Participatory process for the land use masterplan of Masquefa


Participatory process for the land use masterplan of Masquefa

The citizen participation process of the land use masterplan (POUM) of Masquefa is developed in parallel with the drafting of the urban planning document (in charge of OUA) with the intention of turning the drafting of a Municipal Urban Planning Plan into an opportunity for the different sectors that make up the society to collaborate with each other, and jointly define what is the municipality they want for the next few years, dealing with topics ranging from housing, economic activity, public space and equipment, natural spaces or the infrastructures that make up the territory.

In this participatory process, apart from combining face-to-face and virtual spaces to facilitate access to the debate, an effort has been made to recognize the territorial complexity of the municipality, where there is a consolidated urban center where the majority of services are located, with a series of low-density urbanization with fairly marked own dynamics. The objective, then, is that the project serves to collect the proposals of all these people involved, at the same time that the process itself helps to increase territorial cohesion and the links between neighborhoods.

Place

Masquefa

[9.623 inhabitants]

Scale

Municipal

Type of project

Citizen cooperation

Duration

6 months [2021 – 2022]

Promoter

Municipality of Masquefa

 

Team

*estel (Alba Domínguez

Ferrer, Marc Deu Ferrer,

Konstantina Chrysostomou,

Arnau Boix i Pla)

 

Collaborators

Neighbors of Masquefa

Urban and Sustainable Mobility Plan of Barx


Urban and Sustainable Mobility Plan of Barx

Barx, like the rest of the neighboring towns and cities, has experienced in recent decades an evolutionary process of its mobility based on unsustainable parameters over time.

Often the high presence of private vehicles means that many of the other activities that take place in the street are relegated to the background, either because of the difficulty or danger of developing them simultaneously, or directly because of the lack of space.

It is in this context that this study is being developed, which aims to reverse these dynamics and establish a viable action plan adjusted to the needs that will make it possible and improve the quality of public space. To do this, a complete diagnosis of the current reality has been carried out, which contemplates both the analysis of the capacities and the intensities of use of the road network with different modes of transport, as well as the coexistence of these journeys with the other activities that take place on public roads, linked to the development of the daily life of its inhabitants.

Place

Barx

[1.229 inhabitants]

Scale

Municipal

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Duration

8 months [2021]

Promoter

Municipality of Barx

 

Team

*estel (Marc Deu i Arnau Boix,

Alba Domínguez Ferrer,

Konstantina Chrysostomou)

Pau Avellaneda

 

Collaborators

Vecindario de Barx

Methodology for the Valencian Urban Agenda


Methodology for the Valencian Urban Agenda

The Generalitat Valenciana needed to propose a cooperative work process to draft the Valencian Urban Agenda. The urban agenda is a fundamental territorial strategic document to align the urban policies of the Valencian Country with the 2030 Agenda and the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals.

The Cooperativa *estel, together with MonoDestudio, carried out in close collaboration with the Department of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility of the Generalitat, a methodological document called “Participated drafting of the Valencian Urban Agenda: Methodology and criteria for defining the participatory process and the drafting of the Valencian Urban Agenda.”

The team created the document with the direct involvement of the General Directorates of different ministries of the Generalitat and the collaboration of an extensive cast of specialist professionals from the Valencian territory and the Spanish state. The document was made to guarantee shared writing, meaning the methodology cannot be separated from the process. The process is the way of preparing the contents of the Valencian Urban Agenda from the active involvement of the different sectoral, territorial, and administrative agents of the Valencian Country and all of its inhabitants.

The project has been a progressive and cumulative work, intending to continue in the following stages: the public competition and the Agenda preparation. For this reason, whoever is responsible for continuing this work will find a detailed reference in the document to develop it: documentary framework, map of agents, content structure, critical issues, and methodology for its shared writing.

The contents of the Urban Agenda were structured according to the thematic blocks Urban Economy, Territory, and City, Urban Governance, Urban Quality, and Health, Right to the City, and Connected City. But it was essential to incorporate integral elements in the participatory drafting process. Not as thematic or specific factors, but focusing on it from an integrated perspective, and therefore all the objectives, actions, and other contents of the Valencian Urban Agenda should implicitly or explicitly include Gender, Governance, Environmental Sustainability, and Social Justice.

