A Space for Activism

A SPACE FOR ACTIVISM Creative Interventions for a Democratic Public Space in Seville

ARC 322 Sheffield School of Architecture Lucia Pells 120129197

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my tutor, Nadia Bertolino, for her enthusiasm in my project, resources and support. I would also like to thank my mother, for bearing with me over the many translations and discussions over my topic. Lastly, I would like to thank Carlos GarcĂ­a, MarĂ­a Carrascal and Antonio AlanĂ­s for their time to discuss their research, as well as for their invaluable advice.

CONTENTS

Abstract 05-06

Notes on Methodology 07-08

Timeline of Study 09-10

Inroduction 11-16 1

RE-APPROPRIATING SPACES

1.1 Seville's Public Spaces 17-18

1.2 Insurgent Space-Taking 19-22

1.2. a 1.2. b

1.3

Testing the Use of Vacant Spaces

2

ACTIVISM AS A TOOL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SPACE

Matadero Madrid Casa del Pumarejo

23-24

2.1 Seville's Subversive Architect 25-28

2.1. a 2.1 b

Playgrounds Social Centre in LavapiĂŠs

2.2 Community Initiatives 29-32

2.2. a 2.2. b

2.3

Urban Exploration: Distrito de Triana

33-38

2.4

An Introduction to Charco de la Pava

39-44

2.4 a 2.4 b 2.4 c 2.4 d

La Carpa Corrala Movements

Infrastructure Environment Social Barriada del Carmen

3

TURNING THE 'VOID' INTO PUBLIC SPACE

3.1 Conceptual Proposal 45-46

3.2 Program 47-48

3.3 Description of Activities 49-50

3.3. a 3.3 b 3.3 c 3.3 d 3.3 e

Urban Gardening Recycling Playgrounds Market Performances & Festivals

3.4 Potential Outcomes 51-52

Conclusion 53-54

Bibliography 55-62

Illustrations 63-64

Appendix 65-72

Word count : 7,533

ABSTRACT

05

This dissertation investigates the creative intervention of architects and collectives of vacant structures or spaces within Seville.

It will reveal the opportunities that these plots can provide to communities, serving them as democratic public spaces within an increasingly privatised and commercialised urban context. An illustrated conceptual proposal of a chosen obsolete space, will respond to the possible needs and desires of the surrounding community, taking inspiration from other creative urban interventions that have been successful in improving public space.

06

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

I

chose Seville as the context of my study because of my close family connections to the city. My mother was born in Huelva, a small city just south of Seville and lived there for the first half of her life. She studied at the University of Seville, and now two of my cousins do too. A preponderance of my research comes from informal interviews and conversations with them about the historical and contemporary urban situation of Seville. The basic ideas of this study have come about from this form of research, as well as what I notice when I visit the city myself, and my personal experiences with its citizens on a day-today basis.

My research methodology falls into three categories; case study-led, qualitative and interpretive-historical. The case study, Seville, allows me to make a pragmatic enquiry that investigates the setting, using multiple sources of evidence, such as archival research, oral history, spatial analysis and commentaries from professionals and communities.1 My main approach to the qualitative research was to use ethnographic field techniques such as ‘participant observation’ and unstructured interviews, such as the interview with a resident of the

07

Barriada del Carmen and the research staff at the University of Seville, in which I will be relying on to be my primary mode of data collection.2 It was my observation of the many abandoned plots and spaces, empty houses and unfinished new builds that prompted the theory development that underlies my case study of Seville. My research designs were guided accordingly by my intentions to explain how and why there were plenty of good public space opportunities in Seville, but instead were left abandoned.

This prompted me to further explore the politics of public spaces, through archival research of the works of urban theorists and historians such as David Harvey (figure 1) and Jane Jacobs. Other archival research included looking at recent articles and publications concerning the research topics that I have investigated through the course of the study.

My chapter topics, rather than reflecting just Seville in particular, cover broader theoretical issues surrounding public space and design activism. My mode of research is intrinsic to gain a better understanding of Seville as a particular case study, within the topics of public space and design activism.

By going to Seville, I was able to conduct some fieldwork for myself, to enhance the depth of my research on the public spaces and obsolete spaces in the city, and surround myself by the current situation of the city.

1

Cover of Rebel Cities by David Harvey.

GROAT, L. & WANG, D. (2002) Architectural Research Methods. New York: Wiley pp. 340352.

1

2

Ibid. p. 184.

08

TIMELINE OF STUDY MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida.

LABORATORIO Q (2012) Laboratorio Q. [Online] Available from: www.laboratorioq.com/en [Accessed 29 October 2014].

MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida.

SPAIN. REGISTRO MUNICIPAL DE SOLARES Y EDIFICACIONES RUINOSAS. (2012) Boletín Oficial de la provincia de Sevilla. Seville. (2010).

CIRUGEDA, S. (2007) Situaciones Urbanas. Barcelona: Tenov.

Abandoned plots/solares

RECETAS URBANAS (2007) Recetas Urbanas. [Online] Available from: http://www.recetasurbanas.net/v3/index.php/es/ [Accessed 25 July 2014].

Community initiatives Architects/designers

Activism in Seville

Santiago Cirugeda La Carpa Espacio Artístico

RODRÍGEZ, M. I. (2012) Architecture with the people, by the people, for the people. Barcelona: Actar.

KOSSAK, F. et al. (2010) Agency: Working with uncertain architectures.

CRITIQUES: Critical Studies in Architectural Humanities Volume 5.

London: Routledge.

JONES, P. B., PETRESCU, D. & TILL, J. (eds.), (2005) Architecture and Participation. London: Spon.

OPERA

FANSTEIN, S. S. (2010) The Just City.

London: Cornell University Press.

Prepa Seville

Collective Movements in Seville Corrala de Vecinas la Utopía

Corrala Libertad

Int

Historical research on the history of public spaces in Seville EALHAM, C. & RICHARDS, M. (2005) The Splintering of Spain: Cultural History and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CORRALA LIBERTAD (2013) La Corrala Libertad Cooperativa Andaluza. [Online] Available from: http://corralalibertad.blogspot.co.uk/ [Accessed 25 July 2014].

09

CORRALA UTOPÍA (2014) Corrala de Vecinas La Utopia. [Online] Available from: http://corralautopia.blogspot.co.uk/ [Accessed 25 July 2014].

DECEMBER

NOVEMBER

State intervention, participation and the role of the architect OCTOBER

SEPTEMBER

AUGUST

JULY

Casa del Pumarejo

PERRY, M. E. (1990) Gender and Disorder in Early Modern Seville.

Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Res

Pla

BUTTERWOR (2008) Site-see ‘Creative Surve for architecture from: http://ww nal.org/upload ume%202%20/ rth,%20Vardy.p December 2014

VÁZQUEZ, C. on Urban Crea de Arquitectur

Strategies for creative intervention Strategies for recuperation of public spaces for social housing

12) Architecture e people, for the tar.

Introduction to Charco de la Pava

0) Agency: in architectures.

Studies in ities Volume 5.

Interview with Carlos García, María Carrascal and Antonio Alanís

e n

Preparation for trip to Seville Interview Research methodologies Plan of potential spaces

BUTTERWORTH, C & VARDY, S. (2008) Site-seeing: Constructing the ‘Creative Survey’ field: a free journal for architecture [Online] 2. Available from: http://www.field-journal.org/uploads/file/2008%20Volume%202%20/Site-Seeing_Butterwo rth,%20Vardy.pdf [Accessed 10 December 2014].

VÁZQUEZ, C. C. et al. (2011) Forum on Urban Creativity. Seville : E.T.S. de Arquitectura de Sevilla.

Organising and analysing research GROAT, L. & WANG, D. (2002) Architectural Research Methods.

New York: Wiley.

Critical evaluation

APRIL

Visits to Charco de la Pava, as well as exploring surrounding neighbourhoods and informal market.

FEBRUARY

JANUARY

DECEMBER

Visit to Seville

MARCH

0) The Just City. ersity Press.

rvention, tion and f the

Drawing up of conceptual proposal

Informal observations of the city

SCU, D. & TILL, J. cture and : Spon.

Looking at existing examples of creative re-appropriation of spaces for public benefit ROSA, M. L. & WEILAND, U. E. (2013) Handmade Urbanism: From community initiatives to participatory models. Berlin : Jovis Verlag.

REDETEJAS (2013) Redetejas.

[Online] Available from: http://redetejas.org/ [Accessed 2 November 2014].

10

INTRODUCTION

11

2

Two men walk along littered paths through Charco de la Pava, Seville

12

Public space is a topic that can often be used to demonstrate the state's interest in generating profit rather than social prosperity.

T

he pleasures we find in public spaces are constantly being re-appropriated and exploited by governments and investors as instruments to their ends of power and profit.3 This is not a recent, nor original observation. The primary purpose of city development of most Western European cities is to increase private investment, as the government aims to attract more tourists, increase property value, and improve city marketing.4 More often than not, the decisions made over public space fail to consider the current or future social implications, inevitably leading to inequities within the city. In transferring civic amenities such as public space and cultural facilities in to the hands of the private sector, the state often cites the creation of jobs and boosts to local economy as benefiting the majority of city users.5 However these investments rarely provide any real benefit to peripheral or poorer communities, augmenting the urban, social injustice within the city.

What urban planners fail to acknowledge is that designing the public realm requires a

13

calibration and examination of the required and diverse needs of all individuals. David Harvey insists that the city's shaping of the urban commons allocates public space only to a select few that will generate the most capital, instead of being collective, non-commodified and open to all.6 The proposed commercial plaza to surround Seville's newly constructed Cajasol Tower, endorses Harvey's principle that the city's public spaces solely serve as economic assets to the state and its investors.

In the present bleak climate surrounding the public spaces within the city, the prerequisite to think creatively in terms of building and materials, as well as 'reading between the lines' of planning laws, has become an essential tool for some individuals and collectives in Seville, who want to secure that public spaces serve the needs and desires of the community.

The context of the capitalist city has commanded that more imaginative, unconventional and unexpected solutions to appropriating obsolete spaces for the public are found,7 seeing the emergence of ‘guerrilla architects’, such as Santiago Cirugeda, as these new forms of insurgent architecture take place. Their intention is to create and maintain an engagement

between themselves, neighbourhood residents, and the rest of the city, to materialise a more democratic public space.

The result sees an increase in participation as communities and professionals become actively involved in social change through these spaces.

Vacant and obsolete spaces are emerging more frequently within the city as a direct result of the country's economic crisis, however these spaces can provide ample opportunity to the public.

