Antanas Mockus
David Lee
Hey Creative Charlotte –
I hope you had a great holiday season. I have recently been learning about Antanas Mockus, who was a two term mayor of Bogota Columbia around 1997-2001. He was a fascinating character who used VERY creative and VERY unconventional methods to create social change. I thought you might enjoy learning about him!
Under his leadership, (per Wikipedia) water usage dropped 40%, 7000 community security groups were formed and the homicide rate fell 70%, traffic fatalities dropped by over 50%, drinking water was provided to all homes (up from 79% in 1993), and sewerage was provided to 95% of homes (up from 71%).
Impressive stats…but what is more interesting to me is how he did it! The traffic fatalities were reduced with an effort to eliminate jaywalking. His solution: Mimes. He hired mimes to poke fun at people who were illegally crossing the street. They did an initial pilot of 20 mimes and it so measurably successful that he expanded the program to 420.
To increase social awareness about water conservation, he would hold televised press conferences from his shower! He created economic framework around making the street safer for women, with the monthly “Night for Women” program. Bogota had been notoriously dangerous for women, but on the first night of the program, 700,000 women went out to enjoy the city. Using art and churches, he led a program that allowed mothers to trade guns for food – and then melted all the guns down in the public square and cast them into baby spoons. To celebrate the reduction in handguns they held a large enactment of hundreds of teenagers “standing up from grave yards and walking home to their families” representing the lives that were not lost to gun violence.
You can read more about him in the links below. He is a pretty extravagant character – but the success of his ideas makes you wonder exactly how powerful creative & artistic thinking can drive social good.
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01-mockus.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antanas_Mockus
Happy New Year!
David