New City Geographies: Four Futures for Valparaiso

NEW CITY GEOGRAPHIES: FOUR FUTURES FOR VALPARAISO Brooke Helgerson

VISION

INDEX

The ascensores of Valparaiso enjoy a storied past. They are artifacts of the city’s golden age, when trade was good and anything was possible. Neighborhoods residents and leaders banded together to construct them in order to bring pride to their cerro, or hill. Many of them were built in rapid fire succession, one after the other until they formed a ring around the flat plan area of the city. They were a innovative solution to the topographic difficulties that the city’s amphitheater-like formation created, and represented a triumph over the natural realities that the growing city had to overcome.

_STAKEHOLDERS

But that was 100 years ago. The ascensores are still hanging on, but they have lost their novelty, the pride of their citizens, and in several cases their importance as a key method of transportation. Of the original 30 that were constructed from 1883-1931, only 15 remain; of those, only 6 are in operation—but with their various states of disrepair, this number is precariously susceptible to being reduced. The city has worked for years to try to raise the money to repair them, especially since the designation of parts of Valparaiso as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Yet, even with all this effort, the ascensores are still considered endangered and are on the World Monument Fund’s Watch List for 2014.

After a few decades of piecemeal improvements, it is time to release the ascensores of their past in order that they can become part of a new vision for the city.

Four Futures proposes to turn them over to a series of locally specific stereotypes of public activity. All of these are rooted in current strengths and weaknesses of the city, and use the site and movement of the ascensore to further their agenda. The projects are provacative but also rooted in reality. Soon it will be come to be seen that Valparaiso can strengthen its identity with:

the newsie

the courier

the hypertourist

the outdoorsman

_SITES _FUTURES the newsie the courier the hypertourist the outdoorsman _CONTINUATIONS

COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS RESIDENTS

TOURISTS

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

STAKEHOLDERS AND SELECTED SITES In addition to the list provided in the design brieft, study of the city has yielded a collection of interest groups both present and latent in the city. These groups are stakeholders in the futures of the ascensores, and have been aligned with various potential programs. Not only are the spaces and programs designed to serve them, they also are actors in the project, calibrating the design to specific needs and allowing the project to grow over time.

The stakeholders are specific to each of the 4 chosen sites: at Reina Victoria, Concepcion, El Peral, and Artilleria Ascensores. However, they have also been outlined because of their potential for overlap. Residents of the city may belong to many of these groups, and can take advantage of being a part of multiple future experiences of the ascensores.

LOCAL KIDS BUSES & CRUISES DIGITAL COORDINATORS C S

ATHLETES

GRASSROOTS PUBLISHERS

CELEBRITIES

DELIVERY MEN

IIINSTRUCTORS

STREET ARTISTS

UNESCO S SPECIALIZED RETAILERS

ART TEACHERS

WHOLESALERS S

CURATORS MAINTENANCE CREWS

MICROBUSINESSES

RETAILERS R RESTAURANTS HOTELIERS

LOCAL KIDS

CITY PARKS DEPT FREELANCE JOURNALISTS

Reina Victoria

Concepcion

El Peral

Artilleria

street art retaining walls surfaces to expand the practice and message

There is a disconnect between people and government in Valparaiso, maybe all of Chile. There are plenty who express their opinions, but the government is not as responsive to individualized requests and demands. This leaves many opportunities for citizens to take over and appropriate what is neglected by government. The newsie is an important locus, a forum for this type of public speech beyond the written word. It provides a strategic location for the production and exploration of street art, something that already covers every block of the city. The newsie sees this art form as a huge resource for the city because of its communicative power, and seeks to proliferate and refine its practice. Citizens of Valparaiso are ready to take charge, and their means of communications is no longer only the written manifesto but an expression of ideas about social equity expressed through color, form, and subject matter.

