Participatory Design Workshops | Arepa Architecture Ecology and Participation

2014

Hosts:

* AC Caracas a Pie

* AC Red Urbana Ciudadana

* Arepa Architecture Ecology and Participation

Locations:

* Public School System in Petare, the denser Self-Produced Neighborhood in Latin America.

Headpersons:

* Ignacio Cardona

* Cheo Carvajal

Facilitators:

* Juancho Pinto / Josymar Rodríguez / Oscar Rodríguez / Rodrigo Guerra / Santiago Rizo.

Consultants:

* Gerardo Zavarce / Artistic Curator

* María Izquiel / Psicosocial Processes

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I believe that education in architecture must go beyond architectural studios and classrooms. This board shows one of many workshops on architecture and urban design projects I have led, especially with children in underprivileged environments.

The idea of these workshops dwells in the belief that the city emerges from our idea about our environments. For this reason, we organized a set of Participatory Design Workshops to discuss and raise consciousness on the need for sustainability in self-produced environments.

This proposal seeks to listen to the felt needs of citizens, especially children, and integrate them into the urban project. But participation is multi-directional; the ideas we have about urban space as architects also go to the mind of other participants through dialogical processes.

We have developed many methods to invite children to participate in the processes of urban design: drawing, models, happenings, etc.; among them is the “handy-shop,” a device made with recycled materials that enable children to draw their desired city directly in front of the inherited urban landscape.

This proposal is halfway between design and citizenship education. The connection between these two worlds is crucial to the positive urban transformation of the city.