LOCATION: LIMA - PERU Pachacutec Citadel, located on the outskirts north of Lima, 35 kilometers from downtown Lima, is a developing tissue. It is one of many shantytowns unattended by local governments as regards public areas management. Created in the middle of the desert from formal and informal occupations in the late ´90s has had a slow and interrupted development. Today, years later with a population of about 200,000, it´s still depends economically upon Lima, has not been able to generate its own economic dynamics to bring about the use of its own urban environment. On the contrary, its inhabitants commute to work in Lima every day, spending 4 hours of their time in public transportation. In that sense, the way this citadel operates is similar to a bedroom city.
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PACHACUTEC
35 km LIMA
LOCATION: PACHACUTEC In Pachacutec the public areas are almost inexistent, the condition of poverty of its inhabitants and their basic requirements still unsatisfied make that concern for the common good be inevitably minimal or nil. However, the history of these urban tissues shows that collective initiatives for the common good exist, as far as they show a tangible an evident individual benefit. Thus, it is known that everyone participated when it came to occupying their land and fighting for it, tracing their access routes, and getting water and electricity. The problem was their thinking that those were the final steps in their collective participation for the sake of individual benefit. Therefore, what we have to do is broaden their understanding through concrete facts and objects in order to make them aware and educate them, and demonstrate that every collective good brings about individual benefits. In order to accomplish this goal we positioned ourselves at one of the most sensitive spots of Pachacutec, its “Hatun Inca� market, since this was one of the places with the most public activity.
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MARKETPLACE The “Hatun Inca” market has enough room to provide space for 148 vendors. However, there were only 73 rented stands, with only 61 of them operating, at the time of our intervention. The market also had a local radio: a DJ plus and a loudspeaker at one of the corners of the market. Reintegrating the concern for public areas management through the implementation of collectivelyconstructed material devices was our goal. However, in such a context, with a great amount of need, any project of this type could only be accomplished NEGOTIATING between the collective and individual benefits that the project would bring about - a balance point in which both sides would be satisfied, provoking in this way a “win-win situation”.
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provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
THE INTERVENTION Our collective goal was to generate a space that would gain importance for its utilitarian use. We wanted to build an information exchange spot – bulletin-board like structures to function like “yellow pages” on which to place offer and demand news. In order to stimulate the vendors´ participation, we negotiated with them the idea of having an outside space to advertise their products. A temporary office was installed at the juice stand of the market.
DAY 01 09:00 am provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
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STEP 1: CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONTENT Taking pictures of all the vendors and printing out the background for a “publicity poster” that they would finish by themselves. It would contain the location of their stands in the market and the products they offered. 40 vendors participated, 65% of the people attending that day.
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Fruit Stand “Casazola”
Library “Harriet”
Beauty salon
Poultry place
“Mary”
“Juanita”
THE INTERVENTION STEP 2: CONSTRUCTION OF THE TRIPTYCH Once that a good rapport was created with the vendors, since they started having expectations about where their “publicity posters” would be placed, inviting them to participate in the construction of the OBJECT was not difficult. Recycle items, which they themselves donated, were used.
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DAY 01 11:00 am provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
deposit
THE INTERVENTION STEP 3: INSTALLATION AND DEMARCATION OF THE OBJECT During the installation spontaneous and interesting processes arose. One of the vendors proposed to delimit the ground to define the intervention space in a better way.
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DAY 01 01:00 pm provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
demarcation line
THE INTERVENTION STEP 4 : PLACEMENT OF THE INFORMATION COLLECTED
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DAY 01 03:00 pm provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
advertising panel
THE INTERVENTION STEP 5: SIGNAGE CONSTRUCTION Due to the high level of participation of the vendors, there was plenty of time for a complementary activity, again we NEGOTIATED the idea of constructing objects that would give a special character to the streets, naming them but, at the same time, using them as publicity spaces for the market.
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DAY 01 04:00 pm provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
deposit
THE INTERVENTION STEP 6: SIGNAGE INSTALLATION AND GENERATED IMPACT The installation of the light post became a reference and a characteristic spot in the zone, suddenly turning into a bus stop.
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signage
DAY 01 04:50 pm provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
deposit
THE INTERVENTION OBJECT IMPACT The constructed object of great meaningful value for the vendors started operating. Three weeks later, in spite of its vulnerability it is still upright and in good condition. There was even a social demonstration beside it. A year after the TRIPTYCH, it is still being used permanently by the human urban tissue on which it causes an impact. Social sustainability has been confirmed.
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signage
DAY 01 04:50 pm provisional office loudspeaker /megafone
deposit