CAF and the Ministry of Urbanism, Housing and Habitat present proposals to improve the habitat in informal settlements in Paraguay

The “Yrendague” project, which in Guaraní represents “place where there was water”, was awarded with the first prize. The proposal seeks to enhance the intervened water resources that have delimited the territory and still have an impact on the city, through the consolidation of the ravine, with a longitudinal circulation road and a linear park that articulates the level difference along the intervention area.

Second place went to the project “4 Fundamental Ideas. Bañado Norte District ”, where the objective is to generate a new urban-riverside front with characteristics typical of a tropical urban planning, adapted to the heat and coexistence with the powerful ecosystem of the Paraguay river. In short, a commitment to structural resilience, through ecohydraulic and socially sustainable urban planning.

The third prize was awarded to the "Hybrid Landscapes" project, the proposal is based primarily on accessibility and integration of the most vulnerable actors in the territory, thus referring to people with disabilities, the elderly, women, children, and families located in flood and risk areas.

Finally, the project that received an honorable mention was "9 steps for a city to walk", for presenting urban concepts that regenerate a proposal in which walkability predominates.

The urbanization process of the city of Asunción, was developed with its back to the Paraguay river. The lack of prominence of the river caused the abandonment of spaces of great value on the shore, now populated irregularly by people who must live with the presence of low urban quality spaces, the total or partial lack of basic services and high vulnerability to suffer flooding.

This is why since 2017 CAF -through its Cities with a Future initiative- and MUVH have worked on the definition of an urban intervention project on the riverside area of ​​the Paraguay river, which contemplates a solution for current resident's habitat, the use definition that would be given to the intervened area and the link with the rest of the city.

Professionals in the area of ​​architecture and urban planning from more than 13 countries (São Tomé and Príncipe, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, United States) participated in the contest, which was managed by the Paraguayan Association of Architects (APAR). United, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Portugal and Peru) and the team of the winning project "Yrendague", was made up of a group of top-level professionals from Spain, Paraguay and Argentina.

CAF's Cities with a Future initiative seeks to strengthen the institution's interventions in order to guarantee higher levels of access to goods and services in the cities of the region, as well as to promote urban management models aimed at improving productivity, social inclusion and general well-being of Latin American citizens.