The tambos (Incan structures) of the barrio del Solar, in Arequipa, were built as part of the supply chain from the valleys of the coast to the Andean Altiplano highlands. The barrio del Solar was, with its sixteen tambos, the principal logistical centre of this activity. Tambos were originally comprised of small precarious constructions that over time were adapted and became consolidated as part of the city’s architecture.

The emergence of motorised transport in the first half of the 20th century brought about the transformation of the tambos into spaces for habitational use. From the 1970s onwards, rural migration contributed to the densification of the tambos through improvised constructions that shaped the current hovels and pockets of poverty of the historic centre. The barrio del Solar is the sector containing the highest number of colonial tambos in the city, which are affected by problems of habitability and decay. The earthquake of 23 June 2001 further deepened the problems of stability of the buildings, putting residents’ lives at risk.

Given this deterioration, the rehabilitation of these buildings, which are so characteristic of the Viceroyal architecture of Arequipa, was both necessary and urgent not only in order to conserve them but also to improve the dwellings and the sanitation networks to guarantee the salubriousness of the site. Arequipa City Hall and the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and Development launched the project for the integral rehabilitation of the barrio del Solar, which gave priority to recovering the tambos as part of the actions where recovering the heritage is necessarily linked to the processes of urban renovation and improvement of habitability for the population. The project supported the families in the physical-legal rationalisation measures and with the title deeds of their properties.

The tambos on which interventions have been carried out are the following:

Tambo de Bronce: Built in the 18th century, it is probably the oldest in the city. The integral rehabilitation of the tambo began in 2002 with the active participation of all the neighbours. The results obtained in the recovery project became the benchmark for the viability of the renovation process in the barrio del Solar.

Tambo El Matadero: Built in the second half of the 17th century, it accommodates 36 families, many of whom lived in a single room. The intervention, which began in July 2003, encompassed the refurbishment of the dwellings and the provision of basic services, recovering communal spaces and adapting them to the urban surroundings. The resident families participated actively in all the project phases and contributed a percentage of its costs.

Tambo de la Cabezona: Considered one of the most representative tambos of the city, it once had one of the first mills in the city. In an expansion built in the late 19th century, a wooden construction in a neo-classical style was added that once housed a historic cabaret. Currently, with an approximate surface space of 2,700 m2, it is organised around two large courtyards with entrances from three adjoining streets and accommodates 23 families. The old chapel was fitted out as an art gallery and the courtyards of the tambo were treated as spaces for the neighbours’ use and as a venue for the community’s cultural activities.

Proposal by : Juan de la Serna

The city of Zaragoza was built on the right-hand margin of the river Ebro, which acted as a military defence, irrigation water supply and a means of transport. The equilibrium between river and city was based on the total separation between them, the city on one side and the riverbank on the other, destined as it was for vegetable gardens and copses. The equilibrium between the river and the historic city, severed with the arrival of the railway and late industrialisation, made it necessary to “reformulate” the relations between them, which had been characterised by the river’s role as a transversal axis and a space of centrality.

The centrality of the riverside corresponds to the space between the constructions of the North façade of the Historic Centre and the river Ebro, between Santiago Bridge and the Pilar Bridge. This is an urban space dominated by the Paseo Echegaray boulevard, a platform for the city’s most monumental buildings and composed of a wide road with three lanes in each direction, something that acted as a major barrier that kept the urban nucleus away from the river and considerably reduced the pedestrian space. All this led to the area losing interest as a strolling area, with the resulting decline of both the boulevard and the actual riverside, which was in need of cleanliness, maintenance, conservation and pruning.

Access to the riverbank was limited to two narrow maintenance stairs that completely discouraged use. The only area utilised is that of the Nautical Club, whose sports areas are lacking in entity. In short, the boulevard had become the back end of the Historic District’s monumental zone.

In order to bring the river to the citizens, Zaragoza City Hall drew up a remodelling project for the riverbank centred on recovering the Paseo de Ribera, transversally connected with the city’s monumental area, and on transforming the river as a natural space, incorporating it into the city’s development and maintaining its natural cycles, the river system and its hydraulic regime. Actions have revolved around transforming the riverbank into a pedestrian area where people can also spend leisure time. These are enhancing the view of the river, the Piedra bridge, the Pilar church and the monumental zone, in all seasons of the year, taking into account the great variations in the water flow of the river Ebro; giving continuity to the plaza del Pilar with the river and, by shifting its centre of gravity, the monumental and official buildings are now contained inside this area; enhancing the existing tree groves.

