Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

I'm Miss Reid, and welcome to our fourth lesson on energy and sustainability.

Let's have a look at our key question for today.

So, our key question is what is special about Curitiba? If you haven't already completed the quiz, make sure you pause the video and do that now.

If you have completed the quiz, then we can move on.

So in this lesson, we'll be learning about a Brazilian city named Curitiba.

We'll be learning about how it has become a green city.

This includes innovative design and holds sustainability at its heart.

So today we'll be looking at our star words.

We'll be learning about Curitiba, the greenest city on Earth.

We'll be learning about Jaime Lerner.

And we'll be looking at innovative designs within the city.

In this lesson, you'll need an exercise book or a piece of paper, you'll need a pencil and you'll need your brain.

Pause the video now so you can go and get those things if you don't already have them.

Let's go over our star words.

I'm going to say the words and I want you to repeat them after me.

Curitiba.

Sustainable.

Design.

Bi-articulated bus.

Pedestrian.

Innovative.

Great work.

Now, innovative means that something is advanced, original, or creative.

And a pedestrian is a person who's walking rather than travelling in a vehicle.

We're going to recap on the definition of sustainability because it's really important when we think about Curitiba, which is a sustainable city or a city that holds sustainability at its heart.

So, sustainability is using resources that are good for people, the environment, and the economy, both in the present and in the future.

Now we have sustainability at the centre of those.

Now, when we discuss resources, we're talking about the things that help a country to support itself, such as the energy sources like fossil fuels or wind or solar energy, or the things that are found in the land itself, such as precious stones or wood from rainforests.

So, here's Curitiba, or an image of it at least.

Now, Curitiba is a city in Brazil, and it's a city that has become a benchmark of sustainability.

It has been called the greenest city on Earth.

It's also been called the green capital or the most innovative city in the world.

Now you might be looking at that image thinking, "I do see a lot of trees, but I'm not sure it's the greenest city I've ever seen." Well, when we talk about something being green, we're not talking about the vegetation necessarily, but we're thinking about whether or not it's good for the environment.

If it's green, then generally it's good for the environment.

Now, in this case, when we're talking about Curitiba as a green city, we mean that it uses resources and practises that are more sustainable than other city's resources and practises.

When we think about Curitiba being an innovative place, we're thinking about the fact that the people who have designed the city and its methods of transport, its buildings, have thought about innovative or creative and original ways to make sure that it's a sustainable city.

So, Curitiba was a city that was growing rapidly by the 1940s, and between 1940 and 1960, the population increased from 140,000 people to 360,000 people.

This population growth led to two major negative impacts.

The first of those negative impact were favelas.

As more people moved into the city of Curitiba, slums began to grow around its edge because there wasn't enough housing for all of the people.

And people needed housing rapidly so they started to build small houses themselves, often channelling electricity dangerously, or water.

In fact, some people had no running water and some of the water was very dirty.

So the favelas, or the slums, was the first negative impact.

The second negative impact was traffic.

And the traffic created a lot of pollution.

Now, when we think about pollution, we're thinking about contaminants that are introduced to the natural environment that have an adverse or negative effect.

And there are lots of different types of pollution.

We're going to have a look at a few of them.

So, the first type of pollution is air pollution.

Now, air pollution is created from toxic fumes that are released from cars or factories or fires in homes or even hairspray.

Noise pollution is the second type of pollution, and it's created from cars and from people who live in built-up areas like villages, towns, and cities.

Light pollution is another type of pollution, and this is created from light that's emitted from villages, towns, and cities, and it's generally a big issue during the night when birds are flying over these built-up areas and it might divert their migration patterns.

Water pollution is caused by chemicals running into the waterways, such as rivers or oceans.

Soil pollution is also created by chemicals running into the ground, and it can adversely affect the wildlife or the ecosystems. I want you to think about your last journey around your village, your town, or your city.

Did you see any of these types of pollution as you were walking or driving around? Maybe you're looking out of your window as I am right now, and you can see some of these types of pollution around you.

For example, I'm looking out of my window and I can see cars and buses travelling through the road.

Now, these cars and buses are creating air and noise pollution, and at night, they also create light pollution.

I wonder what types of pollution you can see if you look out of your window.

So here's your first task.

I'd like you to answer the question below.

The question says, "Name two negative impacts of the population growth in Curitiba between 1940 and 1960." You can use the images to help you.

Pause the video now so you can complete that task.

I wonder if you've got that right.

Let's have a look at the answers.

So, the two negative impacts of the population growth were the creation of favelas, or slums, and the second was the population, the pollution, sorry, from the traffic.

Now, of course, that was creating air, and light, and noise pollution.

So, Jaime Lerner, we're going to learn about this innovative designer.

So in the early 1970s, things started to change in Curitiba.

A small team of innovative thinkers had a plan for the city to change its course and its future completely.

An architect named Jaime Lerner became mayor, and his first task was to transform a busy shopping street into a pedestrian area.

That means that there were no cars allowed on that street, and only people walking were allowed to pass through it.

Now, there were lots of protests as people were actually quite unhappy about this change.