mini-art centers to expand the teaching and inclusion of informal art

STREET ARTISTS

grassroots publishing house for the people, by the people: handcrafted messages of protest ART TEACHERS

ascensore soap box a new surface to spread ideas

meeting rooms intimate public forum

LOCAL KIDS

FREELANCE JOURNALISTS

existing resources

REINA VICTORIA

GRASSROOTS PUBLISHERS

potential actors

NEWSIE

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

bulletin boards analog communication device

proposed activities

THE

COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS

data center order management in the wireless world

RESIDENTS motor bikes

Valparaiso has a strong contingent of small microbusinesses. Their returns are not large, and their reach not wide, but their presence in how the city works is crucial. These consist of small convenience stores and grocery stores, bakeries, hardware stores, some of which occur on the plan level but most of which are in the upper tiers of the city. When it takes so long to traverse from top to bottom, the convenience store at the top becomes a necessity for residents. Places like this, and the people themselves, need a more reliable system of delivery for the goods that stock their shelves and allow daily life to proceed. With the age of the internet, these small businesses can really come into their own through a co-op system of orders and delivery that starts at the ascensore as a key point of access, that is continued by delivery bikes and motorcycles right to the doorstep.

loaded cars the ascensore is the main vertical delivery mechanism

grocery

DELIVERY MEN

motorbikes ascensores connect with mobile bikes for specific order delivery

biking

WHOLESALERS

walking

drop off and pick up for residents to use when able on the way home

bicycles increased personal use furthers the idea of the courier

MICROBUSINESSES

existing resources

CONCEPCION

shopping

DIGITAL COORDINATORS

potential actors

COURIER

warehouse short term storage of goods moving through the city

proposed activities

THE

bus

on-ride instant cameras pre-made tourist souveneirs TOURISTS buses

selfie stations optimize personal pictures

Valpo is awaking from its long period of dormancy to become known as the ‘Cultural Capital of Chile,’ and a main tourist destination in the middle of the nation’s extensive coastline. Tourism is its last vestige of industry after the deep sleep, but it is hard to maintain the old world eclectic character and colorful buildings that have attracted tourists. UNESCO has tried its best, but the idiosyncrasies of the city and a population that would rather use than look at their buildings have hindered the historic preservation process. The El Peral ascensore can provide a solution to this if it is fully given over to tourism, superficiality, and image. Tourists eat this up, and the idolization of the ascensore as a unique object on the landscape heightens their experience in Valparaiso so much so that celebrities begin to flock to the area. They see and are seen, roping the ascensore into their game of vanity. They breed never before expected events like photo shoots and grand opening galas, all of which interact with this idea of the perfect, old, historic, cute ascensore. If tourism is taken care of here, that will also serve to open up the other ascensores to new uses…

obsessive documentation recording the ascensore and the people on it pandmarks/ Photo ops

press corp pander to celebrities being seen at the ascensore

CELEBRITIES

museums

red carpet amplify the procession and prolong the ascensore experience

UNESCO shopping

posing area pr for celebrities, proof of visit for tourists CURATORS

souveneir shop replicas of the experience provide superficial remembrance

information centers target desired tourists for display at the ascensore

RETAILERS RESTAURANTS HOTELIERS

restaurants existing resources

EL PERAL

hotels

potential actors

HYPERTOURIST

BUSES & CRUISES

proposed activities

THE

cruises

rock climbing wall taking the topography in your own hands

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS biking

There is a lack of coordinated outdoor sports in Valparaiso. Yet, the people have found their own entertainment by using the city itself to recreate. This is well and good, but how can Valpo ever hope to be recognized among its extreme sporting peers if there are no facilities at all? The new BMX track is rooted in the same city re-appropriation as the famed downhill bike race, but with amenities that will allow the sport to grow. It is molded into the hill, taking advantage of the city’s natural steep topography and Artilleria ascensore’s location at the northwestern edge of the Chilean foothills. At the same time, the track is just a suggestion, and there are many ways in which it can be used. People are invited to jump, walk, run, even fly here, and only time will tell how far they will innovate the space.

park

bmx biking manipulation of the topography for sport

ATHLETES

constitutionals a new terrace for family hiking

IINSTRUCTORS

maintenance expansion of jobs for preserving trails and cleanliness

gear shop to fuel the bmx biking craze and provide the tools necessary

locker rooms showers and outfit changes

naval school

roads

SPECIALIZED RETAILERS

in-between

sports club

MAINTENANCE CREWS

CITY PARKS DEPT

existing resources

ARTILLERIA

LOCAL KIDS

potential actors

OUTDOORSMAN

parkour course a microcosm of the real city

proposed activities

THE

training facility

CONTINUATIONS These futures are only the beginning. The ascensores provide a rich locus that can accept a wide variety of insertions. They may be lasting or temporary, aggressive or ameliorative. They will be of the city, by the city, allowing the people to craft their own experiences within it.