The landscape treatment has acquired particular relevance through the design of diverse, non-repetitive spaces and through the maintenance of the riverside copses and existing vegetation. The construction and the urban furniture, in turn, have been executed with aspects common to both to provide an image of unity within its diversity.

//Proposal by: Rafael González del Castillo

The Delicias district is the most highly populated in Zaragoza, boasts considerable economic vitality, is situated at the heart of the major thoroughfares –which bypass without benefiting it – and is structured into three pivots: a historic central zone, a second ring developed in the nineteen-fifties and a last ring dating from the ‘eighties. The district is a city within the city.

Because of this destructuration there is little permeability between the different parts of the district. There is also a lack of investment in housing, the facilities are few and far between and in urgent need of a boost, there is excessive presence of vehicles, a lack of green areas and an absence of a large-capacity public transport system. Commerce is one of the engines that drives the district centre: there are 412 industrial activities against 4,152 commercial ones.

Since 1989 Zaragoza City Hall, through the Sociedad Municipal de Rehabilitación Urbana de Zaragoza – the Municipal Company for the Urban Rehabilitation of Zaragoza (SMRUZ) has been developing rehabilitation policies throughout the city. In the promotion of private rehabilitation, aid to the amount of 34,048,721 € has been granted, which has benefited more than 20,000 dwellings. Since 2001, with the agreement of all the political groups, the scope of application of the Municipal Byelaw for the Promotion of Private Rehabilitation extended to the entire city (around 75,000 dwellings over 40 years old).

In the rehabilitation of Delicias district, the first step taken by the SMRUZ was to promote the creation of a multidisciplinary technical team in charge of conducting a socio-urbanistic study of the district. In the course of the study a great deal of data was compiled by the citizens themselves through 23 in-depth interviews of neighbours’ leaders and discussion groups established according to the criteria of age, gender, social status, nationality and domicile. Both sets of information were added to that compiled by the experts and were translated into lines of action.

The actions proposed are divided into 6 major strategic lines: acquisitions, exchanges and variations in urbanistic figures to reserve space destined for facilities and services: improvement of the public services; sustainability in mobility and recovery of the road space; increase in social and commercial participation; recovery of the public space, rehabilitation of specific areas.

Some of these specific actions are the acquisition of buildings, premises and plots; the creation of a boulevard, a square and day centres; improvement of services in schools; the launch of the Wi-Fi network; construction of pedestrian lanes, elements for traffic calming and protection of pedestrians and underground car parks; modifications in the public transport system; replacement of the current waste collection model and measures to control and reduce noise and radio-electric emissions.

//Proposal by: Edaimon de Juan

With a history that goes back approximately 2,500 years, Yangzhou is considered to be one of the 24 cities with the greatest cultural and historical importance in China. Until the 19th century the city operated as an important political, financial, commercial and transportation centre thanks to its excellent location at the crossing of the river Yangtze, the Grand Canal and the river Huaihe.

In contrast to other capitals in the prefecture, in Yangzhou there are no tall buildings, crossings at different levels or major shopping centres. It covers a surface space of almost 1,000 km2 and has a total population of 1,151,300 inhabitants.

In the nineteen-eighties, with the speeding up of the economy and migration from the countryside to the city, hundreds of thousands of people moved to Yangzhou, which could not adequately accommodate the new inhabitants, leading to unstructured urban build-up. According to a survey conducted in the year 2000, 98% of residents were dissatisfied with their residential conditions and were calling for urgent improvements.

In 2001, the city of Yangzhou launched a project, in cooperation with the German development agency (GTZ), to conserve its historic centre and to promote sustainable development through the creative and efficient use of local resources. It also sought to raise citizens’ awareness of the need to improve the environment.

Since then, the municipal government has formulated 15 policies involving the renovation of decaying –and therefore dangerous- housing in the historic centre and the construction of new affordable housing for lower-income families; a total of 770 million dollars has been invested. The municipality has renovated 3,050 dwellings in the area of the old town (30% of the cost of which was subsidised and the other 70% covered by the residents) and has built 33,000 social dwellings. It is estimated that 148,000 residents classified as highly vulnerable have benefited from the new social housing.

The municipal government has also invested 2 billion dollars in improving roads, treating the river, waste water and waste, improved the supply of potable water, etc. For example, the expansion of hydraulic works in 2002 brought about an increase of 100,000 tonnes per day to meet the citizens’ needs for drinking water.