The subject of creatively appropriating obsolete spaces for the public’s benefit, and the ambitions, maintenance and outcomes of these activities needs to be critically analysed for the success of future practice. An interview with experts in the field, as well as investigating various case studies in Seville, will scrutinise how creative inventiveness, divergent thinking, a reactive imagination, and positive urban intervention can offer the possibility of change on how the public can use obsolete spaces within the city.

The dissertation intends to make the mechanisms of community-based initiatives and participatory models legible through the analysis of case studies, which will then be applied to a chosen

3

Children and adults learning to rollerskate at a community theatre in the district of Triana, Seville.

HARVEY, D. (2012) Rebel Cities: from the right to the city to the urban evolution. New York: Verso. p.67.

3

FAINSTEIN, S. S. (2010) The Just City.

London: Cornell University Press pp. 2-5.

4

5

Ibid. p. 3.

6

HARVEY, D. (2012) pp. 71-73.

VĂ ZQUEZ, C. G. et al. (2011) Forum on Urban Creativity. Seville : E.T.S. de Arquitectura de Sevilla.

7

14

obsolete space that is underutilised by the surrounding community, or the rest of the city. The proposed micro actions initiated by the community will also anticipate the involvement of the rest of the city.

In order to formulate a realistic creative plan for the park, an analysis of the sociospatial constraints of the space must be made, and not isolate the process from the context or outcome,8 by asking the following questions throughout the study; what will be the relationship between the urban context and the creative activities?

How will the plan affect all city users, which include residents, commuters, and visitors?

What principles will guide the plan formulation, context, and implementation?

It would be imprudent to propose a full plan for the park, as this would be contradicting the participatory and democratic approaches of communityled public space projects, therefore the proposal will aim to give people reasons to come together in a space and interact with each other, through creative engagement and discussions, creating a public forum where further decisions can then be made over the functionality of the space.

By employing an imaginative and unconventional scheme for the park

15

through theory and case study and research, the study aims to provide an example of how collective participation and appropriation of an abandoned space like the park could benefit the community, as well as on a macro scale with the rest of Seville.

4

A tourist takes a photograph of his young son in the MarĂ­a Luisa Park, in the centre of Seville.

8

FAINSTEIN, S. S. (2010) p. 57.

16

Chapter

1.0

RE-APPROPRIATING SPACES

1.1 Seville's Public Spaces

P

ublic spaces in Seville perpetually change in use, as their functions and the state’s intentions for them are inextricably linked with the city’s socioeconomic and political context, serving positive, as well as negative purposes for its citizens. The traditional plaza is a significant public space that demonstrates this spatial evolution, as between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries it represented royal and religious control over the citizens of the city.9 Later, during the military uprising of the 1930’s as the Franco’s fascist coup rose to power, certain plazas became popular locations for public executions (figure 5), the Plaza del Triunfo next to the Cathedral for example, marking the beginning of the Civil War. Throughout the new regime, until the 1960’s, public spaces became associated with brutality, mourning in secrecy, and publicly forgetting the dead,10 establishing a devastating schism between public and private memory. The plaza developed associations of political power over the people, and with Spain’s gradual transmission into democracy, the conflict between the state and the people of who owns the city and its streets has only intensified. This was illustrated with Spain’s late Popular Party Head of Office Manuel Fraga Iribarne, who asserted the

17

famous phrase “¡La calle es mía!” 11 (The street is mine!), as a response to street demonstrations, upholding the notion that the city belongs to those who hold political power.

In present-day Seville, these popular public squares, normally situated in the city centre such as in the María Luisa Park, are carefully maintained, lined with orange trees and benches, making them ideal spots for the tourist seeking the perfect holiday photograph (figure 4).

In the periphery of the city however, the squares are smaller, familiar and friendly conversation adds to the atmosphere, and a strong sense of community can be felt through the informality of the space.

Further still, a sprawling, abandoned park clings desperately to the west of the city, and a littered cycle route is seen cutting through it. Looming awkwardly over the park, a newly built cylindrical tower stands alone, mocking in its opulence the empty void beneath it.

Amid the recession, many obsolete spaces like the park exist within the city, overlooked by the state, remaining vacant and useless for many years owing to the lack of civic building projects. Not surprisingly, the construction of bank edifices and commercial squares remain in

motion. It is a known fact that construction companies will negotiate with municipal or regional governments to reclassify land for intensive building, enriching politicians in the process.12 The Cajasol Tower, and the park beneath it, represents the increasing polarization in the distribution of wealth and power within the spatial forms of Seville, as more investment is made over privatized and supervised public spaces, instead of the many obsolete spaces, which are ignored and then forgotten by the state.

5

Photograph of prisoners that were captured by the military coup in Utrera, a district South East of Seville. Prisoners are seen standing in line for excecution in a public square. Photograph is part of the ‘El Golpe: de la II República a la dictadura en imágenes’ exhibition at the Museo de la Autonomía de Andalucía.

EALHAM, C. & RICHARDS, M. (2005) The Splintering of Spain: Cultural History and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.25.

9

10

Ibid. p.26.

BOHIGAS, O. El País. (2006) “La calle es mía!” January 25th. [Online] Available from: http://elpais.com/diario/2006/01/25/ catalunya/1138154844_850215.html [Accessed 25 July 2014].

11

FINCH, S. Building. (2008) Spanish housing market: The pain in Spain. [Online] Available from: http://www.building.co.uk/spanishhousing-market-the-pain-in-spain/3114067. article [Accessed 25th July 2014].

12

1.2 Insurgent Space-taking

T

he current trend in cities is that of a biased urban management used to create privatised, pseudo-public spaces, such as commercial centres, consequently segregating different social groups from privileged areas within the city. A demand in social action (acting in public) is essential in order to generate better cultural and artistic public spaces for all of the city’s inhabitants. To achieve this, the city has to be reconceived by the public, into a place where ‘empowerment architecture’13 can transform public space for the good of the city’s inhabitants, and not solely for it’s private investors, or the urban elite. This interventionist approach in converting public space depends on the public’s initiative, self-responsibility and activity.

The projects I am to describe in this chapter are the activist urban actions of architects and inhabitants as a result of the transformation of their urban spaces, such as the increasing obsolescence of spaces, the privatisation of public spaces as well as other socio-economic fractures14, affecting the quality of life of the community within their neighbourhoods.

19

1.2. a MATADERO, MADRID In Madrid, there exists an expansive multidisciplinary arts and cultural centre called Matadero, now funded by the Madrid City Council, consisting of a large group of buildings and square. Built in the early 1900’s, it was constructed with the intention to serve the city as a slaughterhouse and livestock market place. The facilities and its spaces soon became abandoned as a cause of the Civil War, and consequently fell into complete disuse by the 1970’s. From then, the buildings became transitional in their use, with renovations of the spaces appearing throughout the end of the twentieth century, such as the headquarters for Spain’s National Dance Company as well as Madrid's headquarters for municipal council of Arganzuela, more commonly known as Casa del Reloj, (Clock House).15 With the turn of the century, artists began to appropriate the abandoned spaces for artistic and cultural purposes. Seeing the success in this, the Madrid City Council decided to bestow the slaughterhouse entirely to socio-cultural uses. Subsequently, the slaughterhouse was transformed into artistic studios and exhibition spaces, consisting of galleries, cinema and music venues, supporting local and international artists. Although originally a grass-roots

appropriation of space, Matadero is an example of how a bottom-up method of initiating a creative space for the public can also be supported by a top-down intervention, through public and private investment. It demonstrates that, even with the intervention of authorities and private investors, a free creative and cultural space can be maintained and available to all. It provides encouragement of the possibility that, through a well thought-out creative plan of an abandoned space, where people were able to come together and collaborate over the use of the spaces along with institutions, a democratic public space can be established for everyone in the city’s heterogeneous social fabric.

6

Open-air exhibition at Matadero Madrid called Retratos “Portraits” by artist Jorge Fuembuena.

SZYMCZAK, K. (2010). Actuar en lo público. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, p. 61.

13

14

Ibid. p. 62.

Small World’s Projects (2011) Matadero Madrid – small changes going big and other cultural politics in the Spanish capital. [Online] Available from: http://smallworldsproject.com [Accessed 24 February 2015].

15

20

1.2. b CASA DEL PUMAREJO The municipality of Seville in the last few years however, has been less cooperative in conserving and improving abandoned spaces, which are littered around the city, such as the historic building Casa del Pumarejo. Thirteen years of civilian struggle to convince the planning administration and private owner, who have allowed the beautiful house to fall into complete disrepair, to convert the house into an elderly home, reveals how reluctant the state is in funding projects like these.

A reason for this could be the project’s small scale and the unlikeliness of high capital return, in distinction to Matadero in Madrid. The city administration refuses to positively intervene, even though the spaces have the huge opportunity to benefit the community, as various collectives have disclosed.

The campaign, aimed with the intention to develop a progressive and self-managed rehabilitation of the house’ spaces, was initiated by an association called Lo Hacemos Nosotros (We Will Do It Ourselves) or LHN, formed of a group of citizens that neighboured the house. The collective called upon the practice Recetas Urbanas, an architectural studio led by Santiago Cirugeda, and collectively have

21

constructed a series of micro-projects in order to rescue the house. They were able to plan and draw-up the projects quickly, due to the self-build workshops that were held by LHN and Recetas Urbanas, and have since inspired seventy citizens to become actively involved in the endeavour to salvage the house and it's spaces for the good of the community.

Several years since the formation of the LHN, the struggle to reclaim the house still remains, for reasons that Cirugeda describes on his website: " Al final, la lenta toma de decisiones y la compleja relación entre las distintas comisiones internas (técnica, comunicación, legal, relaciones institucionales, económica, etc.), consiguieron paralizar la colaboración entre la asociación Casa del Pumarejo y Recetas Urbanas en diciembre de 2012.

Hoy la iniciativa sigue a su ritmo, aunque todavía se mantiene la complicidad. " 16 In the end, the slow decision making processes [of the city administration], and the complex relationships between the distinct internal committees (technical, communication, legal, institutional relationships, budget etc.), have succeeded in paralysing the collaboration between

the Casa del Pumarejo association and Recetas Urbanas in 2012. Today however, the initiative's rhythm proceeds, in spite of it’s remaining complexity.

This was confirmed to me with my visit to Casa del Pumarejo in January, as even though banners with slogans still hung outside on the verandas, there was no longer any sign of the lively activities and workshops as described before (figure 7).

The different case studies indicate the motives for government intervention, that its decision to positively intervene with creative appropriations of abandoned spaces is driven by the future prospect of capital return.

