Menu
As part of the celebration of Urban October, and especially the World Cities Day, the IntegrHa-bitat Global Network held a webinar to make progress in the dialogue regarding building sustainable and resilient cities and strengthening the role of communities and social organizations as catalyzers for change in the territories.
In this context, the space sought to promote an international dialogue based on the experiences in neighborhood transformation and resilient territories of two organizations that are part of the Network: the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation of Bogota, Colombia and the Units of Transformation and Organization for Inclusion and Social Harmony – Utopias of the Municipality of Iztapalapa in Mexico; and two other experiences in the region: the “Arcoíris de Qaroma” project in Peru and the “Quitopías” of the Municipality of Quito, Ecuador.
During the discussion, the panelists shared with the 51 attendees the achievements and challenges that each of their initiatives have faced in their efforts to articulate actors and communities towards neighborhood transformation and the strengthening of resilient territories.
As part of the celebration of Urban October, and especially the World Cities Day, the IntegrHa-bitat Global Network held a webinar to make progress in the dialogue regarding building sustainable and resilient cities and strengthening the role of communities and social organizations as catalyzers for change in the territories.
In this context, the space sought to promote an international dialogue based on the experiences in neighborhood transformation and resilient territories of two organizations that are part of the Network: the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation of Bogota, Colombia and the Units of Transformation and Organization for Inclusion and Social Harmony – Utopias of the Municipality of Iztapalapa in Mexico; and two other experiences in the region: the “Arcoíris de Qaroma” project in Peru and the “Quitopías” of the Municipality of Quito, Ecuador.
During the discussion, the panelists shared with the 51 attendees the achievements and challenges that each of their initiatives have faced in their efforts to articulate actors and communities towards neighborhood transformation and the strengthening of resilient territories.
Margarita Díaz, Director of the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation, began her presentation with the experience of the Bronx Creative District in Bogota, Colombia, highlighting the combined effort with the inhabitants of the downtown area of the city to transform it into the heart of creativity through culture, entrepreneurship, memory and inclusion. To do this, the Foundation has developed a methodology that starts by positioning and re-signifying the territory through disruptive and quality events to unite different worlds; it goes through community building through art and collaboration to heal and
to move towards a better future; it continues with the strengthening of the cultural and creative ecosystem towards cultural, social and economic sustainability of the territory; and ends with the materialization of the concept, the community and the positioned brand, through which our house is concretized.
As for Raúl Basulto, Mayor in charge of Iztapalapa, and Rocío Lombera, Cabinet Advisor, presented the experience with the Transformation and Organization Units for Inclusion and Social Harmony “Utopías“ (per its acronym in spanish), in Iztapalapa, Mexico, as a strategy to materialize the inhabitants’ right to the city and leave no one behind, through a high impact comprehensive urban policy, a participatory co-creation process, constant feedback and learning from international experiences. In this sense, the Utopias seek the transformation of more than 540,000 m² of degraded public space in 4 years, where the biggest challenges are related to obtaining appropriate public spaces, the resistance to change of some local actors and the active involvement of citizens, future sustainability, universal access and care for the entire population, as well as the regulation of the management of urban profits.
Arianna Macchiavello, Legal and Corporate Affairs Manager of Qroma, a company of the Breca Group, one of the largest economic conglomerates in Peru, continued with the “Arcoíris” Project, an initiative that uses color and art as a tool for transformation and behavioral change, that seeks to enhance public spaces, promote a sense of community and inspire positive behavior as a first step towards development. For this purpose, the project has designed a methodology that starts with the identification of the territory, establishment of a baseline, development of co-creation workshops with the community, implementation of the action through the painting of the territory and ends with a post-intervention impact measurement.
The last intervention of the panel is carried out by José Morales, Planning Secretary of the Municipality of Quito, with the “Quitopías“ pilot experience in Quito, Ecuador, inspired on the Iztapalapa Utopias. In his intervention, the secretary pointed out that the “Quitopías” are a space for social transformation, where ways to overcome problems and build new realities are proposed. Its objective is to have a positive impact on the communities, improving their physical, emotional and cultural environment, while at the same time becoming a stimulus and engine for their renovation, evolution and change, thanks to the educational, recreational, leisure, productive promotion and health prevention offerings. A “Quitopía”, he assures, promotes equity, harmonious coexistence and citizen integration.
The panel concluded with a questions-answers session where attendees had the opportunity to delve deeper into some of the challenges mentioned, such as the articulation of public-private actors to ensure the success of the interventions, and the challenges for community ownership of the projects that take place.
Finally, the webinar concluded with the launch of the call “Localizing the SDGs: the contribution of the IntegrHa-biat Network to achieve the 2030 Agenda”, which seeks to identify the contributions that member organizations of the Network are making to localize the Sustainable Development Goals and achieve the 2030 Agenda. The call will be open during the remainder of 2023, with which the Network seeks to continue to contribute to the World Urban Forum in Cairo, in November 2024.
To know more about the call for proposals, visit https://ciudadesincluyentes.org/integrha-bitat/localizacion-de-los-ods/
Webinar video: https://unitednations-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/isabel_tafurlopez_un_org/ERuz10e_-o9KvmclrL78gcEB3n70OwyR_bcb7P3B5f7F_w
