MEDIA ADVISORY


ONE CITY'S ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMPLE: ÊBRAZILIAN LEADER JAIME LERNER TO
BE HONORED AND SPEAK AT U.VA.

	A Brazilian political leader and architect known for his
environmental vision will be honored and give public talks at the
University of Virginia for Founder's Day in April.

	Jaime Lerner, governor of the state of Parana, Brazil, and
former mayor of the city of Curitiba, who has attracted worldwide
attention for making that city an environmental model, will receive
the 32nd annual Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Medal in
Architecture and work closely with students, faculty and local
community leaders on environmental issues during a visit to U.Va.
April 11-15.  He will give a public lecture at 5 p.m. Sunday, April
13, Jefferson's birthday, on the north steps of the Rotunda. (Rain
site: Minor Hall Auditorium.)  He will give a second public lecture in
Old Cabell Hall Auditorium at 1 p.m. Monday, April 14.  An exhibit
about Curitiba's environmental innovations will be on display from
April 13 through the end of the month in School of Architecture's
Campbell Hall Exhibit Room.

	[A schedule of other events with Lerner open to media coverage
follows.  The Thomas Jefferson award ceremony will take place at a
private luncheon in the Rotunda on Saturday, April 12, commemorating
the University Founder's 254th birthday.  U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneer for women in the legal profession, will
receive the 21st annual Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Award in
Law; she spoke at U.Va. in March.]
	
 	William A. McDonough, dean of the U.Va. School of
Architecture, said Lerner "exemplifies the dedication, creativity and
foresight that leaders and all citizens must bring to making our
cities more liveable places.  He has shown that it is possible even in
the face of many obstacles to find eloquent and integrated solutions
to serious social, economic and environmental concerns and to inspire
our hope for a sustainable world." 
         
	Lerner, a native of Curitiba, trained in France as an
architect and urban planner. As mayor of the growing capital city of
the state of Parana, in southeast Brazil, for more than two decades,
he gained international attention among environmentalists for finding
answers to problems caused by rapid urban development.  Some have
called the city, with a population of more than 2 million and many
low-income families, the most environmentally advanced urban area in
the world.  He has specialized in solutions that solve more than one
problem.

	Faced with rapid growth, Lerner pushed for a high-density city
that would give residents easy access to jobs, shopping and another
needs and would avoid the long commuting distances and urban sprawl of
North American cities.  In the center of each main road are special
lanes reserved for express buses that have tube-like attachments to
make boarding rapid and easy.  With buses cheaper and faster than
cars, the system is so workable, cheap and clean that most commuters
take the bus. 
	Among other notable innovations in Curitiba under Lerner's
leadership:

	-- a special industrial zone that provides many jobs but is
compact and restricted to low polluting industries

	-- special programs regularly adding to trees, parks and green
space

	-- a program of providing staple foods or transportation
tokens to residents in return for bagged refuse

	-- strong emphasis on recycling, which is taught widely in
schools. Curitiba has among the best recycling rates in the world.

	-- a city philosophy that low-income residents need good basic
services, including free medical care, for a place to be truly
liveable.

	Sponsored by U.Va.'s new Institute for Sustainable Design, a
faculty-student team -- from such diverse fields as education,
engineering, business, urban and environmental planning, landscape
architecture, architecture and urban design -- spent a week in
Curitiba this semester talking to counterparts in those fields and to
local officials and studying the city. U.Va. President John T. Casteen
III will host a dinner to honor Lerner and inaugurate the Institute
for Sustainable Design.

	The 14-person U.Va. team visited Curitiba with assistance from
special grants from the Sacharunda Foundation of The Plains, Va.,
focusing on the environment of the Virginia Piedmont, and from U.Va.'s
Vice Provost for Research.  During his visit Lerner also will meet
privately with area government officials and with a visiting group of
Newark, N.J. city officials.

		###

March 26, 1997

	For assistance in arranging news coverage, please contact Bob
Brickhouse at U.Va. News Services, (804) 924-6856.  Television
reporters should call our TV News Office at (804) 924 7550.

Schedule of Events Open to Media During Jaime Lerner's Visit

April 11, 1-2 p.m. -- Brown bag lunch, faculty discussion of Curitiba,
105 Campbell Hall

April 13, 5 p.m. -- Lerner's Thomas Jefferson Medalist address, north
steps, Rotunda (rain site:  Minor Hall)

April 14, 8:30-11:30 a.m., Institute for Sustainable Design Piedmont
Colloquium, Lower West Oval, Rotunda

April 14, 1-2 p.m., Lerner lecture in McDonough's Environmental
Choices class, with question session following, Cabell Hall auditorium

April 14, 3-5 p.m., Lerner meets with architecture students in studio
reviews, Campbell Hall