7

A sign reading "The City Hall includes us all... Lord Mayor what are you going to do?" and life-sized cardboard cut-outs are placed on the balconies of the currently occupied Casa del Pumarejo.

CIRUGEDA, S. ‘Casa Grande Pumarejo’, Recetas Urbanas. [Online] Available from: http://www.recetasurbanas.net/v3/images/ fichas/ficharefi008casagrandepumarejo.pdf [Accessed 25 July 2014].

16

22

1.3 Testing the Use of Vacant Spaces

A

s an introduction to the practice of creative spatial occupation, I took part in a project called OPERA at Castle House during the annual Sheffield Design Week with a Sheffield-based architecture practice, Studio Polpo. In a group, we collectively designed and installed temporary accommodation within an abandoned space, including eating, living and sleeping facilities made from recycled and reclaimed materials found around the city (figure 8).

The idea of using rudimentary materials creatively was inspired by the work of EXYZT, a multidisciplinary initiative group that create site-specific, temporary installations using materials such as scaffolding. The use of scaffolding mirrors Yona Friedman’s concepts of "mobile architecture" and "self-planning" 17, and theories were presented in EXYZT’s exhibition ‘Architecture without building’ at the De Vleeshal Musem in Middelburg.18 In experimenting with collectively built, alternative living conditions, the collective challenged the notion of the conventional home. With their project, different members of the local community were invited to reside in the space, which were suitable and adaptable meeting places for them to hold discussions and perform activities,

23

successfully creating a public forum and community network.

OPERA explored these architectural and social approaches, by having the ‘house’ completely open to the public, who were given the opportunity to take part in typical household activities such as cooking and to stay overnight in the accommodation.

Artists as well as members of the public were invited to host films, musical performances and discussions within the space. From these discussions, a more indepth conversation between the public and professional architects on the subject of the appropriation of empty spaces were undertaken, as it gave the opportunity for both parties to experience it themselves.

Through this first-hand experience of reclaiming a vacant space within the city, I appreciated, as well as enjoyed, how recycling and using materials creatively, a group of inexperienced people can assemble a temporary structure quickly and economically.

The project’s ambition was to highlight the advantages to be gained from the city’s inhabitants temporarily making use of vacant spaces within the city, without any institutional intermediaries.

8

Using recycled materials and leftover scraps to make the temporary accommodation inside Castle House, Sheffield. Activities such as cooking, eating meals, sleeping and watching films all took place inside the space. An accumilation of momentos started to appear over time and the space became more of a home than just temporary accommodation.

RODRĂ?GEZ, M. I. (2012) Architecture with the people, by the people, for the people. Barcelona: Actar.

17

RIZZOTTI, P. Yona Friedman - Architecture Without Building (2011) Philippe Rizzotti [Online] Available from: http://www. philipperizzotti.net/en/architecture/011-yonafriedman-awb/ [Accessed February 2nd 2015].

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Chapter

2.0

ACTIVSM AS A TOOL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SPACE

2.1 Seville's Subversive Architect

I

n a time of much economic disparity in Spain, with little credit being spent towards the public in terms of creative spaces, there has seen a shift in the traditional idea of what an architect and other designers can do. These individuals or groups have become creative agents in the contemporary city, by building for communities and collectives that could otherwise not afford or gain permission for planning.19 By acting as a medium between citizens and authorities, these agents can find new ways to build in a seemingly hopeless and impossible situation. They become activists in their endeavour for a more bottom-up method of designing and planning in a city where normally a topdown approach determines the spaces that serve the public. An example of an activist like this is the architect Santiago Cirugeda and his practice Recetas Urbanas (Urban Prescriptions). The name of his practice communicates the idea that the projects are comparable to construction manuals (figure 9), complete with instructions inside to allow for any individual in any city with a desire to build, be able to do so.20 Based in Seville, Cirugeda’s practice takes insurgent self-build architecture and, to an extent, explores it on the fringes of

25

the law. By assuming civil, criminal and administrative liability, Cirugeda confronts planners and local authorities with this form of architecture, and at times surfaces defunct or out-dated policies, facilitating the prospect of possible changes to planning procedures and guidelines within the city.21 Using his credentials as a professional architect, he is able to challenge and exploit planning laws through loop holes, resulting in access to land and planning approval for projects that would be otherwise impossible to acquire.

The practice’s main focus lies with the ephemeral occupation of empty plots in Seville, to support community initiatives using participatory models. Cirugeda’s controversial manifesto is that beautiful architecture represents performance architecture, and that instead it should be functional, cheap and sustainable.22 His buildings express these attitudes to construction, as they take on their form owing to the materials that were available at the time and method of construction, usually informally and with inexperienced volunteers, sometimes even children.

Leaving the physical projects aside, it is motivating to see how Cirugeda changes the capacity of what communities believe

they can achieve, and their importance in spatial design in the urban realm, by yielding new attitudes towards self-build and architecture.23 With this form of construction, Cirugeda also commands awareness over the significance of community participation in the form of construction and the design of public spaces.

9

The projects by Recetas Urbanas, or 'Urban Prescriptions' are like construction manuals, allowing any person or collective to build for themselves just by following some simple instructions.

Guerrilla Architect (2014). Directed by Ana Naomi De Sousa. Al Jazeera. [Documentary] Available from: http://www.aljazeera.com/ programmes/rebelarchitecture/2014/06/ spain-guerrilla-architect-201462993348959830. html [Accessed 25th August 2014].

19

TORRES, A. P., Recetas Urbanas de Santiago Cirugeda. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, p. 91.

20

21

Ibid. p. 87.

22

Guerrilla Architect (2014).

23

TORRES, A. P. (2010) p. 91.

26

2.1. a PLAYGROUNDS Cirugeda’s projects are often very simple solutions to vacant spaces within the city, such as his playgrounds, which have been coined as ‘a la Van Eyck’ due to their pop-up nature around the city (figure 10). Seesaws, swings and benches are constructed from materials that are either donated or found, such as plastic bollards, sleepers and old bus stops.24 Clearing and constructing the playgrounds is straight forward and lowcost with the help of volunteers, however the process of acquiring permission to the vacant land proves more of a struggle.

Formally, the city council can expropriate a vacant plot after two years, if the private owner has not submitted future planning or building projects, however many have remained empty for over twenty, increasing the number of obsolete spaces within the city each year. Cirugeda overcomes these planning by-laws by putting pressure on authorities over the ownership of these spaces, and pointing out simple amendments that could significantly improve the spaces for the public.25 Cirugeda hopes that with these actions, the outcome would be a modification of municipal by-laws, permitting vacant spaces to be used positively by citizens on a temporary basis, which have been

27

successful in terms of his playgrounds.26 2.1. b SOCIAL CENTRE IN LAVAPIÉS In a not so different context, Cirugeda has been involved in projects in other cities in Spain, such as Madrid. With a creative strategy similar to what was described

by García, Carrascal and Alanís27 for my proposal, Cirugeda, along with local residents and activists from Madrid as part of the art festival MAD’03, built a structure in a vacant space to be used as a social centre for the neighbourhood of Lavapiés.

The finished structure, which can be instantly recognised as one of Cirugeda’s projects, was built from recycled materials and scaffolds, and erected in a matter of weeks by inexperienced volunteers, with the rental of the scaffolding as the only cost.

Not only did the finished structure provide a space for a community centre, but it also became the forum for other neighbourhood associations. 28

These case studies that I have described were not simply experiments of construction strategies over the use of vacant plots, Cirugeda was also testing the process of delegation and community control of the space over an institution, as he made sure communities and collectives demanded the capacity of self-management and decisionmaking, strategies that I aim to include in my proposal.

10

Children playing on a seesaw constructed

by Recetas Urbanas and the community on a vacant plot on Calle Sol in Seville.

CIRUGEDA, S. (2007) Situaciones Urbanas.

Barcelona: Tenov.

24

CIRUGEDA, S. Estrategias subversivas de ocupación urbana. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, p. 93.

25

MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, p. 83.

26

GARCÍA, C., CARRASCAL, M. & ALANÍS, Strategies for Urban Intervention. Interview.

Appendix.

27

28

CIRUGEDA, S. (2010) pp. 97-99.

28

2.2 Community Initiatives

F

Fllowing on from the research topics discussed earlier in this study, I need now begin to ask how to bring these activist and architectural beliefs into a productive exchange around dealings with vacant public spaces.29 García, Carrascal and Alanís30 explained how I could use ‘pop-up’ creative activities to regenerate an abandoned space, such as open-air exhibitions, theatre performances and markets, and how to accommodate these creative activities in the design of the public space.30 This sort of creative action is already occurring around the city, with examples such as La Carpa Espacio Artístico, taking on board these ideas of creative intervention and “good practice”.31 2.2. a LA CARPA In 2011 the Seville City council gave permission for a temporary occupation of one of their abandoned plots within the city by a theatre company called Varuma.

Along with the help of Santiago Cirugeda and other collectives, they designed and constructed multi-purpose, cultural spaces that served the community as well as providing office and workshop space for the company. Other collectives such as a circus school and a clothes-recycling group also took residence at the site, and it soon

29

began to attract thousands of visitors from the neighbouring districts as well as from the city centre. Construction materials were made up of donations, such as a tent from which the project takes its name, and previous Recetas Urbanas projects, like La Carpa’s iconic ‘Araña’ (spider) building, formally located at the Granada Faculty of Fine Arts (figure 11). Construction and erection of La Carpa were made possible due to collaborations between the collectives, the community and individuals outside of Seville (the project found funding through the online platform Crowdfunding). La Carpa was a perfect example of how the intervention of a new creative culture enabled the regeneration of a district, as well as forming new connections with the city centre, creative young people and the existing community.32 La Carpa, as a cultural and creative space, provided the opportunity of ‘play’ within the urban environment. The urban development of the city often neglects play as a principle aspect of people’s experiences of urban society and space. Through the ludic nature of La Carpa, it revealed the important role of play within public space, and what it could offer to the community, as well as to the city as a whole. It revealed that public space should have no specific

function and be open to spontaneity, risk and change, qualities that are lost in the public spaces provided for by urban planners, where they are privatised, under constant surveillance and restricted to certain groups (i.e. the existence of benches designed to prohibit the homeless from lying down). The nature of play is to have no function at all, and is often economically inefficient and impractical, and it fair to assume that play should be for the sake of playing.33 The closure of La Carpa was due to the government having more lucrative plans for the vacant plot where it once stood, rather than as a space simply for playing and creativity.

