Walk the Line. Architecture as a Catalyst for Socio-Spatial Connectivity
Tatiana Bilbao
2017
The Plan Journal
Miravalle is a relatively new neighborhood in Iztapalapa borough, by the eastern edge of Mexico City. It has been identified as a highly-marginalized area, as its 11,000 residents have poor access to public infrastructure, high rates of violence, and socio-economic discrimination is something most experience. Nonetheless, the community has worked together with the aim of improving the conditions and quality of life in a small but outstanding way. As a group of architects, we are working with
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... m to transform the main park of the area and neighboring communities into a walkable and safe recreational area. The prerequisite for city life is a walkable urban environment. If a safe line crossing the park could help diminish the insecurity and strengthen the connections between people and space within the neighborhoods, then architectural interventions as a stead for social development are guaranteed. Walkable urban environments are a prerequisite for civic life. Spatial qualities of the in-between mediate relationships that occur within and around buildings, neighborhoods, streets, and people. Stressing this point further, we believe that collaboration may be the sincerest way to highlight the importance of life activity that happens between these spaces, and how, as designers, partnering with local residents might meaningfully help explore ways in which we may further transform spaces to promote positive interactions within them. If a safe line that crosses a park can The Plan Journal 1 (2): 153-171, 2016 -doi: 10.15274/tpj.2016.01.02.07 www.theplanjournal.com help diminish the insecurity and strengthen the connections between people and space, then architectural interventions as a stead for social development are warranted, at least on real scale. A MARGINALIZED MARGIN OF THE CITY When we visited Parque Corrales for the first time, Jorge, our community liaison opened up to us about Miravalle. The middle-aged teacher in the Marist Middle School, long-haired and thin, told us that after living there for twelve years, he felt "a sense of identification amidst the community because we all suffer from the same problems: gang fights, drug traffic and consumption, or water shortage. We only get water once a week, for two hours! We all live this, and that makes us understand one another and feel for the troubles we all collectively experience." César, a young resident, expressed similar sentiments, "here the youth doesn't have the education for talking and engaging in dialogue; they were taught that fighting is how one settles differences."
doi:10.15274/tpj.2016.01.02.07
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