Author: Trazando Espacios

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Planting Dreams

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El Hatillo, State of Miranda, Venezuela. March 10, 2016

Team: Ana Vargas, Gabriela Puppio, Valeria Ramos, Raquel Portillo and Diana Ruiz.

On Thursday March 10 we were testing our micro program, "Planting Dreams" in the Maria May Municipal school, located in the  El Calvario neighborhood  in El Hatillo.  In collaboration with 30  6th grade students, 17 volunteers and the Global Shapers of Caracas, forming a team to perform the operation. Together we build a living wall  made from recyclable materials and 96 plants.

The main objective of the activity is to promote a process of transformation of public spaces and be a vehicle for the formation of values. "Planting dreams" teaches how to intervene and improve their environment through the circuit of six stations that we use in the "Mapping spaces" methodology. In addition, the process of construction of the wall was accompanied by a formative dynamic where  we teach  human values that are essential to grow and achieve any dream or goal: respect, discipline, perseverance, effort and team work. We also focus on raising awareness on the  preservation of the environment and encourage recycling in the communities.

The mayor of el Hatillo  backed our activity by coordinating logistics such as refreshments, transportion and contact with the school. Thanks to the experience of the Shapers in their various social projects and several visits to educational units to talk to directors, academic coordinators, social workers and representatives, we were able to identify improvement opportunities and points of connection with the students. Bullying, the value of  work, coexistence, the talent and abilities of each child, all served as inspiration to design this project. This type of activity can contribute to working on these values  in a creative and different way.

The activity began with a walk through the neighborhood of El Calvario to know the context of the school and understand where the children we work with. Everyone involved worked actively throughout the morning, putting into practice all the given values, and stressing the importance of mentoring  as a main vehicle for learning.

Quetepe Alley

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Cumaná, State of Sucre, Venezuela. November 2016.

Team: Ana Vargas, Raquel Portillo, Ana Rodríguez and Diana Ruiz.

 The Tracing  Spaces project for Quetepe Alley  was held in the historic center of the city of Cumaná, thanks to the  with the partnership with the  Cumana Historic Center Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank.  To conduct this workshop part of the TEP team traveled to the city of Cumaná and spent a week  working with 15 youth  between the ages of 9 and 16, residents of this  historic center.

In this program the young people learned to see their community from a new perspective. Using photography as a tool, they took pictures of  more than twenty places that reflected the local identity and the spaces that had potential for  transformation. They chose, along with members of the community, one that is  special to them: "The Quetepe Alley".

After choosing the place to intervene and conducting surveys with neighbors to identify local needs, participants made models to express their ideas and propose different types of furniture, planters and decorative elements for  the alley which is  approximately 70 meters long and 2.5 meters wide.

Based on the design proposals made, students built  benches made of  recycled pallets to sit individually or in pairs, along with planters for shade trees, as well as a few wall planters to plant  herbs for the use of  local residents. Colorful pennants along the street added to the decor of  Quetepe Alley.

This week's experience confirmed  that the historic center of Cumaná is full of places with potential for the  tourism sector: its picturesque architecture and various public spaces are ideal to welcome tourists and give life to this area.

The intervention carried out in the Quetepe Alley is simple but forceful in its intention to be an alternative to activation of public space by transforming a 70 meter long alley that was  used just to pass through, into a place where pedestrians are invited to stay and share  in a pleasant space full of color and greenery.

Juan Moreno IV

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El Consejo, State of Aragua, Venezuela. July-December 2016.

Team: Ana Vargas, Raquel Portillo, Diana Ruiz, Ana Rodriguez, Eliana Ramírez and Gabriela Puppio.

On this occasion, Tracing Spaces, in partnership with the Santa Teresa Foundation developed a Macro workshop in the community of Juan Moreno  with the participation of 18 young people from the area between the ages of 9 and 15, taking place during the months of July through  December 2016. 

In the first phase of the workshop, "Observe",  the students learned how to read and use a map of their community, making journeys and photographing the existing public spaces and looking attentively for any space that had potential to be transformed. Based on the photographs, the students, together with the community, chose to intervene  " The Corner", a space that the community's children use to play in the street.

In the second phase, the students began to "Imagine" what could happen on that corner. At this stage the participants learned to use tools like the measuring tape, so as to draw in scale and maintain proportions. Then the youth carried out surveys with the neighbors to see what the needs were of the area, and subsequently made models of the chosen space to express their ideas  and show their proposals for transforming the community.

For phase three of the workshop, "Transform", the Tracing Spaces team  used proposals selected by the students with the help of the community,  and designed a project  transforming the ideas of the participants into plans and construction details. 