Place

País Valencià

[4.975.000 inhabitants]

Scale

Supra-municipal

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Duration

6 months [2020]

Promotor

Generalitat Valenciana

 

Team

*estel (Arnau Boix i Pla,

Konstantina Chrysostomou,

Marc Deu i Ferrer, Alba

Dominguez Ferrer),

MonoDestudio

 

Collaborators

Technical staff of the

Generalitat Valenciana,

Independent professionals

from the Valencian Country

and the Spanish State

Presentation

Check the presentation at

Prezi

 

Study

Read the full report at the

web of the Generalitat

Valenciana

 

Press

Read more about the project

at ValènciaExtra

Superblocks for Barcelona’s Eixample

Superblocks for Barcelona's Eixample

The great urban transformation that will take place in Barcelona’s Eixample had to be built from and for the residents of the district. The ambitious municipal program “Superilla Barcelona” (Barcelona Superblock) will mean a 180-degree turn in the city’s urban policies, reorganizing the flow of road traffic by literally putting pedestrians in the center of the street, and forcefully promotes the renaturalization of the public space.

Together with MonoDestudio, a diverse participatory process was proposed in terms of methodological techniques, and with a high degree of adaptability to the progression in the drafting of urban transformation documents and to the different events linked to the city’s political agenda.

The greatest challenges of the participatory work had to do with the socio-territorial scope of the “Superilla Barcelona” program, which had to combine the previous theoretical bases generated by the Driving Group, the necessary pedagogical dissemination of the principles of the superblocks, and the incorporation of the perspectives citizens, especially from a qualitative point of view.

Thus, the participatory process “Superilla Barcelona a l’Eixample” included outings on the street to explain to the neighbors the social and environmental improvements that were expected, and to answer questions or collect suggestions regarding the transformation of the ‘Eixample. Sessions were also held with specific groups to complete the holistic vision that the transformation projects needed: urban walks with residents of the territory, exploratory marches with women, workshops with children and young people from the educational community, and specific interviews with all street vendors affected by urban transformation. And workshops open to all citizens were also held where the progress in the drafting of the different urban transformation executive projects was presented, to clearly expose the criteria used and to incorporate the observations and suggestions of the people attending.

This participatory process is part of the drafting of the architectural and urban projects prior to the material transformation of Barcelona’s Eixample around the main axis that is Consell de Cent street, and which involves Rocafort, Comte Borrell, Enrique Granados and Girona. Barcelona City Council also foresees new participatory processes linked to subsequent phases, during and after the urban transformation.

Place

Barcelona 

[1.636.762 inhabitants]

Scale

District

Type of project

Citizen cooperation

Duration

6 months [2021]

Promoter

Municipality of Barcelona

 

Team

*estel (Arnau Boix i Pla,

Konstantina Chrysostomou,

Marc Deu i Ferrer, Alba

Dominguez Ferrer),

Belén Iturralde,

Martina Capdevila,

MonoDestudio

 

Collaborators

Political and technical team of

the City Council,

Neighbors of Eixample,

Entities and associations of

the Eixample

Study

See the full process at

Decidim Barcelona

Press

Read about the exploratory

walks of the process in the

newspaper Ara,

Read more about the

workshops at the education

centers in the newspaper Ara

Cals Frares, NGOs’ House

Cals Frares, NGOs’ House

Tiana City Council promoted the participatory process for transforming the newly constructed buildings into new association equipment, co-designed with the municipal entities and the technical and political team. Over the last few months, we’ve worked on the proposal with Tiana’s associations and the municipality’s technical and political group. 

The “Cals Frares, NGOs’ House” is a municipal facility for the use of associations and non-profit organizations in Tiana, offering a model for creating a civic ecosystem. This equipment facilitates:

  • associative work, offering various spaces for its development,
  • collaboration in the growth and improvement of the associative movement
  • the possibility of an inter-associative relationship between the different entities.

The “Cals Frares, NGOs’ House” provides workspaces and opportunities for associations and groups to participate in socio-cultural activities, learn, explore and create. This site hosts various cultural, artistic, and educational programs and activities to foster creativity and community trust. It facilitates situations for people to get together and get to know each other.