In 2003, the Eco-City programme was the first one to be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency of China, and since its implementation green public spaces have been expanded by 26%. This programme supports clean industrial production: 20 regional businesses have to date introduced environmental management measures and the local authorities have examined the environmental standards of dozens of companies.

In addition, since the start-up of the programme ten years ago the municipal government has created three municipal agencies and institutes, appointed a chief of protection and refurbishment of the centre, another one in charge of the execution and a third one devoted to the promotion and dissemination of the old town.

In 2006 Yangzhou won the UN-Habitat prize for its protection of the city’s historic centre and the improvement in living conditions and the environment.

//Proposal by: Hans-Juergen Cassens

In the early 20th century Shenyang only covered 40 km2, while after the liberation from Japanese occupation the city reached 116 km2. Today Shenyang covers 1,150 km2 and is a city with high urban concentration.

The use of urbanised land in Shenyang has always been outside the national standard. According to research conducted in 1995, the average was 60.6 m2 per person, a figure far below the national average, according to which the city should have 80.6 m2 per person. The forecast for 2010 is that this number will reach 74.1 m2 per person, for which the city should grow by around 120 km2.

In 1997 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Popular Republic of China started the procedures to launch the Sustainable Shenyang Project (SSP). A year later, more than 300 representatives from public and private businesses, educational and scientific research institutions, organisations from the United Nations and other national and international cities met for the so-called Urban Consultation of the SSP in order to agree on the strategies for the sustainable development of Shenyang.

According to the participants in the consultation, Shenyang’s principal environmental problems were a lack of water resources and serious water pollution, the polluted atmosphere caused by the structure of carbon-based energy consumption as the predominant source and the product pollution of domestic waste.

After the SSP Urban Consultation, the following lines of action were established: distribution of urban planning to maintain the city’s characteristics; application of environmental protection and urban infrastructure projects; improvements in Shenyang’s global image focusing on housing conditions; strengthening of internal and external cooperation in fostering environmental projects and others to develop a new economy; improving sustainable coordination and management and fostering the citizens’ education on sustainable development.

In the course of its application (2001-2004), the SSP focused on giving priority to public transport and, crucially, on building a first metro line for the city that would join east and west, two of the areas that it sought to revitalise. The history of Shenyang with the metro goes back to the 1940s, when a metro plan for the city was proposed. The idea returned to the urban planning desks both in the ’60s and in the ’90s and on both occasions it was once again postponed. A light railway system was designed in the ’90s as a cheaper alternative; however, this plan was also abandoned. When the city’s economy revived after the year 2000, the Chinese government gave approval for the Shenyang metro in 2005 and so on 27 September 2010 the completed Line 1 was finally inaugurated.

//Proposal by: Sara Mur and Joaquim Clusa

Surrounded by palaces and sanctuaries, Bukchon is a residential area of Seoul that concentrates a large number of traditional Korean houses called hanok. Built during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) to house the city’s well-to-do classes, the massive and rapid industrialisation of the ’60s and ’70s destroyed many of the hanok all over the country to give way to western-style apartment blocks. Today more than 50% of the Korean population lives in such apartments. Only in Seoul some 14,000 hanok have survived.

Recently, however, the traditional houses have been subject to renewed attention. Since the year 2001, the Metropolitan Government of Seoul has been working to preserve the hanok that still remained in the city, concentrated in the Bukchon area. Among others, measures have been introduced to remodel and maintain the traditional houses as well as the elements of their surroundings.

Since 2001, the government has worked on the conservation of an area of 1.07 million square metres, and in 2005 the radius of hanok register was already 38.2%. Of the 1,022 traditional houses left in Bukchon, 300 have so far received financial report for repairs and around 30 have been purchased by the City Hall to be used as public services.

Thanks to official aid, the residents have been able to reform their houses by introducing modern architectural elements in such a manner that the traditional (eastern) style now coexists with the contemporary (western) one. In addition, all types of businesses have been established in the renovated hanok such as cafeterias and restaurants, shops and galleries, transforming Bukchon into one of the fashionable districts of Seoul.

It must also be mentioned that different organisations have emerged, among them the Traditional Cultural Centre of Bukchon, which through their activities seek to spread traditional Korean culture. The Hanok Division, responsible for the Traditional Culture Centre of Bukchon, is also heading the recovery process of the Bukchon district, which in addition to recovering the hanok includes the improvement of the area’s environment, the participation of the residents, the formalisation of the hanok register and the financial support for remodelling them.

