SustranLac | Sustainable Transport Action Network-Latin America & the Caribbean>

For too long, the only networks of people interested in the issues of social equaltiy, transportation, and health functioned exclusively in English, limiting information and exchange between groups and individuals in Latin America, despite the leadership of several of our own cities in these issues.

Finally, between 2006 and 2007, the growth of interest in the promotion of active (non-motorized) transportation in several cities throughout Latin America and a series of international iniciatives opened the possibility for representatives from governments, civil society, and private organizations to meet and begin to exchange knowledge and opinions. In this way, we discovered that similar iniciatives were flourishing throughout the world. From this grew the desire to meet and be able to share and grow together, a process that began with a group project to develop Sustran LAC (2006-2007), coordinated by Carlos Felipe Pardo from the Sustainable Transportation Project -SUTP - of GTZ, Giselle Xavier from ViaCiclo (Brazil), Oscar Edmundo Díaz and later Jonas Hagen of ITDP , and Lake Sagaris of Ciudad Viva (Chile).
In September 2008, we had our first meeting, in Quito, during which we defined our objectives and reaffirmed our willingness to work together.

Today, Sustran LAC (Sustainable Transport Action Network-Latin America & the Caribbean or Red de Transporte Sostenible para América Latina y el Caribe) is a space that respects diversity and shares best practices and lessons concerning issues of transportation that can contribute to a more just, sustainable, and greener world.

It is based in mutual respect and the effort of various Latin American organizations and individuals that look to resolve the growing problem of unsustainable motorized transportation and its adverse effects (traffic congestion, pollution and other environmental and health-related problems, traffic accidents, and related economic deficits).

Currently, Ciudad Viva, a community organization based in Santiago, Chile, is in charge of the practical coordination of the network, with support from Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE, the Netherlands).

Maintain contact and share knowledge through Ciudad Sustentable (Sustainable City)

In 2008, an agreement between Ciudad Viva (Chile) and Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE, the Netherlands) allowed us to move forward and exchange experiences and opinions with this growing network of groups and individuals interested in active transportation.

The main objective is to build a proactive work network, concerning transportation, with the understanding that this constitutes a key element for promoting social equality, the improvement of public spaces, civic consciousness, democratic systems with greater governance and representation, and happier, more sustainable cities. The goal is that the network can integrate those pioneers of today that are working with limited resources, in order to mutually support each other.

We invite you to subscribe to the Ciudad Sustentable newsletter in order to exchange news, experiences and other relevant information. We also invite you to participate in announcing iniciatives and submitting information that can help this movement grow throughout the continent. You can send us your contributions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

By identifying, organizing, and administrating the existing resources throughout this network, we will greatly strengthen ourselves because a well connected network can assure that the information available from one group can flow through the region to other groups that need it, and viceversa. The bottom line is that together we can develop this new platform based on what really interests us as citizen groups.

Join the network!

Subscribe to our discussion group: http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/sustranlac/