The "Public Spaces in the City of Hope" competition in José Carlos Mariátegui - San Juan de Lurigancho has announced its winners. Promoted by the CENCA Urban Development Institute in partnership with Ocupa tu Calle, the initiative is part of the project "Promoting sustainable, fair, and participatory social and environmental transformation processes on the hillsides of San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, Peru," led by CENCA and supported by the German Ministry and the "City of Hope" institutional strategic proposal.
"City of Hope" (Ciudad de la Esperanza) is a proposal conceived not only as the physical and environmental improvement of the territory but also as a process of generating collective awareness for local self-management. This initiative is based on approaches of Social Justice, Participatory Action in self-urbanization processes, and an environmental focus on adaptation to climate change and hillside morphology.
Competition Objectives
The objectives of the competition are: 1) to implement two strategic public spaces in neighborhoods of the City of Hope—one on the hillside and one on the flat area—landscaped, remodeled, and/or upgraded; 2) to establish a set of public space proposals agreed upon with the respective family associations; and 3) to contribute to the development of the City of Hope by strengthening relationships and spaces for participation among community organizations, students, and professionals. Below are the winners for the flat area and hillside interventions.
Flat Area Intervention
First Place / (CON)VIVENCIAS Team
Authors: Kelly Quispecondori Gomez, Fiorella Fierro Chipana, Diana Arellano Medina, Valeri Chávez Romero
Project description by the authors. (CON)VIVENCIAS is conceived as a project that seeks to integrate local participation into the design and appropriation of public spaces. The site is located in the lower section of the José Carlos Mariátegui Human Settlement (AA.HH.) in the San Juan de Lurigancho district, where participatory community outreach workshops were held. Based on these workshops and an assessment of social and physical challenges, the project addresses the following question: How can we regenerate the lost coexistence among users who share the same public space?
Consequently, the project highlights the need to integrate different stakeholders through participatory urban design that fosters new forms of collective integration and regenerates this physical space. Therefore, the proposal features a multipurpose plaza designed to accommodate the diverse ways children, youth, mothers, merchants, and adults inhabit the space.
To achieve this, a system of modules is organized into three phases. The first phase consists of ephemeral interventions that define a space that can be adapted and built by the users themselves. The second phase opens up the space for recreational, seating, and leisure activities. Finally, the third phase consolidates permanent interventions for the community, allowing each identified stakeholder to 'build their own plaza' using the proposed units and sectors.
Hillside Area Intervention
First Place / COMUNITAT Team
Authors:: Arch. Martin Endo Olascuaga, Gianella Ramírez León, Samantha Yucra Alfaro, Rosa Sanchez Calderón, Andersson Palacios Martínez, Emerson Espinoza Becerra
Project description by the authors. According to residents of R8J, the canchita (sports court) is the "core" of the entire neighborhood, as everyone passes through and uses it daily. It has also served as a venue for various sports, social, and cultural activities. Consequently, the "MÉDULA VERDE" (Green Core) intervention is proposed as a project to generate a network of green corridors starting from the canchita. Branching out from its existing structures, these corridors create seating areas and both natural shade (vegetation) and artificial shade (canopies) along the main stairways leading to the afforestation belt being developed at the top of R8J.
The vegetation and shade components proposed in the project emerged from suggestions made by R8J residents during participatory design workshops with neighbors, children, and community leaders, who emphasized their importance for the canchita. Additionally, the proposal incorporates principles of spatial appropriation and flexibility, enabling R8J residents to engage in activities beyond their daily sports routines, providing them with new areas for recreation and leisure surrounded by vegetation.
The R8J neighborhood features rich social dynamics that the project aims to enhance, such as the strong social cohesion among its residents and a community spirit that triumphs over individualism. To foster this, the proposal aims to improve comfort, creating a space by and for everyone. This includes diverse activities, from outdoor relaxation for both adults and children, to shaded gathering spaces with vegetation that provides thermal comfort. Additionally, these areas can host small fairs or cultural workshops, raising awareness about the importance of establishing and maintaining clean, green spaces to support sports and cultural activities.
About CENCA
CENCA is an organization that works with and for marginalized populations through popular education, knowledge co-production, land management, the right to housing and socially appropriate habitats, solidarity practices, community communication, environmental justice, and respect for diversity.
Ocupa Tu Calle
This project promotes citizen urbanism as an urban model for transforming public and common spaces into more human, inclusive, and resilient environments, working from, for, and with people. To achieve this, we use tools of innovation, participation, and collaboration.
This article was written by Diego Vivas. The translation is powered by AI.
