PERSUASIVE PRACTITIONERS AND THE ART OF SIMPLIFICATION: Mobilizing the “Bogotá Model” through Storytelling

Profissionais persuasivos e a arte da simplificação: mobilizando o “modelo de Bogotá” através da contação de histórias

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes how Bogotá’s transport programs TransMilenio BRT and Ciclovía were learned and adopted in Guadalajara, Mexico. It proposes that the construction and mobilization of simplified “narratives of progress” and the persuasive capacities of the actors that tell these stories, what I here call “persuasive practitioners”, are largely influential in driving policy learning and adoption of other cities’ policies.

KEYWORDS:
storytelling; policy learning; policy transfer; policy mobilities; Bogotá