil has 12 cities on the list of the most dangerous in the world; I don’t see joint efforts to design social integration strategies, elements that can be found as inspiration in other countries very easily, among other worrying facts.

So, I see that there are very good initiatives within the country, but they are not integrated into intelligence to think about this problem in a strategic way. Additionally, I think that a nation that is divided in a dispute between just two politicians has a huge problem and the need for new leaders is evident, who can bring a new vision of Brazil.

When we talk about a safer city, thinking about mobility infrastructure, are we talking about technology?

Typically, when we talk about security, people think about cameras, technology, sensors and police forces. However, security is much more than that: it is the movement to unite people who are aware of the challenges, who are committed to creating protective public spaces and who share the responsibility of protecting each other.

Whenever a city becomes more dangerous, the first response is more police on the streets, as well as more technology. But in fact, insecurity is the result of a much larger and more complex problem, which is social inequalities, because solutions to this problem take a long time.

We are talking about building schools, encouraging education, implementing food security programs, ensuring an efficient and inclusive mobility system, among other initiatives whose results take years. And politicians want actions with quick results, such as putting more police officers on the streets, which creates the perception of security, but in reality does not solve the problem.

We know that for women the impact of street violence is even greater. In your view, what would be a safe city for them?

It is one in which women feel protected. Typically, people immediately think of places with good lighting. This is important, without a doubt, but it is not enough: a safe city for women is one that values ​​their ideas as part of this collective construction, it is one that counts on their opinions and experiences in the construction of public policies.

As long as we continue talking about ‘cities that are safe for women’ from the perspective of men who make all the decisions, we cannot say a city is smart. So, we need women mayors, women in mobility departments, among other spaces of power, so that the female public can drive specific policies, with their way of looking at and feeling such measures.

The post ‘Mobility is the system that brings people closer to the places where opportunities are’ appeared first on Estadão Mobility.

https://mobilidade.estadao.com.br/mobilidade-com-seguranca/urbana/uma-cidade-segura-e-tudo-mais-do-que-a-que-tem-a-maior-forca-policial/
Author: Daniela Saragiotto

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