Urban Transformation
How greenways can boost nature-positive living by shaping urban mobility
Cities in China and Costa Rica are using greenways to shape urban mobility and strengthen connections between citizens and their surrounding environment.
Federico Cartín Arteaga
Federico Cartín Arteaga is an economist and urban planner with +20 years experience in the academic, private and public sectors. He worked for over a decade in cities such as Montréal, Calgary and Toronto and has worked in Costa Rica as a national and international consultant for various cities and organizations, including as country consultant to the Interamerican Development Bank for its Resilient Cities’ program and as international independent evaluator of Bogotá’s urban development plan. He has been a professor of urbanism and urban management at Véritas University in San José.
Federico is the founder and director general of Rutas Naturbanas (Nature-Urban Routes) Foundation which aims to environmentally regenerate and create shared-use paths and environmentally restoring 25 km of river banks in the capital region of San José. As President and Director General of the initiative he committed himself to fundraise over US$25 million to allow over one million people to walk, bike and roll throughout the five municipalities the project connects.
He is also the catalyst and intellectual author of the Open Air Commerce Law (Ley de Comercio al Aire Libre), which as recently approved unanimously by Congress in January 2022. The law authorizes municipalities to allow and regulate the use of public space by restaurants, cafes and other food and beverage businesses. Additionally, he was coauthor of the partial reform to the Forestry Law with the addition of Articles 33 bis and ter that allow for regenerative development in protection zones on riverbanks in the country.
Federico earned his bachelor in economics from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica and a Master’s in Urban Planning from McGill University, graduating as Class President and as a Centre for Developing Area Studies. Due to his passion for innovation and impact, he was recognized as one of Greater Toronto's 27 emerging leaders when selected as a DiverseCity Fellow by CivicAction GTA in 2013 and selected as a Fellow of the twelfth class (2016-2018) of the Central American Leadership Initiative (CALI) and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and added on Rutas Naturbanas. He was also Vicepresident of the Consultative Citizen Council on Climate Change for the Government of Costa Rica and was a mayoral candidate for the capital city of San José in the 2020 elections.
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