Ideas to Enjoy Cities without Isolation

What if we turn abandoned railways into bike lanes?  What if we transform the communal soup kitchens into well-ventilated areas that can also be used to study and play in a safe environment? If the problem is access to water, why not implement a rainwater collection system at the heart of the community with a modern design, that can also provide internet and electricity? These and other ideas that emerged during the pandemic, in addition to demonstrating the creativity and resilience of Latin American society, are signs of the aspiration for a better urban future for all.

Isolation policies through strict lockdown and curfews to avoid crowds in cities offer an increasingly limited response to the need to find sources of income, in a region where informal labor stands at 54% on average, according to figures from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The time has come to find solutions within the communities themselves to enjoy cities safely and without isolation.

“¡Água!, for instance, is a proposal that opens up possibilities for the development of decentralized systems for the provision of services in neighborhoods that are not easily connected to clean water and telecommunications networks and power grids,” explained Ana María Durán Calisto, Ecuadorian architect, urban-environmental planner, researcher and writer, referring to the idea of Brazil’s Mateus Henrique Hillebrand to install a multifunctional urban facility to address urgent issues in informal settlements.

“Barrios que cuidan” describes a physical and social response conceived in Lima’s low-income neighborhoods. The idea proposes a long-term vision to turn communal soup kitchens into productive facilities that transcend their role as emergency response and enhance the role of women as recovery agents in their communities, laying the foundations for an accessible, living and inclusive environment, as explained by Paula Villar Pastor, representative of this proposal.

“The proposals offer potential courses of action. It is a way of conceiving spaces and their social articulation, the relationship with the natural environment, infrastructure as an source of reflection, a way to be productive and remunerate efforts; the challenge here is to find a message from the local perspective, in an interactive dialogue between program and design,” noted Andrés Borthagaray, architect, director for Latin America of Argentina’s Ciudad en Movimiento institute, and member of the jury of the COVID-19 Ideas Competition: New Opportunities for Sustainable Cities, organized by CAF and the Avina Foundation.

“ERES: Urban Resilience Spaces” is a project led by Matias Gatti González that claims streets as a primary public space, strategically intervening secondary streets of vulnerable neighborhoods that can be converted into common areas, and even pedestrianized. Although initially conceived as a response to the health and social crisis, the idea calls for the possibility of ensuring sustainability of the dynamics achieved in the intervened spaces. 

“The proposal rejects the traditional notion of the square and the park as a central urban area in favor of the street as the primary public space and as an extension of dwellings of the working class. Based on the potential for creation of a community fabric and spaces for cohabitation and productive exchange, the project proposes a future image of streets used by neighbors and not motorized vehicles,” noted Lorena Ruiz, PhD in sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid, researcher, professor and collaborator at Medialab Prado in Madrid, Spain.

In Latin America, before the pandemic, one in three families lived in inadequate housing, with insufficient square footage or lacking basic services to lead a dignified life, let alone to comply with the strict social distancing rules imposed by COVID-19. The effects of an unprecedented crisis have only deepened structural problems of inequality and exclusion in Latin American cities, and thus, it is urgent to promote new ways of enjoying our cities and accessing the benefits of urbanization.

“In the midst of severe restrictions on mobility and social contact, it is key to recognize and promote these approaches of organized society that aim to create, from public space or alternative integration zones, more productive, sustainable, inclusive and environmentally responsible urban environments,” noted Pablo López, coordinator of CAF’s Cities with a Future initiative.

The ideas and commitment of communities, experts and authorities will allow cities to find—amid the constraints imposed by the crisis—small niches of innovation and creativity to transcend into a future of opportunities.