2.2. b CORRALA MOVEMENTS The citizens’ anger and distaste towards the government are clearly identified by the public with the many impassioned videos and blogs that are posted on the online networks such as Arquitecturas Colectivas, a platform for architects, collectives and anyone interested in urban development, highlighting their discontent and sense of betrayal towards the biased system that is constantly letting them down. Collectives such as Corrala Libertad, and Corrala Utopía are examples of outraged citizens that have formed collectives, occupying

several abandoned buildings around

11

Santiago Cirugeda's structure, nicknamed the 'Spider', became the recognisable emblem of La Carpa.

HEYDEN, M. (2008) Evolving Participatory Design field: [Online] 2. Available from: h t t p : //w w w. f i e l d j ou r nal . o rg /u p l oads // file/2008%20Volume%202%20/Evolving%20 Pa r t i c i p a t o r y % 2 0 D e s i g n _ H e yd e n . p d f [Accessed 24th March 2015]. P.34.

29

GARCÍA, C., CARRASCAL, M. & ALANÍS. Appendix A. 30

31

Ibid.

32

Ibid.

STEVENS, Q. (2007) The Ludic City : Exploring the Potential of Public Spaces.

London: Routledge. pp. 1-3.

33

the city; a last resort after being left homeless due to the country’s soaring unemployment34 and the state’s negligence to provide shelter.

Expressing their reasons for the squatting, the slogan “la lucha por el derecho a una vivienda digna” (the fight for the right to a dignified home), seen written on banners hung outside abandoned windows and painted on walls, is often used by these collectives to rally support from other citizens and organisations to support their endeavour for social change (figure 12). These collectives become active in establishing their own social welfare in a country where extreme budget cuts have left citizens without any assurance that they can depend on the government.35 As community initiatives like these are often vulnerable to the state, online networks such as Arquitecturas Colectivas provide an enabling framework to help such projects to be as successful as they can be. With these platforms, people can post their projects, and those interested can provide advice, volunteer their time in the construction of the project, or even provide funding.

31

These initiatives offer an insight in how the citizens of Seville can be incredibly culturally and politically engaged in the urban development of the city, important attributes if social change within the urban realm is to be realised.

12

Santiago Cirugeda's structure, nicknamed the 'Spider', became the recognisable emblem of La Carpa.

HEWITT, G. The BBC (2012) Spain budget: Cuts to total 27bn euros this year. March 30th.

[Online] Available from: http://www.bbc. co.uk/news/business-17557172 [Accessed 14th September 2014].

34

35

Guerrilla Architect (2014).

32

2.3 Urban Exploration: Distrito de Triana

33

13

One of the many 'scenic cycle routes' that cross the park. This photograph shows some of the informal market that occurs on the north side of the park.

34

5 1

3

2

Drawing of Charco de la Pava, as of 2015.

35

1

car park, location of weekly illegal market,

2

River Guadalquivir,

4

3

Vega de Triana Park / Charco de la Pava,

4

towards the city centre,

5

district of Triana.

36

1

37

3

1

1

2

2

2 4

3

6

4 4

5

5

5

6

3

7

9

7

8 8

9

6

10 11 12

10

7

Bus routes and stations

Cycle routes and bike stations

Neighbourhoods

Parks and Squares

Community spaces

Corporate

Schools

KEY

NEIGHBOURHOODS 1

Barrio Patrocinio

2

Barriada Virgen de la Esperanza

3

Barrio Santa Cecilia

4

Barrio El Turruñuelo

5

Barrio León

6

Barriada El Tardón

7

Núcleo Residencial Los Ángeles

8

Barriada El Carmen

9

Blas Infante

10

Barrio de Tablada

COMMUNITY AND CORPORATE SPACES AND SCHOOLS 1

Torre Pelli (Cajasol Tower)

2

Antonio Alvarez Sports Centre

3

Transport Centre

4

Rico Cejudo Public Primary School

5

Hermanitas de los Pobres Retirement Homes

6

Charco de la Pava Sports Centre

7

Viento Sur Community Theatre

8

San José de Calasanz Infant and Primary School

9

National Police Station

10

Triana School of Music

11

Los Viveros Public Secondary School

12

EE.MM School for Sports

14

Wandering through the different neighbourhoods, I observed people throughout the day for several days. The shaded streets and squares were full of activity; it was common to see people selling fresh shellfish, fruit and vegetables from pop-up stalls on the streets. People relaxed and had conversations with each other on benches, and there was a lively and friendly street atmosphere.

OUTDOOR PUBLIC SPACES 1

Location of informal market

2

Pedro Santos Gómez Square

3

Vega de Triana Park

4

El Turruñuelo Park

5

San Martín de Porres Square

6

Los Principes Park

7 Tablada

38

2.4 An Introduction to Charco de la Pava

F

or every delightful park in the city, unfortunately there also exists several dejected and decaying equivalents dotted around the periphery, parks that are troubling to communities because of their negative associations and lost opportunities.

In the Triana District of Seville, wedged in-between the River Guadalquivir and the Alfonso XII Canal and separated from the east side of the city’s neighbourhoods by a busy main road, lies eighty hectares of poorly maintained parkland called Vega de Triana. This park is often referred to as Charco de la Pava, which can be translated literally into ‘the turkey’s puddle’. It is an expansive, long strip vacuum that follows the river, and like many similar park typologies, such as the Sara Delano Roosevelt park in New York described by Jane Jacobs, it is experienced “like a trudge on a treadmill”, owing to its repetitive design and “die-stamped functions”.36 It has no centre or climax, and no reason for the public to use it, as it does not even serve the city as a though-route from one district to another.

This leads to the issue on how to define the park. It is popular in architectural discourse to characterise spaces like these as ‘voids’, or ‘dead zones’, terms commonly used in

39

the jargon of urban planners. Gil Doron argues that it is impossible for a space to be a void, as it “transgresses the notion of a (localised) place.” 37 The benefit of not defining Charco de la Pava is that with the absence of recognition, the space can be left unclaimed, and therefore become more socially liberating. The park then, shall be defined as a space for opportunity, and in the case if this study, a space for activism.

I have subdivided my research into three categories; infrastructure, environmental and social, in order to understand the park in all of its contexts.

2.3. a INFRASTRUCTURE

Initially created to serve as a large car park for Seville’s 1992 Expo’38 , it now remains mostly unused, except for some who use its single littered cycle route that crosses the Guadalquivir River, and a few outdoor sports pitches belonging to a sports centre in the middle of the park. The most popular activity of the park however, is the informal and illegal market that occurs every Sunday on the edge of the site (figure 15). Goods are sold from pop-up stalls and the back of vans, in what could be described as a sort of flea market, although most of the items for sale were stolen or found in bins.

2.3. b ENVIRONMENTAL Seville's arid climate makes for stiflingly hot summers, and the park's strategic positioning by the river permits a cooler microclimate, an invaluable element that would make it an ideal annual space if sheltered, for public use. The water also has the potential to be filtered and used for agriculture, or even urban swimming, a pleasant concept for a city as hot as Seville.

At present however, very little of the park is shaded from the sun, and as there are other parks in the city that are better maintained and sheltered, it is understandable that an exposed park such as the Charco de la Pava

15

A vendor selling second-hand shoes, hats and laces sits in the back of his van in the informal market.

JACOBS, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. NewYork: Random House. p. 137.

36

DORON, G. M. …Badlands, blank space, border vacuums, brown fields, conceptual Nevada, Dead Zones… In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, p. 373.

37

GARCÍA, C., CARRASCAL, M. & ALANÍS. Appendix A. 38

40

is underused by the public. With the city’s many historic layers, some spaces naturally become forgotten overtime such as Charco de la Pava, as this type of space has existed since city antiquity, therefore a new story for the space, or a spontaneous action, has the capacity to impart new values to the site.39 The park’s particular location on the left side of the river Guadalquivir makes it a zone very susceptible to inundations by large river floods during rainy months, so for this reason, a flood defence wall was constructed in the middle of the last century, separating Charco de la Pava from the neighbourhoods of Triana and El Tardón.

The flooding risk also means that any building on the site is not permitted, one of the reasons for why the site has remained a car park for all these years. A predominance of low-density tree vegetation such as elms, which are distributed in rows, adds important ecological value to the park, as they facilitate the movement and dispersion of bird species such as the goldfinch, greenfinch and European serin. Other tree types include eucalyptus and date palms, found isolated around the park, which are exploited principally by the common house sparrow.40

41

These attributes give the park the opportunity to be of important ecological value and resource to the city. Ecological models such as suitable planting and floristic compositions, structure and spatial design, are pushed by conservationists, as Charco de la Pava could play an important role in serving as an ecological corridor for bird species between other parks.41 2.3. c SOCIAL The park is transitional in its function as it serves the city only on a temporary basis, for example, becoming a car park during the annual Seville April fair, as well as hosting other commercial fairs and markets.

With the state’s inauguration attempt that started in 2012, there is little to be seen in terms of positive development, and three years on, the park looks to remain “a lonely place” alongside the busy city, and has negative associations to the city’s inhabitants, such as prostitution.42 The mayor of Seville, Juan Ignacio Zoido, invested 17.5 million euros in the effort to transform the park into Seville’s principal green space,43 with plans to improve lighting add park equipment, fountains, toilets, bins and cycle routes, however the park is still only used by the small colony of Romanian Travellers, who have made

the bank of the river Guadalquivir their settlement and are the principle vendors of the informal market.44 It can be ascertained that the park remains predominantly vacant of value to the city’s inhabitants, due to the lack of government or community action. After years of little transformation on the state’s behalf, it seems that community intervention and informal appropriation of the park’s spaces are possibly the only ways in which it could be transformed into valuable public space.

16

Decorated entrance and courtyard space with potted plants.

39

DORON, G. M. (2010) p. 373.

GARCÍA, C., CARRASCAL, M. & ALANÍS. Appendix A. 40

CLEMENTE. M. E. F., et al. (2010) Calles aladas: las aves de la ciudad de Sevilla y su entorno. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla pp. 158159.

41

42

GARCÍA, C. Appendix A.

CONFEDERACIÓN HIDROGRÁFICA DEL GUADALQUIVIR (2012) El parque Vega de Triana se configura como la principal zona verde del Noroeste de Sevilla. [Online] Available from: https://www.chguadalquivir.es [Accessed 17 Janurary 2015].

43

MANUEL. R. R. el Correo de Andalucía (2013) El parque Vega de Triana continúa sin luz, bancos ni agua tras diez meses. August 10th.

[Online] Available from: http://elcorreoweb. es/el-parque-vega-de-triana-continua-sin-luzbancos-ni-agua-tras-diez-meses-FLEC497662 [Accessed 17 January 2015].