The foundation and operation of the “Cals Frares, NGOs’ House” is based on a cooperative approach, from its creation to its function. This site serves as a tool for this cooperation model, as the members of the NGOs and groups are the most active part of society, bringing together people of all ages, professions, and nationalities. The association’s role in developing civil society is growing along with the municipality’s support for joint projects and activities.

With the transformation of the “Cals Frares, NGOs’ House” into a generator of social life for the municipality of Tiana, it is possible to achieve:

  • Strengthen local identity.
  • Generate an intergenerational social and cultural meeting point for the population that does not exclude anyone.
  • Democratize access to municipal resources and improve the quality of life for all.
  • Encourage community involvement and allow the community to act in their municipality through the House of Entities their resources to start new activities and services.
  • Create a third place that plays a significant role in the public life of the municipality.
  • Promote collaborations and exchange of knowledge between entities and groups.

Based on an analysis elaborated on the territorial, administrative and social context in which the new building is located and through a participatory process with the technical and political team and the entities, associations, and groups of the municipality, we were able to define the following:

  • the site identity,
  • the program of the use,
  • the distribution proposal,
  • the architectural intervention criteria,
  • the criteria for the incorporation of the gender perspective,
  • the management proposal and, 
  • the “meanwhile” activities.

Placd

Tiana

[9,009 inhabitants]

Scale

Municipal

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

5 months[2022]

Promoter

Municipality of Tiana

 

Team

*estel (Konstantina

Chrysostomou,Roser Garcia

Piqué, Arnau Boix i Pla, Alba

Domínguez Ferrer, Marc Deu i

Ferrer)

 

Collaborators

Associations of Tiana

Presentation

Check the presentation at  prezi

Participatory process to expand the inventory of the cultural heritage of Terrassa

Participatory process to expand the inventory of the cultural heritage of Terrassa

The Participatory Process associated with the Advance of the specific Modification of the POUM to expand the inventory of assets of Cultural Heritage of Terrassa, has been carried out between September 2021 and January 2022. Highlight the city’s heritage of the city, and elaborate on a proposal of regulation that has the citizen’s knowledge that has opened this space of participation in an initial phase of the urban processing.

Terrassa is a city with remarkable heritage value. Noteworthy examples include: (1) the monumental ensemble of the Cathedral of Ègara which was founded in the middle of the 5th century with the Romanesque churches of Sant Pere and Santa Maria, (2) the Gothic altarpieces of the 15th century, (3) the Carthusian Castle of Vallparadís which is originally from the 12th century and was converted into a Carthusian monastery in the 14th and 15th centuries, and (4) the cloister of the Convent of Sant Francesc from the 17th century.

With the Catalan industrial revolution, Terrassa became a major center of the textile sector in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Factories, warehouses, and residential buildings are concentrated in the city during the period of Modernism, with such remarkable examples as Masia Freixa and Casa Alegre de Sagrera.

For the citizens of Terrassa, the patrimonial elements become elements of identity. It is an active citizenry concerned with conserving and preserving these assets that are relics of the familiar past and translate into citizen pride. The link is based on associations of residents interested in heritage, which have the support and advice of entities such as the Heritage Board and the Center for Historical Studies of Terrassa. Terrassa City Council gives them a voice to express their opinions and assessments in expanding the inventory of Terrassa’s Cultural Heritage assets. In short, a review and group reflection to continue guarding the heritage with the best possible conditions in a correlative legacy from past to future.

The objectives from which the participatory process is set are:

  • Facilitate the dissemination and understanding of the progress document of the MPOUM, and the background linked to the regulation of the Cultural Heritage of Terrassa.
  • Achieve a higher quality plan/project: Collect different perspectives and proposals on the elements to be regulated and the criteria to be considered.
  • Weave new relationships and improve governance with the affected agents of the territory, to facilitate their management and monitoring during the participatory process and the following stages of urban planning.

