“Urban 95 – Lima Norte” wins fifth edition of CAF’s Urban Development and Social Inclusion Competition

“Urban 95 – Lima Norte” (Peru) was the winner among 238 entries submitted from 14 member countries of CAF—development bank of Latin America—for the fifth Urban Development and Social Inclusion Competition. The second and third places were “Quito seguro, Barrios resilientes como estrategia de desarrollo sostenible para ciudades latinoamericanas” (Safe Quito. Resilient neighborhoods as a sustainable development strategy for Latin American cities), from Ecuador, and “Plataformas de gestión territorial La Silsa” (La Silsa Land Management Platforms), from Venezuela, respectively.

The panel considered that the “Urban 95-Lima Norte” entry, prepared by Coordinadora de la Ciudad, Sumbi (ONG), and the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, was particularly innovative, as it places boys and girls in the role of active producers of urban areas, backed by the direct involvement of community members. The project also addressed the issue of improving the quality of public areas in an environment of urban segregation and informality through a playful and optimistic approach, while also including original design aspects such as easy-to-install modular furniture that can be adapted to different contexts, creating unique expressions.

“The contest has had a major impact on innovation in urban planning and encouraged collective thinking, featuring ideas based on the creativity of proposals specifically created for the region and addressing specific problems. CAF believes that the competition is both satisfying and fulfilling, as the original ideas proposed help us better understand particular needs and opportunities in Latin America, in order to promote stronger and more inclusive development across its cities,” said Julián Suárez Migliozzi, CAF’s Vice President of Sustainable Development.

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. The purpose of the Program is to help Latin American authorities create more inclusive, connected, and integrated cities when it comes to territory, economy and society, with universal access to basic services and training, and environmental responsibility.

The team that submitted the “Urban 95 – Lima Norte” entry will receive the first-place prize of USD 15,000, while the second and third places will receive USD 5,000 and USD 3,000, respectively.

“Quito seguro. Barrios resilientes como estrategia de desarrollo sostenible para ciudades latinoamericanas”

The entry from Ecuador, presented by URLO Studio and architect Diego Salazar, was chosen because of its comprehensive approach regarding intervention in neighborhoods, in which resilience is a catalyst for investing in improving public areas and promoting community engagement, ultimately generating a wide range of benefits in a single infrastructure project. The panel also considered that the entry from Ecuador addressed two key aspects at the same time: the integration of informal communities; and the need to make communities more resilient in the event of disasters.

The panel concluded that the proposal establishes public areas as safe places in the event of emergencies, as well as quality locations for daily activities.

“Plataformas de gestión territorial La Silsa”

The panel explained that the “La Silsa Territorial Platforms” project, led by the Pico Colectivo and Aga-Estudio consortium is based on ideas conceived by the communities. It shows a unique technical/architectural ability to redefine the meaning of public institution while also promoting designs linked to community creativity. The idea clearly shows that there is no conflict between architectural/urbanistic design and community engagement. It also shows that isolated or unused areas may be leveraged to provide new public services that the entire city needs.

Panel members: Diana Giambiagi, architect and lecturer in Urban Development Planning at University College London; Mayra Madriz, city planner and lecturer in Community and Regional Planning and Latin American Studies at the University of New Mexico, and Washington Fajardo, a renowned architect and city planner with many years of experience in urban renovation of cultural heritage. The panel chose the three winning entries and made eight honorable mentions and three mentions.

This edition of the competition drew a lot of attention (with more than 15,000 visits to the micro-site), especially in Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia. The role played by partner organizations to promote the competition in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain and Uruguay was especially important.