Mentions for Venezuelan proposals in Latin American urban development contest

(Caracas, March 6, 2013). Venezuelan projects Plan for Barrio La Silsa's Comprehensive Transformation and Mesuca Community Sports Park were awarded mentions at the Second Urban Development and Social Inclusion Projects International Contest, an initiative of CAF -development bank of Latin America- whose goal is promoting solutions for housing problems in the region.

 

CAF Vice President Luis Enrique Berrizbeitia handed out the mentions, saying CAF supports countries in the region with the Cities with Futureprogram, as "a high social impact initiative, whose goal is improving quality of life and housing conditions for the urban population, including the vulnerable ones, through comprehensive urban development."

 

The Cities with Future program includes the Urban Development and Social Inclusion Contest, which rewards and supports projects in Latin American cities that seek to improve residents' quality of life, promote urban functions' improvement with greater efficiency, foresee demands stemming from urban population growth and responsibly take account of risks and environmental needs.

 

These goals are to be attained through the conception and design of innovative, relevant, justified and doable projects. This initiative was created in response to opportunities and needs in Latin American cities, with high demographic density, economic growth, and of course the need to address social and opportunity differences that have made the region one of the most inequitable in the world.

 

Second edition

 

A total of 35 proposals from 10 countries in the region were assessed. Venezuela participated with 10 initiatives; Mexico, with nine; Argentina, with four; Colombia, with three; Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, with two each; and Bolivia, Brazil and Dominican Republic, with one each.

 

Dominican project Ecobarrio. Haina1.0: Sustainable development participative process to promote informal settlements' comprehensive development and habilitation, and Peruvian project I am Pisco: Comprehensive development strategic program for families in Pisco's coastal areaswere the contest's winners.

 

Plan for Barrio La Silsa's Comprehensive Transformation

 

The project's authors are Fundacaracas, Paola Posani, Pierre Marais and La Silsa Commune, represented by Roberto Correa, with support from Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela.

 

It's a comprehensive development plan that contemplates soil and drainage treatment, the replacement of precarious housing, rescuing public space, the improvement of road and service networks, as well as the rehabilitation and construction of new communal equipment. The project has five parts: risk mitigation; basic services; public spaces; urban equipment; and housing improvements.

 

The goal of infrastructure projects is promoting comprehensive social development through interventions for environmental improvement, healthcare, education systems and facilities' overhaul, recreation and sports, coexistence development by building public spaces, support for productive economic development with new jobs, and community organization.

 

The jury valued the project "as a comprehensive planning proposal that covers infrastructure, environmental problems control, public space and housing aspects for this human settlement with a long term view. It also values it for its understanding of the population living there."

 

Mesuca Community Sports Park

 

Designed by Ignacio Cardona's AREPA group, along with Padre Manuel Aguirre Social Park, represented by Manuel Llorens, Petare Community's Betty Díaz, and support from Sucre's City Hall's Housing and Habitat Municipal Institute.

 

The project, originally submitted in a contest organized by Sucre's City Hall in 2011, proposes converting a waste dump into public spaces, including sports fields, cultural venues and neighborhood assistance facilities.

 

The project is based on sustainable architecture with strategies including wastewaters reutilization, urban farming and buildings with good ventilation. Social sustainability is the complex's main axis, with collective strengthening plans designed by the social support team, with a focus on the youth.

 

The social project includes three phases: diagnostic; implementation, and follow up, focused on conceiving and building a sports park and a public space as a place to strengthen community links to build collective values.

 

The jury valued the project's "limited dimension that responds to the community's specific needs with a cultural and sports opening that seeks to create other opportunities for the youth. The project becomes a public space continuation, which is so necessary in this context, complementing it with new programs and activities. It addresses the problem efficiently in a synthetic answer with good quality architecture."