Columbia University

University in Morningside Heights, upper Manhattan. In Bicycle Diaries David Byrne hears Enrique Peñalosa lecture there on what Bogotá did for its streets.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Bicycle Diaries	David Byrne	setting	Peñalosa shows slides of Bogotá to New York officials: “a sidewalk is a symbol of equality.”

Bicycle Diaries — David Byrne (2009)

Source: Original · Readwise highlight

While at Columbia University I am introduced to some of the local New York political players: the head of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, someone from the Department of Transportation, a rep from the borough president’s office.

• Role: setting
• In the book: Byrne feels out of place among the officials (“another world for me”). Peñalosa takes the stage with slides of Bogotá and argues that traffic jams are not always bad, that transport is a means to a better life, and that a place without sidewalks privileges cars. He asks the audience to imagine Broadway as a pedestrian street.
• Why it matters: It is where the book’s urban-reform argument is laid out and tied directly to New York policy.