The completed  project has 3 components: a vegetable garden, built in what was once an abandoned space accompanied by a rail, built by students with recycled wooden pallets,  a "train" built with solid bricks, wooden pallets and recycled tires, accompanied by a wall  to write on with chalk,  and finally, a floor with letters of the alphabet  made with recycled plastic bottle caps, this proposal being made by one of our students, with the intention of teaching the neighborhood youngsters to read and write. 

This workshop had the support of more than 25 volunteer facilitators: architects, photographers, engineers, educators, and lawyers, as well as the participation of the local masons for the construction of the project.

Jamaica Plain

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Boston, Estate of Massachusetts, United States. March 2013
Team: Ana Vargas.

Jamaica Plain was the first location for Tracing Public Space workshops. It was developed with the guidance of Prof. Antoni Muntadas for his Public Space/Public Art Seminar at MIT’s Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program. It was developed with The Urbano Project an art institution, led by Stella McGregor, which empowers teenagers to have a voice in their communities through art projects.

Jamaica Plain, is a neighborhood surrounded by the Emerald Necklace (a network of public parks) and divided by the MBTA’s Orange Line, it is going through a gentrification process that raised a few questions in the workshop. Through this process, are public spaces losing their cultural identities? How can we potentially reconnect isolated parts of the neighborhood by tracing these spaces?

Jamaica Plain has a rich cultural background revealed through the participating children’s photographs of murals, shops, and restaurants. The open spaces and public parks that this neighborhood offers are simultaneously beautiful and diverse. Jamaica Pond, the Arboretum, the Southwest Corridor, and the Zoo provide the neighborhood and the city with a beautiful landscape and more than enough open spaces for leisure activities.

A recurrent idea throughout this workshop was the premise that public spaces are places that everyone has unrestricted access to such as streets and plazas. However, there are other spaces with limited access hours like Laundromats that can serve as public places and offer opportunities to socialize with neighbors. This idea raised a question: do we need to rethink the way we design Laundromats so they are better fitted for social interaction while people do laundry? One of the children mentioned, “It’s amazing how a public space can be made so personal and simultaneously a private space being made so public”.

The workshop shows that everyone has unique personal stories and sense of ownership about public spaces they frequent. To develop this sense of ownership, a personal history with these places typically presents itself through continuous revisits that build personal perception and understanding of them. Through the workshop, participants rediscovered these places and re-learned things about them they never knew existed, building upon and augmenting their existing relationship with these places.

Valparaíso

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Valparaíso, Chile. October 2015
Team: Ana Vargas.

Between October 27th and November 1st we were in Valparaiso, Chile, dictating a short version of Tracing Public Spaces workshop, with iLAB from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad Federico Santa María. The workshop was a part of iLab’s project “ Innovación Glocal”, a series of courses focused on sharing technologies with communities and stimulate local creativity. The workshop was done in el Patio Volantín located in the Cerro Pateón with participation from neighbors and students of Universidad Federico Santa María.

Day 1: Observation

During the first day of the workshop we learned about public space and we went out to find spaces with potential to be transformed. Then we laid out a collective map where we marked the possible spaces we could intervene, and finally we chose a corner of abandoned land photographed by Cristobal, an 8 year old neighbor.

Day 2: Design
During the second day of the workshop we began to learn how to measure, so could understand what type of activities could occupy the space selected. We also visited some neighbors of the San Juan de Dios Street where the space we picked to intervene was. We also asked what type of activities they would like to do in the selected space. Nena, a 94 year old neighbor, told us that she planted the only flowers that were in the space and that she would like to encourage other neighbors to continue recovering the space. We proposed a square with flowers and seats.

Day 3: Design
On our third day of workshop, we worked with popsicles pallets to make several models of the possible objects for the space that we could build with recycled pallets. After many tries we defined a prototype that was easy to build and replicate.

Day 4: Construction
On the forth and last day of the workshop, we dedicated our whole day to build full-scale prototype palets so we could make a small square with garden space. We had to level the land so we could sit in the slopes. We also disassembled and reassembled each wooden prototype, we sanded and sealed so it could resist outdoor weather and finally we placed it on the square. We planted some flowers, but the best thing that we planted was a Quillay tree that was donated by our youngest student (3 years old), Eloisa. Also we left some garden space open so neighbors can come and plant some flowers.

We want to thank iLAB for inviting us to be a part of “Innovación Glocal”, Patio Volantín for receiving us in their marvelous spaces and teachers and students of Federico Santa Maria University for all their support specially in the construction of the square. We hope that this workshop serves as an inspiration for the neighbors of Cerro Panteón to get organized and create many more

Juan Moreno III

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El Consejo, Estate of Aragua, Venezuela. September-December 2015.
Team: Ana Vargas, Valeria Ramos, Diana Rangel, Gabriela Puppio y Emilia Monteverde.

