Suddenly this week, popular media outlets began reporting the big “news” from Bolivia. That is, La Paz’s “Subways in the Sky” will be tripling in size over the next few years. This project is groundbreaking in so many different ways — even if the news isn’t — that we can’t believe it took reporters so long to notice.
In so many ways, cable cars have revolutionized transport in the Bolivian capita, incalculably benefiting the local population: reduced travel times, improved ride experience/comfort, less traffic, and reduced pollution.
If you ask the locals, the only downside is that curtain sales have gone up! (A loss in privacy via aerial cable cars.) Cleverer homeowners quickly adapted to and even leveraged the urban cable car’s unique elevated nature — placing advertisements on their rooftops and windows!
Does this make you wonder what would happen if aerial cable cars started crisscrossing a “Western” city? In Portland, things got ugly but in Porto the effects were mundane. Cable car operators have many solutions to limit privacy concerns, from route optimization, frosted glass beneath cabin windows to smart glass.
Regardless of the preventative measures taken to address privacy invasion, La Paz serves as a reminder that humans are, by nature, incredibly adaptive and intelligent creatures. As we continue to urbanize and live in more crowded conditions, some loss of privacy and money spent on curtains are certain — but for the conveniences of reliable transport, that may not sound that bad after all.
1 Comment
I’m still surprised how this issue could become a problem – mostly in a place where skyscrapers and other high-rise buildings offer an equal if not better “point of view”.
Plus, in a “hilly” terrain like that of many cities, from La Paz to Genoa to Bilbao , the fact that people could see inside your property is granted from centuries on …does we block all the windows that could overlook other properties? , why just some people has the right to protect themselves from public gaze but not others (e.g. that live in the centre or just near a bridge or down a hill)?