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An Overview to our Latest Projects in Latin America

Category: ⚐ EN+architecture+Centro Histórico Abierto+city+Cuenca Red+ecosistema urbano+Plan CHA+Plan Encarnación Más+sustainability+technologies+urbanism

During the last year we have been busy with several projects and competitions (including the latest Open Shore project for West Palm Beach) which didn’t give us the time to look back and reflect on some of our projects from the last few years.

As maybe some of our readers know, Ecosistema Urbano has been working on several large-scale projects in Latin America since August 2014 when we won a competition to develop the Master Plan of the Historical Center of Asuncion, Paraguay. In 2015, we accomplished another significant project: the participatory process Centro Histórico Abierto for the transformation of the historical center of Distrito Central, capital of Honduras. We also worked on the transformative Cuenca RED project which acted on the Public Space Reactivation Plan of the Historical Center of Cuenca, Ecuador. After the first experience in Paraguay, we had another project in the city of Encarnación, giving origin to the Plan Encarnación Más, composed by an Urban and Territorial Planning and Sustainability Plan.

In these four cases, the urban issues and the peculiar situations that required our intervention were distinct yet shared many common features. More specifically, the enthusiasm and interest shown by the people directly and indirectly involved was apparent throughout all of the projects, but also the opportunities that these experiences have given us as an architecture firm, to test ideas, tools, and methodologies.

CONTEXT

Although they share the same area of origin, each of these cities has developed unique problems and issues. Some of these, such as the ones found in Encarnación, are physical-territorial matters such as the recent loss of the city center because of the controlled rise of the water level in the Yacyretá dam. That event led to the envisioning of a “Sustainable Development Plan” and  “Urban and Territorial Ordering Plan” in order to prepare the city for the future. In the case of Cuenca, the need for a new plan was determined by a series of big changes underway: the definition of a new model of mobility and the progressive emptying of population that afflicts the historical center, World Heritage Site since 1999, and headquarters of most of the commercial, touristic and economic city’s activities. In the case of Asunción and of the capital of Honduras, the project regards the transformation and the regeneration (both physical and social) of their historic centers. The Distrito Central is part of the development framework of the new urban axis “Choluteca River”.

SOCIAL

1 – Participation

The first of the projects’ common keys are connected with the theme of sociability, expressed in the form of participation. The citizens’ involvement, promoted both through a series of organized activities and through online platforms, has been one of the cornerstones of our work in Latin America. We involve citizens because we believe that the citizen is the only force able to achieve a deep and lasting change in the urban environment and so they should not be just a passive receptor of the changes promoted by the city’s institutions. That’s why in some cases, as in that of Asunción with the ASU-LAB, a space was created which could serve as an interface between citizens and institutions: a place for the execution of the city planning but also an open place where each person or group can drive a new regeneration initiative or attend a course.

Organized activities with the citiziens

Organized activities with the citizens

Participatory activities, such as workshops and events, have been geared to address representative members of the city such as children, university students, “active agents”, citizens and institutions. For each of these categories we have developed, project after project, a series of ad hoc initiatives.

Participatory process in Asunción, Encarnación, Cuenca and in Distrito Central

Participatory process in Asunción, Encarnación, Cuenca and in Distrito Central

For the children we created a “toolkit” with which we had them reflect on their perception of the city and with which they could propose their ideal vision for the city. The kit consists of portions of the city map on which they could draw and that, once recomposed, could recreate the overall image.

2 – Urban actions

These activities were followed by a series of urban actions so that the results could be shown tangibly in the city. In the case of Distrito Central, ideas were gathered in a week of workshops with 80 students from the three major universities in the city and have been translated into urban actions like “Las Gradas de la Leona“. The staircases are indispensable spaces in a city with a very distinct topography as Tegucigualpa. But in the city these vertical connections are often perceived as inhospitable, dangerous, and dirty places and therefore they are cut off from any kind of activity. The students’ work was aimed at legitimizing these stairs as a public space through cleanliness,  decor,  lighting, and the organization of a series of activities that achieved resounding success and participation.