44

2.4. d BARRIADA DEL CARMEN It was assumed by the researchers from the University that the neighbourhoods to the east of Charco de la Pava were in serious decline, with emphasis on a particular neighbourhood, Barriada del Carmen45, a social housing neighbourhood made up of ten and five-story apartment blocks, built in the 1950’s as compensation for the people that were evicted from the western slums of Seville in an ‘urban regeneration’ attempt by the state.46 The barriada47 was described as a zone with high numbers of abandoned dwellings, underused and uninviting public spaces, with a majority of the population being pensioners. The reality was quite different. The apartments circle a large, public courtyard, with avenues leading from the courtyard through to the apartments.

These were lined with trees and benches, in which people sat and engaged in conversation. Window reveals, courtyards and entrances were carefully adorned with potted plants (figure 16), revealing that the residents were proud of their homes and neighbourhood. One resident in particular was surprised at the suggestion that this was a chiefly elderly community, as the close proximity to schools and affordable rents has attracted many young families to the area (figure 17).

43

Through the exploration of a particular neighbourhood that adjoins the park, some basic principles were observed over the public spaces that existed, and how the community responded to them, which will shape the conceptual proposal for the Charco de la Pava.

"Aquí hay una communidad muy amable con gente joven, niños y mayors, y la zona esta muy bien conectada con el centro de la ciudad."

This is a lovely community with young people, children, as well as the elderly, and the neighbourhood is very well connected to the centre of the city.

17

A resident of Barriada del Carmen, one of the neighbourhoods in the Triana District that borders the Charco de la Pava.

A resident of Barriada del Carmen (figure 16)

GARCÍA, C., CARRASCAL, M. & ALANÍS. Appendix A. 45

RUIZ ORTEGA, J. L. (2003) La Barriada Laffitte de los Remedios: Un Ejemplo de Segregación Social en la Sevilla de los anos Sesenta. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales. [Online] 7. Available from: http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/sn/sn146%28125%29.htm [Accessed 22 January 2015].

46

Both barrio and barriada refer to neighbourhoods or districts, however it is important to distinguish between the two as the latter implies social housing.

47

44

Chapter

3.0

TURNING THE 'VOID' INTO PUBLIC SPACE

3.1 Conceptual Proposal

Informal weekly market on the edge of park

Transport centre: large space filled with lorries and vans Charco de la Pava sports centre has eleven football pitches, four sports fields, bleachers and night lighting

Activities and functions of the park at present

45

Stages built to host concerts, theatre productions and other cultural events

Festival space (arts, theatre, cycling) with temporary structures to support it

Tree planting, gardening and beautification of park Materials bank and yard

Local commerce, cultivated gardens and vegetable terraces

Weekly market

Open gym and playground built with recycled materials Recycling area, sorting of reusables and recyclables Sports pitches more in use now that park is being used by community

Conceptual Proposal

46

3.2 Program Due to the park’s large size, I will focus my proposal on a particular section that I think would be most strategic in regenerating the space to benefit the communities. I have chosen the site of the transport centre, on the north end of the park, as it has one of the few entrances that allow access to the park from the neighbourhoods by foot, bike and car, through an underpass. People use this to reach the weekly market, and for this reason it is already a popular entrance used by the community. The initiatives will be temporary, however they can have a wide range of timeframes, such as one-off events through to seasonal projects, which can lead to more permanent initiatives as the space develops.

Gardening and beautification facilities (daily): Community cultivated gardens and vegetable terraces to provide food for local commerce.

Recycling area (daily): Recycling area where materials are sorted into a materials bank and yard, available for the community to build playgrounds, temporary structures and other assemblies that are needed.

Playground and outdoor gym (daily): To be built using the recycled materials from the bank, and constructed by the community.

Market (weekly): The Sunday flea market will remain in its original place in the park, however the space can be used for performances and festival events during the rest of the week.

Performance and festival spaces (seasonal): Temporary structures such as stages, tents and kiosks to be built to host concerts, theatre productions and other cultural events.

47

18

Collage of possible performance activities on Charco de la Pava.

48

3.3 Program Description

T

he following describe the activities that would occur in the park with the different proposed programs.

3.3. a URBAN GARDENING The community can create pleasant, smaller pockets of public space within the park by planting trees, which provide shelter from the sun and reduce the open-ness of the park. A majority of the neighbourhoods are made up of housing blocks with apartments that contain no gardens, so most families will have little or no private outdoor space, therefore community cultivated gardens and vegetable terraces will allow for inhabitants to have their own plot of land to grow vegetables, fruits and other plants.

3.3. b RECYCLING This will serve as a residential waste drop-off, and will be the site of sorting reusable materials. These materials can then be used for compost for the gardens, or for the construction of playgrounds, benches and shelters for the park. The spaces in the park can be reinvented using the recycled and easy to handle materials, facilitating the construction of children’s play things, relaxation and leisure areas, vegetable gardens etc. Wooden pallets

49

are a good example of a readily available, cheap construction material that could be exploited for this. By involving the community in the process of recycling, more awareness is created over the reutilisation of materials.

3.3. c PLAYGROUNDS The playgrounds and outdoor gym will be constructed by the community with the recycled materials gathered from the material bank (figure 18), like Santiago Cirugeda’s playgrounds that are dotted around Seville. Unfortunately, the economic crisis in Spain has come hand in hand with very high rates of theft, therefore benches, tables and playground equipment should be fixed to the ground and be made from cheap and recycled materials.

3.3. d MARKET The weekly market will remain in its original place, and will gain popularity due to the new activities occurring other days of the week.

3.3. e PERFORMANCES & FESTIVALS The main road creates a sound barrier between the park and the surrounding neighbourhoods, providing opportunities for live performances, as it minimises disturbance. The theatre and music schools next to Barriada del Carmen are examples of groups that could use this space. Other uses include dance, art and even cycling festivals that can exploit the park’s cycle routes, such as ‘Bicycle Day’ which usually occurs at the Alamillo Park, situated on the north west of the city, where people come together to cycle through different routes the city.48 I have decided to place these activities on this side of the park, as the underpass permits easy access under the main road, and is the entrance most commonly used by people to reach the park.

19

Collage of the playgrounds and markets on the park.

S. V. Diario de Sevilla. (2010) Día Metropolitano de la Bici. August 4th. [Online] Available from: http://www.diariodesevilla.es/ article/sevilla/672604/dia/metropolitano/la/ bici.html [Accessed 17th January 2015].

48

50

3.4 Potential Outcomes

C

urrently, the park is an unsafe environment due to the lack of natural or artificial surveillance, with a local reputation of being used for prostitution and other illegal activities. It has a similar sense of threat as a “street without eyes” has within the city.49 Increasing the amount of activities, and in turn the diversity of the people using the park, natural surveillance will increase and improve the sense of security.

While the space remains abandoned at present, there is little doubt that ample opportunity exists through the programs described for neighbourhood residents to re-appropriate the park themselves, utilising community collaboration and creative intervention to establish a democratic public space. As the park becomes livelier with plenty of activities, it will attract further liveliness as it develops into a destination for the city’s inhabitants.

Neighbourhood parks are directly affected by the way the neighbourhood acts upon them, so through the active involvement of the community in the decision making process over the park’s functions and appearance, a stronger sense of pride will develop towards the space, resulting in less vandalism than is seen

51

today (figure 20).

The assortment of creative activities planned for the park would bring people, present for different purposes, to continuously mingle and interact with each other, which Jane Jacobs considers as the fundamental device that maintains safety, diversity and further activity in public spaces.50 The proposal is an urge for a more democratic, sustainable and holistic approach to spatial appropriation of public spaces, as they are the main location for fertile interactions between the city’s subcultures.51

3.4. a COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT The diversity of the programs would encourage various people and collectives to be involved in the projects. As with the initiatives that have been discussed in the previous chapters, which have demonstrated how effectiveness increases exponentially when people begin to form a network with others and create a common conscious of public space, provoking the emergence of further interventions.51 This achieves active engagement with communities and collectives, allowing for participatory decision making of the public space.

Particular collectives and individuals that would participate in the initiatives would include theatre groups from the nearby community theatre (figure 3), young local artists that could showcase exhibitions for free and local associations and councils that could use the temporary structures for discussion forums.

20

Wall of underpass that allows access to the park. Underused parks and their equipment often suffer from vandalism.

49

JACOBS, J. (1961) p. 123.

50

Ibid. p. 339.

51

VĂ ZQUEZ, C. G. et al. (2011).

52

CONCLUSION

W

ith the objective to reactivate social and cultural activities in Seville’s public spaces, individuals such as Santiago Cirugeda, attested that with the re-appropriation of obsolete spaces, communities have the potential to expand upon their experiences and creative capacities.52 La Carpa, a space prompted by creativity and public interaction, reminded communities of the diverse leisure of public space, which did not have to be appropriated or exploited for profit by the government or private investors.

Although great progress has been made in theoretical debates on the subjects explored in this study, in practice it is still in its infancy, and projects remain small in scale. However the emergence of networks such as Arquitecturas Colectivas and Laboratorio Q, have shown the opportunities that obsolete spaces can provide to people in Seville, commanding communities and institutions to act together for a revolution in the city’s development in the spaces for the public.

The conceptual proposal, driven by the innovative tools and planning instruments outlined through the investigation of the grass-roots projects, aims to provide an example of how an unused space can be used as a platform for various micro-actions,

53

to support and be enjoyed by the city's citizens. Improving the urban environment by actively involving communities with the decision-making process at every level of design and planning, along with the freedom to self-govern, will enrich the lives and the "dignity of life" 53 of Seville's citizens.

The findings compiled in this dissertation, if fed back into planning and policy in Seville, could give rise for further enquiry, inviting different actors driven by participatory models, to cooperate towards a new, democratic form of public space to serve all citizens.

21

View of Cajasol Tower from Charco de la Pava, now the tallest building in Seville, superseding the historic Giralda, seen in the distance on the right. The flea market can be seen to the left of the bridge.

ROSA, M. L. & WEILAND, U. E. (2013) Handmade Urbanism: From community initiatives to participatory models. Berlin : Jovis Verlag.

52

53

p. 18. STEVENS, Q. (2007) p.3.

54

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FAINSTEIN, S. S. (2010) The Just City.

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GROAT, L. & WANG, D. (2002) Architectural Research Methods. New York: Wiley.

HARVEY, D. (2012) Rebel Cities: from the right to the city to the urban evolution. New York: Verso.

