“Quito Seguro” receives award in international urban development competition

The proposal calls for a comprehensive vision for intervention at neighborhood level, and resilience as a key factor for investment in public spaces. These are two of the reasons why the “Quito Seguro” project earned the second prize in the 5th Urban Development and Social Inclusion Competition, organized by CAF-development bank of Latin America-, which rewards Latin American initiatives that promote comprehensive improvements in the cities.

“Quito Seguro: resilient neighborhoods as a sustainable development strategy in Latin American cities” is a project presented by URLO Studio and architect Diego Salazar that seeks to implement a risk management plan to save lives, mitigate the crisis of natural/manmade systems and serve as a catalyst for urban and social improvements in La Roldós neighborhood.

“The proposal establishes public areas as safe places in the event of emergencies, as well as quality locations for daily activities, and it can also be replicated in several cities in the country,” said Salazar.

Also, Bernardo Requena, CAF representative in Ecuador, noted that this is the first time that an Ecuadorian proposal has won an award in the competition, which he believes to be a very positive achievement since Quito, like many Latin American cities, is experiencing a rapid urbanization process, with all the benefits and costs that this entails. Therefore, he said, the idea is to devise urban development policies that minimize the costs of urbanization, e.g. squatter settlements, and maximize the benefits, e.g. increased productivity.

The jury included Diana Giambiagi, an architect and MSc in Urban Development Planning from University College London; Mayra Madriz, urbanist and MSc in Community and Regional Planning and Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico, and Washington Fajardo, a renowned architect and urbanist.

First prize went to the proposal “Urban 95 - Lima Norte” (Peru), and three mentionsand eight honorable mentions were awarded.

The Urban Development and Social Inclusion Contest is an initiative of CAF’s Cities with a Future Program, which seeks to promote broad policies to foster social inclusion and increase productivity and resilience across Latin American cities.

CAF’s strategic vision promotes an efficient urban management model, focusing on improving accessibility (access to goods, quality services and socio-economic, recreational and cultural opportunities), in order to help improve productivity and social inclusion, with resilience and gender equity in Latin American cities as crosscutting themes.