Socialization along "Las gradas de la Leona"

Socialization along “Las gradas de la Leona”

In the case of Encarnación, one of the proposals that has distinguished our approach in this project was the inclusion of a series of pilot projects that accompany and translate into concrete proposals within the “Plan de Desarrollo Sustentable” and the “Plan de Ordenamiento”. Among these, one of the most successful pilot projects was the “Proyecto Piloto Bicisienda“, whose purpose is to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants by optimizing the use of alternative mobility and by raising awareness of the value of sports and recreation. Again we have sought the cooperation of citizens by promoting a series of initiatives (such as the construction of bike lanes in the city) in which the citizens could feel protagonistic.

Proyecto Piloto Bicisienda

Proyecto Piloto Bicisienda

3 – Informative events 

The disclosure of the participatory process to the citizenship, promoted both online through the project’s platforms and through open exhibitions, is a recurring phase in all four projects. We felt it important and necessary that each phase of the process was documented and could be easily accessible to all so that the citizens could be informed about the progress made in the project. Among these, the most scenic event, realized in Tegucigualpa, Cuenca and Encarnación, was the creation of a ” mosaico ciudadano“, a wall made of post-it notes with written words, phrases, and ideas about the city.

City mosaic in the several projects

City mosaic in the several projects

SUSTAINABILITY

Another theme of our projects in Latin America is sustainable development expressed in various forms: care and attention to the environment, the introduction of an alternative mobility system, the importance of education to the environment as an engine of sustainability, and the development of the project made in collaboration between private initiatives and institutional management. In the case of Cuenca, for example, our intervention was partly required as a consequence of the municipality’s willingness to define a new model of mobility for the historical center of the city consisting of ceasing car traffic in the center and building a new tramway system. This new model of mobility has direct implications for the current urban dynamics, as well as on the public space, as it tries to reduce the vehicular load of the city, giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists. This, and the creation of quality public space, led to strengthen the social, economic, and cultural role of the city’s historical center making it more pleasant for residents and locals. Our aim is to activate a historical center that promotes social, economic, and environmental development, as well as a more livable, habitable, and inhabited historical center.

Cuenca’s plan is divided into four aspects: an urban acupuncture strategy, which proposes small / medium-scale interventions to recover areas with potential; a development of a network of active courtyards, by transforming the typical patios of Cuenca in catalysts capable of generating new synergies, connections, and interactions between residents, visitors and inhabitants; a guide to the historic center re-design, which defines the main lines for the design of the public space; a process of socialization, to define the “acopuntura” and the active patios network strategies. The intervention strategy in the square “Mary Corilè” in conjunction with the creation of “La casa en el árbol” is part of the active patios network strategy. This square is an unused and degraded space, perceived by the residents as an unpleasant and dangerous place.

The square "Mary Corilè"

The square “Mary Corilè”

Among the several interventions proposed, such as the re-furnishing of the square, traffic closure, and the design of activities in collaboration with the municipality, there’s also the creation of “La casa en el árbol“, a space included in the existing trees of the square where educational activities in relation to the theme of the environment can be carried out. “La casa en el árbol” is set up as a space to get in contact and be familiar with the nature, built in harmony with the surroundings. Inside there are several “environmental” classrooms in which one can study natural resources such as sun, wind, and water. More specifically, one can study: a system of photovoltaic panels that generate the energy needed for the lights, rainwater harvesting structures, and urban gardens as environmental and ecological experiences for schools and kindergartens. It is, ultimately, an open classroom in which a new form of pedagogy built on the respect for the environment is proposed, in order to increase awareness of the natural resources and of their use, as well as increase awareness of existing technologies.