VÁZQUEZ, C. G. et al. (2011) Forum on Urban Creativity. Seville : E.T.S. de Arquitectura de Sevilla.

CHAPTER 1.0 BOHIGAS, O. El País. (2006) “La calle es mía!” January 25th. [Online] Available from: http://elpais.com/diario/2006/01/25/ c a t a lu nya /1 1 3 8 1 5 4 8 4 4 _ 8 5 0 2 1 5 . h t m l [Accessed 25 July 2014].

CIRUGEDA, S. ‘Casa Grande Pumarejo’, Recetas Urbanas. [Online] Available from: http://www.recetasurbanas.net/v3/images/ fichas/ficharefi008casagrandepumarejo. pdf [Accessed 25 July 2014].

EALHAM, C. & RICHARDS, M. (2005) The Splintering of Spain: Cultural History and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.

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FINCH, S. Building. (2008) Spanish housing market: The pain in Spain. [Online] Available from: http://www.building.co.uk/ spanish-housing-market- the-pain-inspain/3114067.article [Accessed 25th July 2014].

GROAT, L. & WANG, D. (2002) Architectural Research Methods. New York: Wiley.

HARVEY, D. (2012) Rebel Cities: from the right to the city to the urban evolution. New York: Verso.

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PETCOU, C. & PETRESCU, D. At the ground level of the city. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, pp. 133-149.

RODRÍGEZ, M. I. (2012) Architecture with the people, by the people, for the people.

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Small World's Project (2011) Matadero Madrid – small changes going big and other cultural politics in the Spanish capital. [Online] Available from: http:// smallworldsproject.com [Accessed 24 February 2015].

SZYMCZAK, K. (2010). Actuar en lo público. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, pp. 61-63.

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CHAPTER 2.0 CIRUGEDA, S. (2007) Situaciones Urbanas.

Barcelona: Tenov.

CIRUGEDA, S. Estrategias subversivas de ocupación urbana. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09.

Madrid: La Casa Encendida, pp. 93-95.

CLEMENTE. M. E. F., et al. (2010) Calles aladas: las aves de la ciudad de Sevilla y su entorno. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla.

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DORON, G. M., …Badlands, blank space, border vacuums, brown fields, conceptual Nevada, Dead Zones… In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09.

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Guerrilla Architect (2014). Directed

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HEWITT, G. The BBC (2012) Spain budget: Cuts to total 27bn euros this year. March 30th. [Online] Available from: http:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17557172 [Accessed 14th September 2014].

HEYDEN, M. (2008) Evolving Participatory Design. field: a free journal for architecture [Online] 2.

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JACOBS, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. NewYork: Random House.

LUCAS, Á. El País. (2014) La Carpa abandona su terreno en Sevilla por desencuentros municipales.

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MANUEL, R. R. el Correo de Andalucía (2013) El parque Vega de Triana continúa sin luz, bancos ni agua tras diez meses.

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MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida.

RUIZ ORTEGA, J. L. (2003) La Barriada Laffitte de los Remedios: Un Ejemplo de Segregación Social en la Sevilla de los anos Sesenta. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales [Online] 7. Available from: http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/sn/sn146%28125%29.htm [Accessed 22 January 2015].

STEVENS, Q. (2007) The Ludic City: Exploring the Potential of Public Spaces.

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TORRES, A. P., Recetas Urbanas de Santiago Cirugeda. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, pp. 85-91.

CHAPTER 3.0 JACOBS, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. NewYork: Random House.

S. V. Diario de Sevilla. (2010) Día Metropolitano de la Bici. August 4th.

[Online] Available from: http://www. diariodesevilla.es/article/sevilla/672604/ dia/metropolitano/la/bici.html [Accessed 17th January 2015].

CONCLUSION ROSA, M. L. & WEILAND, U. E. (2013) Handmade Urbanism: From community initiatives to participatory models. Berlin : Jovis Verlag.

STEVENS, Q. (2007) The Ludic City: Exploring the Potential of Public Spaces.

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VÁZQUEZ, C. G. et al. (2011) Forum on Urban Creativity. Seville : E.T.S. de Arquitectura de Sevilla.

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Other Bibliographic References DASKALAKIS, G. et al (eds.), (2001) Stalking Detroit. Barcelona: Actar.

FRIEDMAN, Y. (2008) Pro Domo. Barcelona: Actar.

HERZOG, L. A. (2006) Return to the Centre: Culture, Public Space, and City Building in the Global Era. Austin: University of Texas Press.

JONES, P. B., PETRESCU, D. & TILL, J. (eds.), (2005) Architecture and Participation.

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OVERMEYER, K. Pioneros del espacio.

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PERRY, M. E. (1990) Gender and Disorder in Early Modern Seville. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

ROSSI, A. (1931) A Scientific Autobiography.

Massachusetts: MIT Press.

ROSSI, A. (1982) The Architecture of the City. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

KOSSAK, F. et al. (2010) Agency: Working with uncertain architectures. CRITIQUES: Critical Studies in Architectural Humanities Volume 5. London: Routledge.

SALET, W. & GUALINI, E. (2007) Framing Strategic Urban Projects: Learning from current experiences in European urban regions. London: Routledge.

MORADEILLOS, M. Manual metodológico de acción urbana. In: MÉNDEZ DE ANDÉZ, A. (2010) Urbanacción 07/09. Madrid: La Casa Encendida, pp. 261-264.

SMITH, N. (1996) The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the revanchist city. New York: Routledge Publications.

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CORRALA UTOPÍA (2014) Corrala de Vecinas La Utopia. [Online] Available from: http://corralautopia.blogspot.co.uk/ [Accessed 25 July 2014].

Hoy Es Arte. (2013) El Golpe: Fotografía de la respresión en Sevilla. October 7th.

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KASSAM, A. The Guardian. (2014) Reclaiming the rooftops of Spain for cultural events. September 1st. [Online] Available from: http://www.theguardian. com/world/2014/sep/01/spain-reclaimingrooftops-redetejas-culture [Accessed 14th September 2014].

LABORATORIO Q (2012) Laboratorio Q. [Online] Available from: www.laboratorioq. com/en [Accessed 29 October 2014].

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MOLINA, M. El País. (2014) El CaixaForum de Sevilla ocupará parte del aparcamiento de la Torre Pelli. May 3rd. [Online] Available from: http:// c c a a . e l p a i s . c o m /c c a a /2 0 1 4 /0 5 /0 2 / a ndalu c ia /1 3 9 9 0 5 75 9 5 _ 4 89 3 1 3 . h t m l [Accessed 14th September 2014].

MONTERO, J. L. el Correo de Andalucía (2014) La Vega de Triana tendrá huertos, un bar y el mayor parque infantil de la ciudad.

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RECETAS URBANAS (2007) Recetas Urbanas. [Online] Available from: http:// www.recetasurbanas.net/v3/index.php/es/ [Accessed 25 July 2014].

REDETEJAS (2013) Redetejas. [Online] Available from: http://redetejas.org/ [Accessed 2 November 2014].

RINCÓN, R. El País. (2012) Otro proyecto de Sevilla en el aire. November 17th. [Online] Available from: http:// c c a a . e l p a i s . c o m /c c a a /2 0 1 2 / 1 1 / 1 7 / a ndalu c ia /1 3 5 3 1 89 4 0 9 _ 3 0 4 6 8 8 . h t m l [Accessed 14th September 2014].

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SPAIN. REGISTRO MUNICIPAL DE SOLARES Y EDIFICACIONES RUINOSAS. (2012) Boletín Oficial de la provincia de Sevilla. Seville. (2010).

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Spanish News Today. (2013) 5 Civil War Executions Discovered in Seville.

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Spanish News Today. (2013) El Golpe, Seville, to 24th November. October 8th. [Online] Available from: http:// spanishnewstoday.com/el-golpe-sevilleto-24th-november_18842-a.html#.

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STELFOX, D. The Guardian. (2013) How the corrala movement is occupying Spain.

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ZABALBEASCOA, A. El País. (2013) ¿Por qué fallan los edificios-estrella? November 23rd. [Online] Available from: http:// cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2013/11/23/ actualidad/1385237243_502065. html?rel=rosEP [Accessed 14th September 2014].

Other Publications ZABALBEASCOA, A. El País. (2013) Torres, engendros y otras controversias. February 12th. [Online] Available from: http:// cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2013/02/11/ actualidad/1360612808_890050.html [Accessed 14th September 2014].

CIRUGEDA, S. (2011) El espacio público es donde se representa major una sociedad.

Encrucijades: Revista de Ciencias Sociales.

1)2) p.12-15.

BUTTERWORTH, C & VARDY, S. (2008) Site-seeing: Constructing the ‘Creative Survey’. field: a free journal for architecture [Online] 2. Available from: http://www. field-journal.org/uploads/file/2008%20 Vo l u m e % 2 0 2 % 2 0 / S i t e - S e e i n g _ Butterworth,%20Vardy.pdf [Accessed 10 December 2014].

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1

HARVEY, D. (2012) Rebel Cities: from the right to the city to the urban evolution. [Book cover] New York: Verso.

2

3

6

PELLS, L. (2015) Charco de la Pava (South) [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

Matadero-Madrid (2013) Jorge Fuembuena. Retratos/Portraits [Photograph] Available from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ mataderomadrid/11046558783/ i n /s e t - 7 2 1 5 7 6 3 8 0 3 8 7 1 7 7 3 3 [Accessed 24 February 2015].

7

PELLS, L. (2015) Community Theatre [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

PELLS, L. (2015) Casa del Pumarejo [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

8

OPERA (2014) Experiential Residential [Photographs] Available from: https:// experimentalresidential. wordpress.com/ [Accessed 17 December 2014].

9

CIRUGEDA, S. (2007) Recetas Urbanas [Image] In: CIRUGEDA, S. (2007) Situaciones Urbanas.

Barcelona: Tenov.

4

PELLS, L. (2015) MarĂ­a Luisa Park [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

5

El Golpe (1936) Prisioneros capturados por los golpistas en Utrera [Photograph] Available from: http://www.hoyesarte.com/ evento/2013/10/el-golpe-dela-republica-a-la-dictadura-ensevilla/ [Accessed 2 November 2014].

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10

11

12

Laboratorio Q (2001) Children playing on seesaw [Photograph] Available from: http://www. laboratorioq.com/en/lugares/ lu ga re s - q / k u vas - s - c - cubas contenedores/ [Accessed 24 February 2015].

Laboratorio Q (2011) La Carpa Espacio ArtĂ­stico [Photograph] Available from: http://www. laboratorioq.com/lugares/ lugares-q/la-carpa/ [Accessed 24 February 2015].

