5. Act 4. Public space appropriation 3. Awareness 2. Report the shortcomings within the public space 1. Strengthen the community The project develops a process in 5 stages to BUILDING NEIGHBORHOOD
PROCESS STAGE
Since May, CUI has been working with the neighbors in workshops, drafting the project proposals and creating space activations that have allowed to raise awareness and STRENGTHEN THE COMMUNITY based on a neighborhood shared vision, shared practices and shared public space. This campaign to raise public awareness of the reality and the potential of the shared space, allowed to show the current shortcomings it faces. CUI works mainly on the first 3 stages to help launch the community process and help the project manifests as a voice for the neighborhood residents and the realities they face.
In addition to these inputs, SYMBOLIC ACTS, were proposed to catalyze solutions within the neighborhood, providing small-scale answers that could allow to start a much broader public space ownership within entire city. These acts are presented through urban furniture elements located at different points (see map on front page). specific neighborhood activity, or how to arrange a facade regeneration process. The signage also indicates the channels for joining and participating in the neighborhood organizations that have been created in the process
Conscious of the extensive urban processes that allow a city performance in a consisting manner, we have decided not to fall on creating isolated and ephemeral interventions that only exacerbate the problems that already exist. CUI always seeks to collaborate in participatory processes that are adapted to particular circumstances, times and actors; and through the use of empowering tools, acts as support for citizen processes.
The recovery of public space through a participatory diagnosis and design allows highlighting the real needs of a neighborhood. It is not a matter of an itinerant or punctual intervention; its focus is the evolution of a process. This can stand out as a form of social innovation and simultaneously an important legacy in regards to Habitat III.
PARTICIPATORY URBAN PROCESSES
04 The goal of these activities was to commit each participant to actively participate in the improvement of their neighborhood,
NEIGHBORHOOD LA PINTA Communal house project
NEIGHBORHOOD GABRIELA MISTRAL Gabi’s neighborhood
During the next phase the neighbors defined their dreams and aspirations, drafting proposals and projects to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood.
COMPETITION AND JURY CUI organized a proposal competition that allowed visualizing the proposals of the residents and traders of the neighborhood and expressing their different needs. For logistical purposes, La Colon sub-circuit was divided into three sub-neighborhoods, each one had a coordinating team to guide the process. In order to ensure that the proposals were part of a comprehensive scenario, and in regards to Habitat III, the work was coordinated with the municipality of Quito, La Mariscal zonal administration, who were committed to support this process.
The fuchsia color is the guiding thread that generates a complete tour of the neighborhood and this process.
In this context, CUI (Itinerant Urban Collective) decided to start a process that aimed to strengthen the ties within the community of La Mariscal through the revitalization of the neighborhood’s public spaces. Our start point was a study done by architecture students of the Catholic University – PUCE (Prof. Kenny Espinosa), allowing us to identify the area where the majority of residents live.
space as they are experienced by the neighborhood’s community, using showy expressions that incite to react: THE COMPLAINT. A large citizen participation process backs up the process of COMPLAINT, where social actors have given the parameters and targets to raise the complaint. Only when there is the support of the citizens we are ensuring consistency and ethics of the action. To COMPLAINT a coherent signage was located throughout the sub-circuit identifying the aforementioned problems: for example the lack of lighting, furniture, children's playground space, etc. The signage also provides TOOLS for neighbors, so they can actively improve their neighborhood. For example, a guide on how to obtain permits to close a street for a
The rushed pace of life and an often erroneous concept about social and economic development, have led us to ignore our neighbors, the people with whom we share the same living space, the city.
The next step in the process was to conduct a series of workshops and space activations in order to get to know each other. One of the goals of these activities was to empower the neighbors through the use of the public space within their neighborhood. Thanks to a gender audit, the approach of one of our workshops, revolved around the benefits of resilient and inclusive cities. Additionally, interviews to the district’s oldest neighbors were conducted with the support of Medialab, in order to publicize and disseminate the history of La Mariscal.
NEIGHBORHOOD LA PRADERA My street my Park
This process shows the current shortcomings within the public
© 2016 CUI BUILDING NEIGHBORHOOD A participatory project, for neighbors from neighbors.
cui.colectivo@gmail.com
building neighborhood
REWEAVING NETWORKS
improve the coexistence among neighbors, and above all, foster awareness around the importance of collective efforts in order to achieve important changes. The jury for the contest concluded that the award should be divided among the three subneighborhoods and that it should be used to support activities that strengthen community organization within the neighborhood Within the project - BUILDING NEIGHBORHOOD – a physical product that would disappear over time was not the intended result, but to works towards community organizing and the strengthening the social networks within the neighborhood in the long run.
Planting gardens Painting facades and sidewalks Itinerant Furniture and urban equipment Lighting Temporary Occupation of the street Creation of neighborhood events and fairs
SOCCER GAME SCREENING IN THE STREET
Children's playground space Street as a space for family recreation Knowledge exchange space Networks among neighbors, Committed cultural and commercial spaces
Recovery of an abandoned house to convert it into a communal house Generate an organized group Interventions in the vegetation Waste Management Use social networks Urban art Intervention
COLLABORATIVE WORK (MINGA) TO CLEAN THE LAND
NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILY FIESTA
SIGNAGE & SYMBOLIC ACTS MICRO TRAFFICKING INSECURITY AND LITTLE LIGHTING PUBLIC SPACE RECOVERY LACK OF PEDESTRIAN AREA NOISE POOR ACCESSIBILITY STREET CLOSURE LACK OF GREEN SPACES
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1 Sub-Neighborhood La Pradera 2 Sub-Neighborhood la Pinta 3 Sub-Neighborhood G. Mistral
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4. Common elements Complaint signage and murals scattered in the 3 subneighborhoods, demonstrating the absence of plants, lighting, and pedestrian or bicycling space.
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2. La Pinta Signage was located in ABANDONED or disused PREMISES, as a
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1. La Pradera Symbolic sports equipment (soccer arch and basketball hoops) were located in the perimeter of El Juguetón as a complaint for the LACK OF A PARK, as a space for encounter between neighbors.
3. Gabriela Mistral A symbolic children’s playground (teeter-totter) was located at Gabriela Mistral Park, as a complaint the LACK OF PLAYGROUND and families space.
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JOS URB E INA
An emblematic point was executed in every sub-neighborhood and a group of points that are spread by the three sub- neighborhoods, special attention was given to establish a common complaint language.
c o m plaint for the null urban contribu15 tion thereof and all that this entails (insecurity, unhealthy conditions, brea- 17 king social networks)
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D. D ALM E AGR O
SYMBOLIC COMPLAINT Follow the pink faces and discover what they tell you about the neighborhood...
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VISIBILITY
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Location Sub-circuit 1 (La Colón) The area includes from the north Av. Orellana, south St. Juan Rodriguez, east Av. 6 Diciembre and west Av. 10 Agosto.
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DISTRICT LA COLON FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ITS RESIDENTS
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ABANDONED PREMISES PARKING LOT PLAY GROUND MURALISM 18/10 MURALISM 19/10 CYCLE PATH LACK OF TREES