The regeneration of the hanok in Bukchon has brought about a change in the citizens’ mindset: awareness has emerged not only of the heritage value of the houses but also of any traditional element. This has succeeded in recovering a very important part of the Korean architectural legacy. Certain highly useful traditional architectural techniques have also been recovered, such as the floor heating system.

//Proposal by: Joan Cané i Rúbies

From the nineteen-eighties until today, whether under dictatorial or democratic governments, the institutions in Chile have been in charge of arranging cities to control and make the most of the urban space. The results of this neo-liberal strategy: almost two million dwellings built in the past thirty years, a quantitative deficit of some two hundred thousand dwellings and a hundred thousand people living in camps. Spatial segregation, while decreasing at macro level, increased at local level due to gentrification.

The commune of Peñalolén (Santiago) has been characterised by being a focal point of protest movements. In view of the urgency to equip the space with the necessary infrastructure and services, Peñalolén was the scenario of the political demands known as “the struggle of the homeless”. However, in the late ‘nineties, the commune began to attract medium- and high-level sectors thanks to incentives for property investment, and a new phase then began of expelling the popular sectors.

The Movimiento de Pobladores en Lucha (MPL) was founded in 2006 in Peñalolén with the purpose of curbing neo-liberal urban management. This social force campaigns for the right to a dwelling while committing to a model of land organisation and of habitat production managed by its own dwellers. The work of the MPL centres on the key aspects of the Right to the City: access to housing, socio-spatial segregation and social production of the habitat.

As for access to housing, the MPL has found a space within the New Habitational Policy (2006), which allows for the creation of private entities to mediate between the public housing institutions and the beneficiaries of subsidies and that are enabled to both give advice and to apply the subsidy. The movement reinterpreted a privatising policy, instrumentalised it for its own ends and this led to the founding of the first Entity for Social Property Self-Management, through which the inhabitants take on the management of the projects. Since the foundation of MPL, there are five projects under management and one under development that exceed 13,000 m2. In total there are 240 housing solutions and all the homes exceed 55 m2. Currently the Movement is in the process of running in its own construction company, the social movement’s first attempt at cooperativist production.

As for segregation, actions have centred on the right to remain in the commune. Thus, in the year 2007, the MPL formulated a draft law to ensure that any property project would assign at least 10% of the land to social housing. After months of pressure, the bill went to parliament but its discussion was quickly rejected. Today the MPL, together with other movements of the National Federation of Settlers, is negotiating with the government the creation of a state land bank to ensure access to land by the popular sectors.

With regard to social production of the habitat, the recovery of public spaces and the regeneration of the community’s social fabric has been added to access to housing. In the year 2008 the MPL created the Corporación Poblar (Populating Corporation), a centre of popular production of knowledge that fosters the creation of new ways of inhabiting the city.

//Proposal by: Henry Renna Gallano

After undergoing a period of decadence and neglect, in the nineteen-nineties the central square of the Yungay district was remodelled, the street lighting was improved, children’s playgrounds were installed and cultural activities began to be organised in the square for the neighbours of the area, in which 60,000 people reside. Offices were also installed, as well as a university centre and a museum of popular art.

However, while some remodelling was undertaken, the district also suffered urban alternations as a result of the application of neo-liberal policies by the authorities. The implementation of the Urban Renewal programme substantially altered the district through the introduction of volumes, materials and designs that were completely at odds with the existing ones; the new buildings acquired a spatial dimension and singularity that unbalances the historical architectural heritage, generates suffocating urban pressure and violates the district’s tangible and intangible heritage. There was also a lack of specialised technical advice for the restoration and conservation of the architectural heritage and a lack of neighbourly participation in the decision-taking.

In view of the modification that the district was undergoing, a network of neighbours, creators and artists came together in a political, pluralist and cross-sectional movement whose objective was the defence of the cultural heritage of Barrio Yungay. The movement had its roots in the conflict generated in 2005 over waste collection as well as in the modifications of the Regulatory Plan of Santiago in 2006.

The mobilisation of the citizens between 2006 and 2009 by the Neighbours for the Defence of Barrio Yungay Association succeeded in having 113 hectares listed as a protected heritage zone. The impact of this experience has translated into the forming of the Chilean Association of Heritage Districts and Zones and the creation of the Special Commission for Historical and Cultural Heritage in the Parliament which, for the first time in the country’s history, will allow legislative transformations to be initiated in benefit of “heritage citizenship”, a new concept that has arisen to define the citizens who fight for their heritage districts and who constitute half a million inhabitants in Chile.