Corrala Libertad (2013) People with banner [Photograph] Available from: http:// corralalibertad.blogspot.co.uk/p/ fotosvideos.html [Accessed 12 July 2014].

13

PELLS, L. (2015) Charco de la Pava (North) [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

14

PELLS, L. (2015) Street Vendors [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

15

PELLS, L. (2015) Mercadillo, Charco de la Pava [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

16

PELLS, L. (2015) Potted plants, Barriada del Carmen [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

17

PELLS, L. (2015) Portrait of resident in Barriada del Carmen [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

18

PELLS, L. (2015) Performances [Collage] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

19

PELLS, L. (2015) Playgrounds [Collage] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

20

PELLS, L. (2015) Wall of underpass [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

21

PELLS, L. (2015) View of Cajasol Tower from Charco de la Pava [Photograph] In possession of: The author: Sheffield.

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APPENDIX

Strategies for Creative Intervention (Interview) On my visit to Seville in January 2015, I met with three architectural researchers from the University of Seville; Carlos García, María Carrascal and Antonio Alanís. The three form part of the investigative group called HUM666 and Laboratorio Q. The interview was conducted in Carlos' office in Seville on 10.01.2015.

L: Thank you, Carlos, María, Antonio, for spending the time to talk to me about this project that I’m working on…

C: You’re final year project, yes?

L: That’s right. I’d like to firstly ask you about the field of research that you’re involved with at the moment, on public spaces, on obsolete public spaces, within the city…

C: At the moment, we are involved in an important investigative project that is to include a manual of good practice to recuperate barriadas. (When we’re talking about ‘barriadas’, we’re talking about residential areas that are very much associated with the idea of ‘social housing’.) A part of this manual is strategies for intervention (we call it urban development) and a lot of them are strategies for the recuperation of public spaces in these neighbourhoods. And a part of it, and I think you’ll be interested by it, a part of it are strategies for creative intervention for the recuperation of obsolete public spaces in these neighbourhoods.

L: And I understand a part of this is linked with another branch of your research, called Laboratorio Q?

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C: Laboratorio Q is, put basically, orientated around the topic of creativity. Creativity as well as obsolescence.

Laboratorio Q is creativity, I mean, that it goes to places where there are creative interventions, studies it whether they are obsolete or not, independently.

On the other hand, in reference to obsolescence, what we have most developed are the interventions in barriadas of the fifties, sixties and seventies, and parts of this are creative interventions.

M: There’s some fieldwork, which is already being set forth with a lot of material, on many levels, because it is not only the obsolescence of public spaces, but also the building itself…

C: Exactly. There is a neighbourhood, and it’s one of the most architecturally interesting neighbourhoods, and Antonio developed it in his final thesis project. What might interest you is the good practice document, which we are developing for urban practice. It’s a document that is quite generic and in this document, we can show which are public spaces, and which are creative.

L: Could you describe to me a bit more about this document?

A: This is the index of the document, of good practice.

In the end we articulated it as such as key thematic words, which are compact barriadas, whole compact city model, proximity of uses…. Anyway, all have, because of our training and lead of research of creative cities, all have had an adverse component of creativity.

All are formulated to be parameters. And, even if you ought to focus principally on creative barriadas, all have... well, it would be interesting to check all of them.

M: The ideal for you, would be, to establish some strategies to intervene there and in base of that

i

From left to right: Carlos García, María Carrascal and Antonio Alanís from the University of Seville.

L: Gracias, Carlos, Maria, Antonio, por ser tan amables de hablar conmigo sobre el proyecto en el que estoy trabajando….

C: ¿Es tu proyecto de fin de carrera, no?

L: Así es. Me gustaría en primer lugar que me hablarais del campo de investigación en el que estáis trabajando en este momento, sobre los espacio públicos, los espacios públicos obsoletos, en la ciudad…

C: Nosotros estamos ahora mismo llevando un proyecto de investigación bastante importante que incluye un manual de buenas prácticas para recuperar estas barriadas. (Cuando hablamos de barriadas nos referimos a zonas residenciales que están muy asociadas con la idea de ‘viviendas de protección oficial’). Entonces, una parte de este manual son estrategias de intervención (nosotros las llamamos urbanísticas) y muchas de ellas son de estrategias de recuperación del espacio público de esa barriada [Barriada del Carmen]. Y una parte, te lo digo por si te interesa, hay una parte que son estrategias de intervención creativa para recuperar espacios, ¿es así verdad? Es una parte que son estrategias creativas de recuperación del espacio público obsoleto de esa barriada.

L: ¿Y según tengo entendido una parte de esto esta vinculada a otra rama de vuestra investigación, que se llama Laboratorio Q? C: Laboratorio Q va orientado básicamente al tema de la creatividad. Creatividad y obsolescencia.

Laboratorio Q es creatividad, o sea que va a lugares donde hay intervenciones creativas, la estudia sea obsoleta o no, independientemente. Entonces en lo de la obsolescencia, en cambio, lo que tenemos mas

desarrollado, es la intervención en barriadas de los ’50, ’60 y ’70’s, y una parte son intervenciones creativas.

M: Hay una parte de trabajo de campo que ya esta desarrollada con muchos datos, a muchos niveles, porque no son solo obsolescencia de espacios públicos, sino también de la propia edificación …

C: Exacto. Hay una barriada, es una de las barriadas arquitectónicamente más interesantes, y Antonio la desarrolló también un su proyecto de fin de carrera.

Lo que te puede interesar es el documento de buenas prácticas que estamos desarrollando para las prácticas urbanísticas. Es un documento bastante genérico y en ese documento, nosotros podemos señalar cuáles son espacios públicos, y cuáles son creativos.

L: ¿Me podéis describir un poco más este documento?

A: Este es el índice del documento, de buenas prácticas.

Al final lo articulábamos como en palabras conceptos claves temáticas, que serían barriadas compactas, que es todo el modelo de ciudad compacta, de proximidad de usos… De todos modos, por nuestras formación y por nuestra línea de investigación, de ciudad creativa, todas tienen un componente adversal de creatividad.

Todas están formuladas de ser parámetro. Y aunque, deber de fijarse principalmente en barriadas creativas, todas tienen…, seria interesante, bueno, que pudiera revisar todas.

M: Tu ideal, sería, establecer unas estrategias para intervenir allí y en base a esa hipótesis, elaborar una encuesta, e ir allí, a hacer un trabajo de campo.

C: Pablo Sendra ha hecho la tesis doctoral, sobre la recuperación de barriadas sociales de Londres, con una estrategia como la tuya.

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hypothesis, develop a survey, and go there, and do some field work.

A: For example, the ‘creative clusters’, which is aimed at vacant plots, of spaces, of public spaces…

C: Pablo Sendra has done a doctoral thesis, over the recuperation of social housing neighbourhoods in London, with a strategy similar to yours.

M: If you want to know all the necessary tutorials, that could be possible, with the use of certain plots.

The problem that these barriadas have is that the public spaces are virtually undeveloped. They are extensive with excessively looked after vegetation, but low maintenance and there are even areas that are partitioned because they tend to be closed off, and they do not have any character, they aren’t special at all…

M: Well, for us it has given us room to feed this good practice and to study it in the first place, a study of European cases, where renovations have been brought and a few basic strategies have been extracted…

One of them, for example, is based, it isn’t European, it’s from New York, in reserving a percentage of the renovation cost for the integration of a work of art in the public space, in order to work a little bit with the symbolic production of the public space. This is good practice that is based within other strategies that already exist, and we are publicising them. Anyway, what you are seeing are ideas. In the field of creativity, there are a lot of approaches; you can select one that’s more sociological, more artistic… Reutilizing low rent, productive, obsolete spaces to achieve creative activities. In this example, for example, it’s due to the number of times in which there are spaces within the barriada, within the neighbourhood itself, which are not being used and which can be put to the disposition of the community and which are appropriate places to bring about participation or collaborations within the citizens, then in some way to investigate whether they exist. But of course, this is very generic. There are barriadas that meet these conditions and others that won’t meet them. Well, it’s to discover these frameworks, which already exist in the space and in one way or another identify them as spaces for creative activities, activities that are always linked with the community.

C: Imagine that there is an abandoned school in the barriada; this would be applied to that.

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C: There is a proposal that we are working on with the technical college in Milan, which is the intervention of one of these barriadas and to recuperate it and a large car park that is only used on two or three occasions a year, it was about recuperating this with creative strategies.

M: Carlos proposed to do an integrated project, so we conceived this project, but it goes further than public spaces. This proposal is to use some of the empty apartments in a particular barriada, which we have spoken to you about, that is very beautiful close to Triana. The first and second part of this project was to convert this barriada into an attractive place for creative collectives, imagine young artists with little money. This barriada, one of the principal problems is that the population who live there are very elderly, and these are places that aren’t attractive to young collectives.

So it is about intervening with the barriada to attract creative collectives, who will pay a very low rent etc. so that they can work and live in this barriada. Next to the barriada there is a giant car park for thousands and thousands of cars, which is only used once a year, so it is to use a part of this car park for ‘pop-up’ activities, such as markets, forums, these types of things, and all

M: Bueno, es que para nosotros le da mucho para nutrir estas buenas practicas y así hacer primero un trabajo de estudio de casos europeos, donde ya se han hecho las rehabilitaciones y se han extraído un poco de estrategias básicas… Uno allí por ejemplo, esta basada, no es europeas, es neoyorquina, que es reservar un porcentaje de los costes de rehabilitación para la integración de una obra de arte en el espacio público, para trabajar un poco en la producción simbólica en el espacio público. Esta seria una buena práctica que está basada en otras estrategias que ya existían y nosotros la anunciamos. De todas formas lo que ves son como ideas. En el campo de la creatividad, hay muchos enfoques, puedes escoger uno mas sociológico, mas artístico…

Reutilizar espacios productivos obsoletos de renta barata para lograr actividad creativa. En este ejemplo, por ejemplo, es porque muchas veces hay espacios dentro de la barriada, dentro del propio barrio que no se están utilizando y que se pueden poner a la disposición de la comunidad y son lugares idóneos para que se produzca la participación o la colaboración entre los ciudadanos, entonces en alguna manera el detectar si existen. Porque claro, esto es muy genérico. Hay barriadas que cumple estas condiciones y otras que no las van a cumplir. Pues, es detectar esas estructuras, que ya existen en el espacio y de una manera identificarlas como lugares para actividades creativas, actividades siempre vinculadas a la comunidad.

C: Imagínate que hay un colegio abandonado en la barriada, sería para eso.

