Former mayor of the Brazilian city of Curitiba and governor of the state of Parana, Jaime Lerner, was the key speaker at the Philadelphia Urban Sustainability Forum EVENT HELD at Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences on February 6th. As mayor, Lerner helped transform Curitiba into "the World's most sustainable city."

Urban’s Spencer Finch was instrumental in engaging Lerner for the conference. Said Finch, “this was an exciting event for anyone interested in the future of Philadelphia and the region. Lerner pointed the way with simple solutions for complex urban problems, and urged Philadelphians to 'just get started!' ”

Lerner presented his ideas for solving big city problems and discussed strategies ranging from bus-rapid transit (BRT) systems to the chains of parks surrounding the city of Curitiba, which are used for both recreation and stormwater control. This is a city where droughts and floods are problems of the past, and residents enjoy all the green space that helped make that possible. Car ownership is the second highest in the country, yet 75 percent of population regularly uses the BRT system.

Lerner led a revolution in urban planning in the areas of transportation, the environment, social services, and urban design. He developed master plans for many Brazilian cities and has been a consultant for such cities such as Caracas, Venezuela; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Shanghai, China; Havana, Cuba, and Seoul, South Korea. Lerner has served as an urban affairs consultant for the United Nations and president of the International Union of Architects.