Between September and December 2015 we did a workshop for 12 local children. In this opportunity, Tracing Public Space supported the Urban Development Project: “Casas Blancas” led by Santa Teresa Foundation in Juan Moreno.

We began by OBSERVING. We learnt about public space and went out to find them in Juan Moreno. The kids found different places they have never noticed even though they walked in front of them everyday. Some of them with lots of potential but abandoned. We organized a photograph and mapping exhibit for the community, and together we chose the place to transform: an abandoned corner behind the Church.

The second step was DESIGN. Proportions, measure and understanding types of activities in public space were the topics. Also, we travelled to Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, to visit more public spaces as references. Once everyone was inspired they developed their ideas and, as before, we organized an exhibition of our models. The community chose the design that they liked most and suited their needs and our architecture team adapted those ideas to reality to begin the CONSTRUCTION phase.

Finally, our ideas were turned into reality. The need for a place to play marbles was the the start for “La Plaza de Las Metras” (Marbles Square), a public space built by children and neighbors of Juan Moreno. Nowadays that abandoned place has a name, children play there, neighbors organize Domino’s championships and an occasional mass. Our best achievement is how the community has committed to maintain the space by watering the flowers in the mural.

Mapping El Calvario

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El Hatillo, State of Miranda, Venezuela. December 17, 2016.
Team: Ana Vargas, Jennifer Pacheco, Raquel Portillo, Ana Cristina Rodríguez, Eliana Ramírez and Gabriela Puppio.

189 citizens were part of the Micro Program “Tracing the Map of El Calvario” in the framework of a cultural event known as “El Calvario a Puertas Abiertas”, which was held on December 17, 2016, which starts with the initiative of this Community to promote the many artists who are in this neighborhood.

The course of the event departed from El Calvario Chapel where there was a workstation with the team of Tracing Public Space, there was delivered a craft sheet with the map of the neighborhood and a color marker.

The challenge was for visitors to observe and identify places with tourist potential along the route, and then tell us their experience. In this way, participants of all ages individually or in family returned with lots of energy, full of anecdotes and eager to comment on their favorite places. Then they left their contribution by filling in the comment card and identifying these places in a large fabric with thread and needle.

It is important to mention the participation of the 7 children and two teachers that one week before the event helped to draw the map of their community in this huge fabric.

The activity was very successful, it taught us that all people, from the smallest to the largest have very good ideas to improve the space they inhabit.

Tracing the Map of El Calvario, left a great contribution for the future tourism development and show us the potential spaces of this neighborhood. The use of the map in conjunction with the activity of observing is an educational tool that helps to see in a different way the citizen space.

El Sabor Staircases

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José Félix Ribas, Petare, Venezuela. June 18, 2016

Team: Ana Vargas, Raquel Portillo, Ana Cristina Rodríguez,Gabriela Puppio.

Two hundred volunteers became the protagonists of the project “Tracing spaces in the El Sabor staircases”. The stage chosen for the intervention was the 275-step stairway in the  José Félix Ribas neighborhood of Petare, one of the biggest slums in Latin America. The challenge was to lay the children’s book “Blue and Red” published by Camelia Ediciones, written by Mireya Tabuas and illustrated by the artist Patricia Van Dalen and the designer Ricardo Báez.

The day started with a storytelling session by Nancy Moreno from “Pasa la Cebra”. The story is about a mom who likes the color blue and a dad who likes red. “Both of them believe their color is the best one and they force their son to choose his favorite. He picks purple because is a mixture of both, that’s why we are using purple shirts today.”  These are the words of Jean Luis, a boy that lives in the area and excitedly narrates the story.

The children shaked  the spray cans forcefully for at least three minutes, that was the instruction. The spray cans rattled like maracas to the rhythm of the kid’s excitement. In the meantime, other groups laid the tiles in colors referencing the book’s illustrations.

In five hours the book was written and illustrated up the stairway. Juan, a builder of the neighborhood tells us about the highlight of the day: “Many groups gathered in the plaza near the stairs to lay the tiles. It was the best moment of the day because it illustrated the image of the story when two circles, blue and red overlap to create a new color: purple”. From this moment on, the effort of going up and down the stairs to the plaza was made more pleasant with art and literature.

Now, every time the neighbors walk up the stairs to their homes and they read the story, surely, they’ll remember this message: We can coexist while celebrating our differences. At the end of the day, we are a mix of colors, emotions, hopes and  dreams; we are all like the color purple.