A: Por ejemplo, esta el del ‘clusters creativos’, que es el de parcelas vacantes, de lugares…, de espacios públicos…

M: Que quieres saber todas las tutorías necesarias, eso

podría ser, la utilización de determinadas parcelas. El problema que tiene estas barriadas es que el espacio publico no esta prácticamente desarrollado. Es muy extenso con un vegetación excesivamente cuidada y un mantenimiento bajo y entonces hay áreas que se encuentran incluso parceladas porque tienden mucho a que estén cerradas y no tienen ningún tipo de carácter, no son especiales para nada…

C: Hay una propuesta que la estamos haciendo con el politécnico de Milán, que era de intervención en una de estas barriadas y era recuperar la barriada y un aparcamiento gigantesco que solo se utiliza para dos o tres ocasiones al ano, era recuperar eso con estrategia creativas.

M: Carlos propuso hacer un proyecto integral, entonces ideamos este proyecto, pero este proyecto es mas allá del espacio publico. La propuesta era utilizar parte de las viviendas vacía, ese en una barriada, que es el que te hemos comentado que es muy bonita que esta cerca de Triana. Pero el uno y el dos era convertir esta barriada en un lugar atractivo para un colectivo creativo, imagínate jóvenes pintores con poco dinero.

Esa barriada, uno de los problemas principales es que la población que vive allí es muy mayor, y son lugares que no son atractivos para colectivos jóvenes.

Entonces era intervenir en la barriada para atraer colectivos creativos, pagar una renta muy baja etc. que pudieran vivir y trabajar en la barriada. Junto a la barriada hay un aparcamiento gigantesco para miles y miles de coches que solo se utilizan una vez al ano, entonces era usar parte de ese aparcamiento para actividades ‘pop-up’, de mercado, de conferencias, de todo ese tipo de cosas, y todo de intervención con actividades creativas. Este proyecto es sumamente interesante, ahora lo están trabajando en Milán, en un curso de doctorado en Milán, … De todas formas, es una zona inundable, no se puede construir porque

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of which are interventions with creative activities. This project is extremely interesting, and at the moment it is being worked on in Milan, in a doctorate course in Milan … Anyway, it’s in a flood zone, you cannot build there because of the river next to it, so, it was made as a car park for the ’92 Expo, and because it’s close proximity to the Fair, it is used as a car park for that too. The car park is gigantic… one of the problems is how to connect one area with another.

L: Can you describe the barriada a bit more?

A: Well the population is very elderly, the birth rate is getting increasingly lower and there are lots of vacant homes, it was constructed in ’54 to ’56…

M: Colonise, I don’t know, if there is another activity, on top, at certain times. We also make a hypothesis and we determine that some months these spaces would be occupied, and some months they wouldn’t.

You have now a generic basic structure to help support these activities. So, you have the conditions.

Right now there exists an informal market that is very famous, which is actually very extensive in size.

What type of activities, circulation activities, open-air galleries, workshops, micro-businesses, performances, markets… all of which could be done there. And what you propose, you can invent ‘pop-up’ activities, well you are an architect after all, and you have to invent for yourself devices which enable this space to be colonised for this use.

M: 45% of it is empty and these are the places to create, and we not only proposed certain programs, but we also proposed a development of programs to generate ‘clusters’ of creative collectives. There is a lot of production of crafts, the first urban gardens were done here in Seville, which you would have seen with Laboratorio Q, a large music culture environment, and percussion… well you have to see what cultural activities there are.

So, which programs they are, work programs with community projects, exhibition zones, education zones. These were the objectives; accommodate these programs and design, in this case the unit, the homes so that they became a place for creative activities, and evidently the design of public spaces. And now, well, this is in a zone that is really quite open to the city, which is next door. Well, here you can explain what is ‘pop-up’, Carlos.

L: What do you think is most important, the development of the spaces within Barriada del Carmen, or the park on the other side?

C: This was the strategy to colonise this part of the giant car park, only this part here, where the collective could do things from forums to theatres, markets etc.

A: I have spoken to a few individuals, but not a lot.

There isn’t really a community.

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C: I think the interesting thing is both, and the connection between them, because, you know, they are complementary. The proposal is to live and work in the barriada, but their contact with the city is in the parking space. There they make their exhibitions…

M: The idea is to have a ‘creative cluster’ make an impact on the city, using an area that is more to serve the whole city.

L: Have you had interviews, or conversations with any of the residents? Did you find out what ideas they might have had over this new transformation, or proposal of these ‘creative clusters’?

C: This idea of the ‘creative clusters’ has never been

el rio esta allí, entonces se hizo para la expo 92 como aparcamiento, entonces como esta cerca de la feria se utiliza también. El aparcamiento es gigantesco…, uno de los problemas era como conectar una cosa con otra.

L: ¿Podéis describirme la barriada un poquito más?

A: Bueno la población es muy mayor, la natalidad es cada vez mas baja y muchas viviendas vacías, fue construido del ‘54 al ‘56…

M: El 45% esta vacío y esos son los lugares para crear y nosotros no proponíamos un programa determinado sino que lo que proponíamos era que desarrollaran una serie de programas para generar ese ‘cluster’ de colectivos creativos.

Hay mucha producción artesanal, los primeros huertos urbanos también se hicieron aquí en Sevilla, que eso lo habrás visto en Laboratorio Q, una gran cultura musical entorno, la percusión, … bueno hay que ver qué actividades culturales hay.

Entonces qué programas son, programas de trabajo con proyectos comunitarios, zonas de exhibición, zonas para la educación. Estos eran los objetivos, alojar los programas y diseñar, en este caso la unidad, las viviendas para que fuera un lugar de actividad creativa, y el diseñar el espacio público evidentemente.

Y ahora, bueno, pues eso en esta, en una zona que está realmente mucho mas abierta a la ciudad, que es lo de al lado. Entonces, aquí hablas de explicar que es el ‘pop-up’, Carlos.

C: Esto era la estrategia de colonizar esta parte del aparcamiento gigantesco, solo seria alguna parte aquí, donde este colectivo pueda hacer desde conferencia a teatro, a mercado etc.

M: Colonizar no sé , pues si hay otra actividad, encima, y en determinados momentos. Nosotros también

hacemos una hipótesis y ponemos que ciertos meses están ocupados y ciertos meses no. Tu tiene en genero un estructura básica que ayuda a soportar estas actividades. Entonces, actualmente existe un mercadillo que es muy famoso, que es extensísimo.

Que tipo de actividades, actividades de difusion, de gallerías al aire libre, ‘workshops, micro-businesses, performances, markets’… que se podía hacer allí. Y lo que vosotras preponías, puedes inventar actividades pop-up, y hablas, pues tu eres arquitecto por tanto, y tienes que inventarte dispositivos que faciliten que ese espacio sea colonizado para esto.

L: ¿Qué pensáis que es más importante, el desarrollo de los espacios dentro de la Barriada del Carmen, o el parque al otro lado?

C: Creo que lo interesante son ambas cosas, y la conexión entre ellos, porque, ya sabes, son complementarios. La propuesta es vivir y trabajar en la barriada, pero su contacto con la ciudad a través del aparcamiento. Allí hacen sus exposiciones…

M: La idea es tener un ‘clusters creativos’ que tenga impacto en la ciudad, usando un área que sea de utilidad a toda la ciudad.

L: ¿Habéis llevado a cabo entrevistas, o conversaciones con algunos de los residentes? ¿Habéis descubierto que ideas podrían tener ellos acerca de esta nueva transformación, o propuesta de estos ‘clusters creativos’?

A: He hablado con algunas personas, pero no con muchos. En realidad, no hay espíritu de comunidad.

C: Esta idea de un ‘cluster creativo’ es muy novedosa, nunca se ha hecho antes. Normalmente se han hecho en zonas industriales, o en centros históricos, nunca

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done before, it’s very new. They have usually been done in industrial areas, or in historic centres, never in a barriada. Therefore, the biggest problem of these types of social housing neighbourhoods is the lack of attraction of the place, physical attraction, the lack of attraction of all these different types of things that need to be solved.

L: Is there a sense of pride from the residents of their neighbourhood?

M: There is a lot of identity. So, for that reason, the process of recuperating the empty spaces needs to be fully integrated with the community, and with the individuals of the community. If a creative community went there, with young people, to do things, the programs that should be considered will be how to integrate the new inhabitants with the existing ones.

L: I think I see what you mean. In the involvement of these young creative collectives or individuals, we have the opportunity to regenerate the barriada, as well as introduce new creative activities, of a ‘popup’ nature, in the park, permitting a new creative culture in the park and neighbourhoods, as well as a new connection between the city, the creative young people, and the existing community.

M: Exactly.

L: Well, I think that’s all. Thank you very much, it has been a pleasure speaking to you this morning.

M: The pleasure is ours!

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en una barriada. Entonces, gran parte del problema de estos barrios de vivienda social, es la falta de un lugar atractivo, la falta de un atractivo físico, la falta de todo atractivo, de todos estos tipos de cosas aunque se tiene que solucionar.

L: ¿Hay un sentimiento de orgullo por parte de los residentes del barrio?

M: Hay mucha identidad. Por eso el proceso como recuperar espacios vacíos allí tiene que estar muy integrado con la comunidad, con los individuos de la comunidad. Si aquí, viniera una comunidad creativa, con gente joven, a hacer cosas, los programas que se tendrían que considerar, serían cómo integrar los nuevos habitantes con los existentes.

L: Creo que ya sé a que te refieres. Con la participación de estos colectivos o individuos creativos jóvenes, tenemos la oportunidad de regenerar la barriada, y al mismo tiempo de introducir nuevas actividades creativas de naturaleza ‘pop-up’ en el parque, permitiendo una cultura creativa nueva en el parque y en los barrios, y a su vez una nueva conexión entre la ciudad, los jóvenes creativos, y la comunidad existente.

M: Así es.

L: Bueno, creo que eso es todo. Muchas gracias, ha sido todo un placer hablar con vosotros esta mañana.

M: ¡El placer es nuestro!

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Website for Laboratorio Q, a web platform that records individual or collective interventions that reuse the city creatively, generating unusual places and resources that respond to new needs.

IMAGES i CAPC grupo de investigación HUM-666 (2015) Miembros [Photographs] Available from: http://investigacioncontemporanea.com/ [Accessed 25 March 2015]. ii Laboratorio Q (2001) Children playing on seesaw [Photograph] Available from: http://www.laboratorioq.com/en/lugares/ lugares-q/kuvas-s-c-cubas-contenedores/ [Accessed 24 February 2015].

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