In the case of Asunción we proposed a strategic plan with ten actions in order to promote a connection between the several parts of the city through the development of spaces, named “corridors“, and of individual buildings, named “urban catalysts“, which might act as drivers of change and benchmarks within the city. The corridors are divided into three types: those “green“, which introduce a new green infrastructure in specific parts of the existing roads; those “civic“, which consist of a new network of public spaces along the roads in order to connect the most important historic and government buildings; those “dynamic“, aimed at creating active urban environments and encourage economic and cultural activities.

Configuration of a charateristic dynamic corridor

Configuration of a charateristic dynamic corridor

Among the actions of Asunción strategic masterplan one concerns the economic and landscaping regeneration of the “Green Active Coast”. Due to its topography, this area is subject to cyclical floods because of the rising water level of the Paraguay River. That forces the inhabitants of the informal settlements who live there to move temporally. While fully respecting the identity of the river and of the existing topography, we have proposed the creation of a green lung with a large sports area in continuity with the Bicentennial Park. We also promoted the integration of the informal settlements both within the urban fabric and in the areas of new urban expansion.

The Encarnación masterplan incorporates within its own name the concept of “sustainability”, since it is composed of the “Plan of Sustainable Development” and of the “Plan of Urban and Territorial Organization”. The “Plan of Sustainable Development” will establish the standards and mechanisms for the growth and for the future development of the city according to the criteria of sustainability. The “Plan of Urban and Territorial Organization” aims at directing the use and the occupation of the territory in the urban and rural areas of the municipality. Officially, the city will face in the next twenty-four years an increase of the population amounted to 62,000 people, for whom it will be necessary to provide a massive increase in housing. The model we proposed to face this need refers to the sustainable principle of “the compact city.” Through the identification of a physical border for the city’s urban growth, we have protected the rural areas from new settlements. Moreover, we encouraged, through private and municipal initiatives, the densification of areas already developed, by filling the vacant urban lots and expanding pre-existing single-family homes.

Example of urban densification

Example of urban densification


The new interventions follow the principles of the bioclimatic architecture: large overhanging roofs and vegetation as protections from the hot summer sunlight, the use of wind to moderate the hot and humid climate of Encarnación, the reuse of rainwater, and the increase of the vegetation to absorb CO2 emissions.

TECHNOLOGY

In all four projects, technology represented an important collaborative tool to promote our work and to enable everyone to be constantly updated on ongoing progress, but also as a support for the participatory process, so that the involvement of the citizens would not be exhausted with the end of the activities organized, but could continue to map needs, issues, concerns and initiatives for those interested.

For this reason we have developed a platform, called Local-in (formerly What if ..?), which has been adapted to each project according to their personality and to the peculiarities of each participatory process, while maintaining a common format. Local-in is a free and accessible to everyone application of collective mapping. In it, registered users can add messages, photos and geolocalised links, sorting them into categories and labels. It’s easily installable and customizable, in perfect harmony with the spirit of the projects themselves, and it can be found for each project under the name “AsuMAP” for Asunción, with the name “Encarnación Más” for Encarnación, as “Cuenca RED” for Cuenca and with the name “Centro Histórico Abierto” for Distrito Central.

 

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Kits para niños: involucrando a la ciudadanía más joven en el planeamiento participativo

Category: ⚐ ES+Centro Histórico Abierto+Cuenca Red+ecosistema urbano+educación+participación+Plan CHA+Plan Encarnación Más

prova-con-sfumature

Como probablemente hayáis notado, hace unos meses este post fue publicado en nuestro blog en inglés.  Con razón de la publicación de este articulo en la Carpeta Informativa de Abril del CENEAM, Centro Nacional de Educación Ambiental del Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, se ha recientemente traducido el texto al castellano. Por lo tanto, os dejamos a continuación esta lectura para hispanohablantes.

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El Plan CHA de Asunción, finalista en el Premio Internacional de Guangzhou

Category: ⚐ ES+noticias+Plan CHA+urbanismo+video

El Plan Maestro del Centro Histórico de Asunción, o Plan CHA, fue presentado al público en mayo de 2015, y ahora está en sus primeras fases de implementación. Hace poco os hablábamos del primer festival de arte urbano, Latido Americano, y hay otras acciones en marcha gracias al equipo técnico del Plan CHA (que está trabajando en la creación de AsuLAB, un laboratorio urbano para el Centro Histórico) y a la recientemente creada Oficina del Centro Histórico de la Municipalidad de Asunción.

