Today we visited the capital city of Costa Rica, San José. The historical significance of coffee in Costa Rica has made it into a national symbol that can be seen throughout San Jose. Coffee plants line the fountain of Morazan Park and the front of the National Museum of Costa Rica. A mural in the National Theater of Costa Rica (which happened to be created by an Italian who knew very little about Costa Rica) prominently features both coffee plants and bananas. The continued cultural significance of coffee can seem ironic in the current day, considering that most of the labor on coffee plantations is now done by migrant workers from neighboring countries and that most of the coffee Costa Rican’s drink is the worst quality coffee that companies cannot be bothered to export. Nonetheless, since the export of coffee and bananas catalyzed the industrialization of Costa Rica and factored into wars the country fought in its history, coffee remains an important national symbol of Costa Rica. 

At first glance, I did not see many similarities between San Jose and Pittsburgh. San Jose fallows a neat grid and is fairly flat when compared to the rugged  hills and cliffs of Pittsburgh that have spawned a disorderly web of streets. However, the two cities do have some features in common, like the role of wealthy industrialists in sponsoring many of the nicest amenities the city has to offer. In Pittsburgh, it can seem that anything that is nice and open to the public is named either Schenley, Frick, Carnegie, Mellon, or Heinz, for the wealthy families that funded the construction of parks, museums, schools, and other cultural centers across Pittsburgh. While most of the significant buildings of San Jose do not bear the names of their wealthy sponsors, some of them were constructed with funding from some of the same rich families, like La Casa Amarilla, which was largely sponsored by Andrew Carnegie. A big exception to this trend is the National Theatre of Costa Rica, which was supposed to be funded by a tax on exports that would mostly effect the wealthy. When the construction costs of the Theatre far exceeded expectations, the government ended up taxing imports, which affected all Costa Rican’s and was particularly burdensome on the poor. 

San Jose is different from Pittsburgh in that many buildings do not have a set street address and are often found with reference to local landmarks. From an American perspective, it is hard to imagine how this could possibly work logistically when it comes to delivering mail and packages. However, this lack of addresses does not seem to have an effect on the ability of Costa Rican’s to do business in San Jose since the lack of building numbers is what they are accustomed. Even though many buildings don’t have unique addresses, the numbered grid system of the city streets makes it relatively easy to locate the correct block in the city, and from there landmarks and details can be used to identify the proper building. Since Costa Rican’s are accustomed to working without unique building addresses, it does not seem that numbering all buildings would have a profound impact on San Jose’s potential as a city. Perhaps numbering buildings could make foreign companies more comfortable establishing businesses in San Jose, but its unlikely that this would be a determining factor in a companies decision to expand to San Jose. The lack of numbered building could also be a problem for tourists, but the intuitive grid design of the cities streets should allow tourists to navigate the city fairly easily, and most of the sites they would be interested in are fairly obvious. 

What I think poses a bigger logistical issue to San Jose is traffic congestion. Given Costa Rica’s reputation as sustainable, I was surprised to see how inefficient there public transport methods are. A sustainable city needs a robust public transport network to minimize the amount of carbon dioxide being emitted from cars commuting to work. The public transit network to and within in San Jose provides little incentive for commuters to stop driving to work. The train to San Jose is slow, inefficient, and prone to accidents. The bus network into the city is okay, but a lack of many intracity bus lines discourages people from using the intercity busses since they could be dropped off far from their work and have to travel a long distance on foot. Costa Rica should make significant updates to its train lines into San Jose, redesign its bus network within and around San Jose to better accommodate intracity travel, and consider raising parking fees or implementing congestion pricing to discourage private transit in the city. Getting cars off the road would ease the shipment of goods into and out of the city, create a more pleasant city experience for pedestrians, and reduce the carbon footprint of the city. A robust public transit network could help promote economic growth as more prospective employees and customers from the surrounding region would have easier access to the city. 

San Jose is a remarkable city with a lot to offer culturally, but its public transit system leaves a lot to be desired.