But Lerner and his team were able to transform the street in a record-breaking 72 hours, from a Friday night to a Monday night.

And there's that pedestrianised street in Curitiba.

And you can see that it's become pedestrianised and they even made sure to put in areas of vegetation.

Now, the community realised that the change had been positive because it reduced the traffic, made the road safer for pedestrians, and it reduced the pollution.

Here's your second task.

Answer the question below.

What was the first innovative change that Lerner made in Curitiba? You can use the sentence starter.

The first innovative change that Lerner made was.

Pause the video now and complete that task.

Great work.

Let's have a look at the answer.

So, I wrote, the first innovative change Lerner made was turning a busy shopping street into a pedestrianised street in 72 hours.

You might've written a variation of this answer.

If you wrote that he changed a shopping street into a pedestrianised street, you can give yourself a tick.

Pause the video now and tick or fix your answer.

Okay, let's move on.

Innovative design.

Now, here is an image of a bi-articulated bus, in fact, two bi-articulated buses, and these were an innovative design feature that was introduced to Curitiba.

We're going to read some information.

I'm going to read, and you can read along with me at home.

After each paragraph, I'm going to ask you a true or false question so make sure you're paying attention because I want you to shout it out at your screen.

Let's read.

Curitiba also developed an innovative transport system.

Instead of building an expensive underground metro system, the planners designed an overground metro system, which was much cheaper and caused less disruption to build.

The system uses special bi-articulated buses.

First true or false question.

True or false? The bi-articulated buses were more expensive than building an underground metro system.

Shout it out.

That's right, it's false.

The bi-articulated bus system was cheaper than building an underground metro system.

Let's carry on reading.

Each bi-articulated bus can carry up to 270 people.

During peak travel times, the bi-articulated buses run every 50 seconds along Curitiba's busiest routes, which are for buses only.

This means that the buses are never stuck in traffic.

Furthermore, the uniquely designed bus stops have sped up the process of people boarding and leaving the buses.

Second true or false question or statement.

Each bi-articulated bus can carry 50 people.

True or false? Shout it out.

You got me again, false.

Of course, each bi-articulated bus can carry up to 270 people.

They arrive every 50 seconds at peak times.

I thought I was going to trick you there.

Well done.

Let's read the last paragraph.

The bus system in Curitiba is the quickest and cheapest way to travel in the city, and as a result, the bus system is used by approximately 85% of Curitiba's population.

Curitiba's bus system model is now being used in about 300 cities around the world.

Final true or false question or statement.

The bus system is only used in Curitiba.

True or false? You got me again.

That is false.

As we've just read, this bus system is being used in about 300 cities around the world.

You now have a task.

This is a written task.

You need to answer the question.

You need to write a list of all the positive features of the bi-articulated buses in Curitiba.

So, your job is to read through the information that we just read and pick out six positive features of the Curitiba buses.

For example, I'm going to show you with my pointer.

I've already found one in the first paragraph.

One of the first positive features is that the bus system was much cheaper and caused less disruption to build.

I'd like you to find all six positive features of the bus system.

Pause the video now and jot down, in note form, those positive features.

Perhaps you'll find more.

Great work, everyone.

Let's have a look at the features that I pulled out.

So, the six features that I pulled out were cheaper and less disruptive than building an underground metro, can carry 270 people per bus, during peak times, buses run every 50 seconds, routes are for buses only so there is never any traffic, uniquely designed bus stops have sped up the process of people boarding and leaving buses, quick and cheap method of transport.

Those are the features that I found.

You might have pulled out some extra ones.

I'd like you to pause the video now and tick or fix your answers.

Make sure you've written down all of those features.

Now you've done that, you're ready for the next task.

Use the bullet points below to write a paragraph about the benefits of the bi-articulated bus system.

Use the sentence starters to help you.

The sentence starters are the bi-articulated bus system is beneficial because, in addition, furthermore, finally.

I'd like you to turn those six bullet points into a paragraph, explaining why the bus system is beneficial.

You can use the sentence starters and make sure you include all of the key points or features.

Pause the video now and write your paragraph.

Well done, everyone.

Let's have a look at the paragraph I wrote and you can compare or contrast yours.

Let's read it.

The bi-articulated bus system is beneficial because it was cheaper and less disruptive than building an underground metro.

Each bus can carry up to 270 people, and during peak times, the buses run every 50 seconds.

In addition, the routes are for buses only, so there is never any traffic.

Furthermore, the uniquely designed bus stops have sped up the process of people boarding and leaving the buses.

Finally, the buses are a quick and cheap method of transport, which means that 85% of Curitiba's population use them.

You can pause the video now so you can compare and contrast your own paragraph with mine.

You might've missed something or you might want to include something.

Now, pause the video so you can do that.

Great work, everyone.

As usual, I would like you to share your work.

But in order to do that, you need to ask a parent or carer to help you.

If you would like to share what you've learned, you can ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter @OakNational with the hashtag #LearnWithOak.

Well done on another great lesson, everyone.

I'm looking forward to seeing your work.

Bye!.