Gracias a este Plan (o proceso de revitalización, como preferimos entenderlo), Asunción fue recientemente seleccionada para el Premio Internacional de Guangzhou para la Innovación Urbana.

Aprovechamos la presentación a este premio como una oportunidad de contar de forma muy breve un proyecto largo y complejo. El resultado es el vídeo que podéis ver a continuación, realizado con materiales de Christian Núñez, de Dronepy, de Juan Carlos Meza de Fotociclo, del festival Latido Americano y de la excelente publicación Kurtural, y animado con la música de Chancha Via Circuito.

Este premio bienal busca identificar el proyecto urbano que mejor refleje la necesidad de la sostenibilidad social, económica y ambiental de las ciudades en el mundo. Está organizado por la Red Mundial de Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales y Regionales (CGLU), la organización Metropolis y la ciudad de Guangzhou, ubicada al sur de China Continental, en el corazón de la rica región industrial y comercial del Delta del Río Perla.

Esta tercera edición ha atraído a 171 ciudades, con un total de 301 iniciativas aprobadas por el Comité Técnico, de las que sólo 15 quedaron seleccionadas. Una de ellas, Asunción con su Plan CHA, lo que supone un reconocimiento importante para un proyecto que apenas acaba de comenzar su andadura.

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Kits for Kids: involving the youngest citizens in participatory planning

Category: ⚐ EN+Centro Histórico Abierto+creativity+Cuenca Red+ecosistema urbano+educación+participación+Plan CHA+Plan Encarnación Más

prova-con-sfumature

As you may know, in our ‘toolkit’ for the participatory processes we usually carry out in parallel to our urban projects, there are often some materials we specifically conceive to allow the participation of children and teenagers.  As part of our commitment towards inclusive processes we aim to target different social groups in our activities; especially that part of civic society that usually doesn’t have a voice in the collective debate about urban issues. Children have a particularly honest and imaginative look, and trying to understand a society or culture through their eyes is a privilege we keep enjoying project after project.

In particular, during our four latest projects in South America we detected this specific need to involve young population in participatory processes and we begun to design specific ‘kits’ for kids. As a result, we now have four different versions, developed in close relationship with the local context but also with many common features in mind. These ‘children participation kits’ are designed as a series of A4 or A3 paper sheets and they are explicitly designed to be easily reproducible. All the kits you can see in this post were used during the activities with children carried out by ecosistema urbano and our local collaborators in the schools and children’s centers of the city where the projects took place.

The different versions of these kits share the same aims:

  • Incline children and teenagers towards the urban development of their city through reflection and creativity, making them more aware of what is happening around them and improving their own ability to understand and act upon it.
  • Involve both children and their families. The activities in which kids participate —and the results they generate— attract the interest of parents and other family members who otherwise may not have the opportunity to approach the ongoing planning or design process.
  • Communicate the results; imaginative children’s eyes have the regenerative and exciting potential to bring freshness and friendliness to a process people often see as “serious” and complicated. These ‘kits’ allow us to channel that communicative potential.

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ASULAB: creando un Laboratorio Abierto para Asunción

Category: ⚐ ES+arquitectura+ciudad+ecosistema urbano+investigaciones+participación+Plan CHA+urbanismo

portadasBlueFucsia

Hace unos meses entregamos a la ciudad de Asunción el Plan Maestro para su Centro Histórico, del cual hemos hablado varias veces en nuestro blog y que ahora publicamos en versión íntegra disponible en nuestra página de issuu.  En este post os contamos en detalle uno de los aspectos más innovadores del Plan CHA, el ASULab, es decir el Laboratorio Abierto que hemos concebido para impulsar el desarrollo del Plan, facilitar la comunicación entre ciudadanía e instituciones y asegurar una implementación del Plan más abierta, democrática e inclusiva. ASULAB funciona como una “oficina del cambio”, velando por que el Plan CHA se implemente, convirtiéndose en un motor efectivo para la ciudad.

