Jaime Lerner, architect, urban planner, former president of the International Union of Architects (UIA), has died of complications triggered by a chronic kidney disease. He was 83.

Born in 1937 in Curitiba (Brazil), Lerner was twice governor of the state of Paraná and thrice mayor of Curitiba, where he led the urban revolution that gave the city renown in matters of urban planning and design, public transport, and environmental and social programs. He was the author of Urban Acupuncture (Island Press, 2014). Named one of the world’s 25 most influential thinkers by Time magazine in 2010, he received numerous international accolades, among them the United Nations Environmental Award (1990), the UNICEF Child and Peace Award (1996), the Sir Robert Matthew Prize for the Improvement of Quality of Human Settlements (2002), and the OECD Leadership in Transport Award (2011). Lerner participated in the 5th congress organized by the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad in 2018, themed ‘Less Architecture, More City.’

We reproduce an article by Jaime Lerner, The City is a Turtle, published in the catalog of ‘ZaragozaKyoto: Architectures for a Sustainable Planet,’ the exhibition curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano that was presented in the Spanish Pavilion at Expo Zaragoza 2008.