Place

Terrassa 

[218,535 inhabitants]

Scale

Municipal

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

8 months [2021-2022]

Promoter

Municipality of Terrassa

 

Team

*estel (Marc Deu i Ferrer,

Konstantina Chrysostomou,

Arnau Boix i Pla, Alba

Dominguez Ferrer),

Fàtima López Pérez,

Pablo Tardio

 

Collaborators

Neighbors of Terrassa

Press

Read more about the project

at the participa.terrassa

Let’s activate the square Panikou Dimitriou in Cyprus

Let’s activate the square Panikou Dimitriou in Cyprus

In collaboration with the Mesa Geitonia City Council and the Municipal Open School, the Youth Volunteering team planned and implemented the “My Square” project. *Estel was represented by one of its members, providing the experience of participatory processes for transforming public spaces in Spain, adapting the *estel methodology in the socio-administrative context of Cyprus.

The project focuses on protecting the environment, the creative occupation and training of unemployed young people, and the reduction of juvenile delinquency through collective actions aimed at improving the square in the municipality of Mesa Geitonia in Limassol. This cooperative process for the co-design of the square has been carried out with the local community, applying sustainability and resilience criteria.

This innovative project for the context of Cyprus regarding incorporating the local community in decision-making for common spaces has a pedagogical character. Residents of different age groups and origins participate in the planning for the first time, assuming roles and responsibilities for developing the design and activating the space. The process involves each generation, not only during the procedure but also during the execution and activation. By doing this, the sense of belonging is increased, causing a reduction in vandalism in the space. This participatory process tests a new model for the design, management, and programming of public space, which until now was limited to the technical and political team of the city council.

The diagnosis of the needs and the design of this square is carried out jointly with the neighborhood, the children of the two nearby schools, and the Escola Oberta of the Mesa Geitonia City Hall. The actions that have been carried out (co-design workshops, plant care seminars, tree planting, memory and identity workshop, open-air cinema, etc.) focus on protecting the environment, creating employment and training unemployed young people, and reducing juvenile delinquency.

The project is funded by the European Program “European Solidarity Corps.” The project is in the spirit of the European Solidarity Corps, as it brings together young people who want to build a society with fewer exclusions, supporting vulnerable people such as those who are unemployed and addressing social challenges such as juvenile delinquency, and protecting the environment. At the same time, the administration learns and incorporates this new way of treating public spaces as common urban goods, encouraging the participation of citizens and young people in decision-making.

Through this project, the participants help their community, learn and develop, exchanging ideas and expectations. It is a project with European added value since a community and those who shared the square helped create the model.  

The project will result in a blueprint for transforming the square into a long-term series of strategies. These strategies will improve the square and its surroundings over time and are designed to be applied in the public spaces of the municipality. During the participatory process, improvement of the square and the promotion of belongingness are carried out by programs such as (1) planting trees, (2) installing outdoor exercise equipment, (3) creating open-air cinema areas, and (4) painting the park’s children’s area with bright colors.

 

* Finalist project in the New European Bauhaus Awards, 2023 (more information)

Place

Mesa Gitonia 

[3,948 inhabitants]

Scale

Public space

Type of project


Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Public space design

Duration

12 months [2021-2022]

Promoter

European Solidarity Corps

Municipality of Mesa Gitonia

 

Team

*estel (Konstantina

Chrysostomou), Aristi Pavlou,

Georgios Makris, Argiro

Aristides, Crystalla

Theodoulou, Aggelos

Emmanuel , Nikoletta

Ioannou

 

Collaborators

Veïnat de Mesa Gitonia,

Entitats i associacions de

Mesa Gitonia,

Anoikto Sxoleio Mesa Gitonias,

Equip tècnic i polític del municipi

Press

Read more about the project

at project’s facebook and

l’instagram (gr),

Watch the project in the video (gr),

Read more about the project

in the press (gr) 

Strategic Plan for Urban Regeneration in the neighborhood of Cerdanyola


Strategic Plan for Urban Regeneration in the neighborhood of Cerdanyola

Urban regeneration has been a critical mechanism for the transformation and development of cities. It consists of intervention in consolidated urban areas to reverse the situation of those most sensitive territories and unequal peripheries. This will present the opportunity to respond to the needs of neighborhoods with deficiencies, as in the case of Cerdanyola. We must think that the city is where citizens live and, therefore, their needs must be guaranteed. This plan can be the instrument to implement the change to guarantee, in the future, the needs of the inhabitants of the Cerdanyola neighborhood, in this sense, the document pursues the following objectives:

  • Establish guidelines and priorities that allow coordination of interventions with the different City Council departments over time, with the common goal of improving the neighborhood.
  • Define a strategic plan so that the Mataró City Council can request external financing.
  • Detail lines of action to facilitate and guide transformation processes in which there is a collaboration between public and private agents in the neighborhood.
  • Identify specific transformation actions that can guide the administrative resources available to carry out viable actions in the short or long term.

