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OMEGA Seminar: Toward More Holistic Approaches to Mega Transport Project Appraisal in Latin America
26 January 2022, 5:30 pm–7:00 pm
Lessons from the Bus Rapid Transit Project in Bogotá, Colombia
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Organiser
-
Alireza Kolahi
All are welcome and participation is free. This is a Zoom event, please register via Eventbrite above.
Dr. Oviedo’s presentation examines the evolution of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) infrastructure to a fully integrated public transit system and its effects on social and spatial inequalities in the rapidly changing and socially segregated urban environment of Bogotá, Colombia. Building on concepts of accessibility and social exclusion plus concerns for transport-related inequalities, this presentation combines conceptual and empirical elements of urban development and transport planning analysis to frame a critical perspective as to what ‘success’ means for public transport megaprojects such as BRTs not only for the city of Bogotá and Latin America more generally but also for the Global South. Drawing on research spanning a decade, this presentation reveals how a growing public transport system influenced by a major new infrastructure investment project can contribute to structural urban transformations, reflecting among other things, how events such as health emergencies can call into question the role of large infrastructures for urban development.
This seminar is the third of this academic year’s OMEGA Seminar Programme and is to be delivrered live on-line via UCL’s Zoom platform (see above cited http details). It is scheduled to take place over 90 minutes of which approximately 40 minutes is to be assigned to the seminar presentation and 20 minutes for two panel discussants to comment on the seminar paper presented prior to a live Q&A session of 30 minutes. The seminar will be chaired by Prof. Harry T. Dimitriou, Director of the OMEGA Centre, UCL. The event will be recorded and posted on the OMEGA Centre website (http://www.omegacentre.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/).
Seminar Presenter: Dr Daniel Oviedo
Panellists: Juan Alberti and Professor Julio D Davila
About the Speakers
Juan Alberti
Consultant at Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C.
Juan is an international researcher and consultant in the field of infrastructure development. His work is focused on infrastructure policy analysis and megaproject planning, appraisal and delivery. In the past 10 years he has worked as an international consultant for multilateral institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank and the United Nations. He has done so in energy, transport, water/sanitation and telecommunications projects, in several Latin American and the Caribbean countries, including: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, México, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. At present he is a PhD candidate in the Bartlett School of Planning at University College (UCL),
Dr Daniel Oviedo
at Development Planning Unit, UCL
Dr Daniel Oviedo: is a civil engineer with an MSc in Transport Planning and PhD in Development Planning. Daniel has over 12 years of experience as a researcher and lecturer in transport and development in UK and overseas. His research and consultancy focus on urban and inter-urban transport, having worked in Latin America, Africa, Asia and UK. Daniel specialises in the social, economic and spatial analysis of inequalities related to urban transport and policy evaluation in developing countries. He is Lecturer in Urban Transport and Development Planning at the Bartlett’s, Development Planning Unit, UCL He has been an advisor for various national governments, including for Colombia, Peru, Panama, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. In addition, he has been a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank on issues related to transport planning, social equity and sustainability. He is the director of the International Network for Transport and Accessibility in Low Income Communities (INTALInC) in Latin America and the Caribbean (intalinc-lac.com).
Prof. Julio D Dávila
Julio is Professor of Urban Policy and International Development at the Bartlett’s Development Planning Unit, UCL. A civil engineer and urban development planner by training, with international experience in research and consultancy in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Julio’s research focuses on the: role of local government in progressive social and political transformation in developing countries; governance dimensions of urban and peri-urban infrastructure (transport, and water and sanitation); the intersection between planning and urban informality; and linkages between rapid urbanisation and health. Julio was Director of the Bartlett’s Development Planning Unit, UCL between 2012 and 2020 and has held advisory roles for institutions and projects throughout the world, including at: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, British Academy and Children Change Colombia. He has also been a consultant to the World Bank, GIZ and DFID. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers in UK.