After having the protected heritage zone listed, a Plan for the Development and Management of the Typical Zone of Barrio Yungay was drawn up, based on four lines of action: shaping, rescuing and promoting the district’s identity, a dissemination campaign and the recovery of the architectural heritage.

To date 120 district assemblies have been held and 34 initiatives launched, 6 of which have been enabled by public financing.

//Proposal by: Rosario Carvajal Araya

In 2006, the duo of Dutch artists Haas and Hahn began to develop the idea of creating community art interventions in the favelas of Rio de Janiero. The object was the social rehabilitation of young people through art to offer them an alternative to crime. The Haas and Hahn duo is composed of Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, who began to work together in 2005, the year when they produced a documentary on the hip hop movement in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

As a result of the drive and effort of the Haas and Hahn duo, the collaboration of the Firmeza Foundation and the participation of the local youth, two huge murals were painted in Vila Cruzeiro, the most famous district of Rio de Janeiro. The first of these, completed in 2007, is a 150-m2 painting that shows a boy flying a kite, one of the most popular pastimes in Rio’s favelas. The young people’s creation took three months to make.

The second mural in Vila Cruzeiro was completed in 2008. This one is located on a huge concrete structure built on the hill to protect the houses from possible landslides during the rainy season. The 2,000-m2 work of art was coordinated by the tattoo master Admiraal Rob and represents a traditional Japanese design. The creation of this second mural took 8 months.

The Favela Painting project has had a tremendous impact on the media both in Brazil and abroad. In addition, the works of art have become a great source of pride for the neighbours of the community. This is why Haas and Haan are already developing the third phase of the project, which involves painting the entire hillside of a favela.

The third stage of the Favela Painting project, with the name of ‘O Morro’, seeks to involve all the inhabitants of a favela in painting their houses according to a pre-established pattern. The aim is to involve the entire community in a work of immense proportions to succeed in making their favela visible from the centre of Rio de Janerio and in turning it into a tourist attraction to compete with the famous Sugarloaf mountain or the Christ the Redeemer statue. ‘O Morro’ wants to become a focus of art that creates beauty, combats prejudice and attracts attention to the favelas.

//Proposal by: Lluís Ortega

Portland is situated in the north-west of the United States, by the river Columbia and the river Willamette, and is the largest city in the state of Oregon. Portland is characterised by its long-term commitment to public policies of integral sustainability. The city has created an institutional structure organised around agencies, offices, programmes and projects that specifically focus on fostering sustainable development.

Portland was the first city in the United States with a global plan for reducing carbon emissions and in June 2005 became the first in the country to meet the objective of the Kyoto Protocol. In 2007 the city had more than 37,000 hectares of green spaces and more than 120 kilometres of paths for walking, running and cycling, while in only 10 years (1996-2006) the use of public transport rose by 65% and by mid-2000 the use of the car in Portland was growing at the slowest rate in the whole of the United States.

The comprehensive sustainability policy has a direct impact on urban habitability and on the quality of life of the city in general. The programmes are oriented towards developing public transport, creating green spaces, applying strict environmental requirements for public buildings and fostering educational programmes and incentives for sustainable practices, both in companies and individuals. The approximation to community-oriented planning hugely facilitates citizens’ participation. Outstanding among all the programmes implemented are the Green Buildings Programme and the VisionPDX.

The Green Buildings programme was launched in 1994 with the determination to explore strategies to standardise eco-friendly construction and to succeed in implementing them in the city thanks to technical assistance and incentives. In 2005 the programme set up the Green Investment Fund to support innovative sustainable building projects. Since then, and until 2009, some 425,000 dollars annually have been granted for public or private projects, which include from industry to homes or commercial premises. These subsidies have the goal of compensating for the additional cost that may be generated by the construction of green buildings.

VisionPDX, in turn, a community-wide programme without precedent in the city, sought to increase to the highest possible levels the participation of neighbours in the planning, and above all to gain their commitment to a process of inclusive vision on the future of their city. More than 17,000 residents participated, over 21,000 pages of data were collected and all this was summarised in a 300-page report that today has become an indispensable source when it came to drawing up the new Plan 2030 for Portland.

//Proposal by: Lucrezia Miranda