Conclusions
The Change by Design workshop reveals the importance of recognising the practices of social mobilisation in Los Pinos as an opportunity to set new precedents in the actualisation of the goals of Buen Vivir, as defined by existing policy frameworks in Ecuador. This report demonstrates that there are existing capacities and interests from the local community in Los Pinos and their support agents (i.e. the university and NGOs) to design and implement a neighbourhood upgrading programme through participatory strategies. As outlined in the Politica Metropolitana de Habitat y Vivienda (PMHV) of Quito, community self-management is an existing framework to deliver projects that are responsive to local needs and aspirations, while also strengthening collectives’ ability to influence public housing policies. In the case of Los Pinos, the workshop identified a series of existing potentials that could support the CDCLP to implement such model of neighbourhood planning and upgrading. The on-going institutional linkages with the Universidad Politecnica Salesiana and CONBADE are just some of the crucial relationships that would allow Los Pinos to implement a successful participatory initiative – while simultaneously demonstrating to a wider network the potentials of social mobilisation in the acquisition of rights in the city. Meanwhile, there are a series of ‘urban project’ entry points that could be leveraged on to pursue such process, some of them including potential partnerships with the municipality of Quito, such as the management of the Pichincha watershed and particularly the Plan Laderas initiative. Trying to bring about a partnership between the Cantones of Quito and Mejia through a potentially punctual initiative such as this one could be a first step to address wider problems related to the lack of planning coordination and collaboration between the two municipalities. At the community scale, the participatory design activities undertaken with residents of Los Pinos have successfully demonstrated the residents’ capacity to generate design options that are multiple and responsive to a variety of local needs. Residents were also able to critically engage with the viability of different design solutions, therefore constantly making trade-offs that were negotiated sensitively. In terms of dwelling, the tools for engaging local residents in the imagination of their home environments were quickly appropriated, revealing a variety of concrete and constructive physical manifestations of residents’ needs and aspirations. 90
To the right, meeting of the Committee on Community Development, Los Pinos.