Affordable Dujiangyan 负担得起的 都江堰 Cibele Guimaraes, Brazil
“If you can buy a house, but it is too expensive to go to work, it
Sustainable Urban Dynamics
is not affordable anymore.”
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Dujiangyan has all the ingredients necessary to become an affordable city. The area is close to nature and is protected by UNESCO as a world heritage. The high-speed train from Chengdu provides access to easy commute (takes only 30 minutes), and tourism is one of the economic drivers of the area. It can be explored further to warm up the local economy and also represents a chance for the city to develop a new fi nancial sector to create new jobs not only related to tourism. It is necessary to implement urban strategies to protect the city from falling into the housing shortage problem and make it possible to live and work at the same place. The biggest challenge of this project is to propose an urban design/ strategies that could be attractive enough for private investors to work together with the local government through a partnership with local community
collaboration. The aim is not only to provide affordable housing but create a settlement more resilient towards social and environmental issues (especially towards social segregation and flooding risk), a profitable area for the private sector and local community and a new place where the inhabitants could build-up to its own identity.