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Comienzan los latidos del Centro Histórico de Asunción

Category: #followcreative+⚐ ES+arte+ciudad+creatividad+Plan CHA

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Mural de Guache en el Hotel Armele, sobre Palma llegando a Colón / Foto: @marcosalonsophotography

Hace algunos meses que culminó uno de los proyectos más extensos, intensos y complejos que Ecosistema Urbano ha realizado hasta la fecha: el Plan Maestro del Centro Histórico de Asunción (Plan CHA), que fue adjudicado en concurso internacional  y desarrollado desde entonces con un equipo multidisciplinar a caballo entre Madrid y la conocida como Madre de Ciudades de Latinoamérica.

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Plan CHA: el making of de la maqueta | video

Category: ⚐ ES+arquitectura+ciudad+comunicación+ecosistema urbano+espacio público+eventos+noticias+Plan CHA+urbanismo

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Hoy os presentamos el vídeo del making of de la gran maqueta del Centro Histórico de Asunción realizada en ocasión de la Exposición sobre el Plan CHA inaugurada el pasado jueves 14 de mayo de 2015, que os contábamos en un post anterior.  La maqueta ha sido realizada por un equipo de arquitectos y estudiantes consolidado a partir del taller #labCHA, y en particular por Jacqueline Jaquet, Daniel Barrientos, Aldo López, Cristian Carísimo, Laura Alejandra Colmán y Oscar Amarilla. ¡Un gran trabajo, literalmente hablando!

El vídeo ha sido grabado por Cristian “Gurú” Nuñez y editado por “Estiven”, ambos parte de la comunidad local que ha dado nacimiento a la primera escuela de cine de La Chacarita, donde jóvenes del barrio pueden acceder a una educación de nivel profesional en temas audiovisuales. ¡Uno de los proyectos piloto que se hacen realidad desde ya!

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El Plan Centro Histórico Asunción se presenta al público

Category: ⚐ ES+arquitectura+ciudad+comunicación+espacio público+eventos+Plan CHA+urbanismo

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foto: Juan Carlos Meza

El pasado jueves 14 de mayo culminó uno de los proyectos más extensos, intensos y complejos que hemos realizado hasta la fecha: el Plan Maestro del Centro Histórico de Asunción, que nos fue adjudicado por concurso el pasado verano y que hemos venido desarrollando desde entonces con un equipo a caballo entre Madrid y la conocida como Madre de Ciudades.

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Laboratorio CHA: workshop de mapeo y propuestas creativas para Asunción | #labCHA

Category: ⚐ ES+arquitectura+noticias+Plan CHA+urbanismo

Cartel (afiche) del taller

Cartel (afiche) del taller

Durante este otoño/invierno estamos muy centrados en el desarrollo del Plan Maestro para el Centro Histórico de Asunción, y como complemento a la definición del propio documento estamos promoviendo una serie de talleres, reuniones y eventos con la participación de agentes locales de la ciudad. Con ello buscamos acercarnos a su forma de verla y vivirla, ayudar a comunicar el desarrollo del Plan a la ciudadanía, recoger críticas y propuestas, y ampliar nuestro conocimiento del contexto local para poder afinar la propuesta al máximo.

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Juan Carlos Cristaldo, socio local de Ecosistema Urbano en Asunción

Category: ⚐ ES+colaboradores+Plan CHA+urban social design+urbanismo

Juan Carlos Cristaldo

Juan Carlos Cristaldo

Hoy tenemos el placer de presentaros a Juan Carlos (Juanca) Cristaldo, un joven arquitecto y diseñador urbano de Paraguay que es ahora nuestro socio local en Asunción y con quien estamos trabajando en el Plan Maestro del CHA.

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