Urban transformation processes offer the possibility of planning new forms of social inclusion, fostering more equitable environments in which access to services and new opportunities are facilitated, promoting citizen participation, and reflecting the cultural and social diversity of the neighborhood.

Cerdanyola’s regeneration plan should revolve around the principles of diversity, an essential aspect in the balance of any ecosystem; sustainability, as a basic component of any development; and identity, as a basic characteristic of any settlement (JLP).

Three principles to improve the daily life of the people who live in the Cerdanyola neighborhood, dealing with everyday and fundamental issues such as accessibility and mobility, social and economic activities, services, productive and reproductive tasks, and interior and exterior habitability.

The plan does not start from scratch, but from all the documentation and previous studies, so one of the first steps in this process will be to analyze all the information worked on. Afterward, and based on this documentary analysis, the fieldwork is carried out, and the sessions with the citizens generate a space for continued cooperation between the previous administrative work, the technical work, and the citizen’s perception.

On the other hand, this plan also focuses on providing the technical services of the city council with support and arguments that allow the daily needs of the Cerdanyola neighborhood to be aligned with European funding, as well as with the objectives of sustainable development, the urban agenda European and Spanish.

Place

Mataró, neighborhood of

Cerdanyola

[31.241 habitants]

Scale

Neighborhood

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

4 months [2021-2022]

Promoter

Municipality of Mataró

 

Team

*estel (Konstantina

Chrysostomou, Alba

Dominguez Ferrer, Arnau Boix

i Pla, Marc Deu i Ferrer)

Pere Manubens,

monoDestudio,

FIKA

 

Collaborators

Taula de Pla Integral de

Cerdanyola,

Àrea de Qualitat Urbana de

l’ajuntament, 

Àrea de Serveis a la Ciutadania

de l’ajuntament

Presentation

Check the presentation at prezi

Participatory process for the Master Plan of the Vapor Albinyana’s suroundings


Participatory process for the Master Plan of the Vapor Albinyana’s suroundings

The participatory process of this project is part of the drafting of the document “Master Plan of the Vapor Albinyana’s surroundings: Diagnosis and development strategies.” 

The document serves to make a careful diagnosis of the problems within the area as a preliminary step to raise a set of proposals to be used in public and private areas, which dynamizes and prevents the loss of heritage values.

The objectives of the participatory process are:

  • Disseminate technical work concerning the Master Plan
  • Facilitate the collection of citizen contributions to complement the technical work carried out in recent months and promote collective reflection by incorporating the neighborhood’s vision.
  • Facilitate the follow-up of the process of this strategic document once the participatory process is completed

The team (Jordi Peralta Fernández + *estel)  proposes a holistic and experiential study approach. Create territorial reading at all scales by observing everyday life and the interrelationships it establishes in the neighborhood’s ecosystem. The methodology of the process intrinsically includes all the lines of work involved in the 2030 Agenda in its social, physical, environmental, and economic dimensions and its objectives to enrich this technical vision with citizen perception and aspiration. The work process organizes different participatory formats that are transdisciplinary and transparent.

This process aims to combine the awakening of the environment’s capabilities to respond to the needs detected with the perspectives and knowledge of technicians and citizens. Through their respective direct or indirect involvement in the work process, people of any age, condition, and situation have participated in the process.

The team put activities together to gain a greater understanding of the context. These organized activities included in-situ observations, preliminary conversations with crucial actors in the territory, a survey, two participatory sessions, and a return session to the citizens, the technical, and the political team of the Municipality of Terrassa and the Diputació de Barcelona.

Place

Terrassa

[218,535 inhabitants]

Scale

District

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

11 months [2021-2022]

Promoter

Diputació de Barcelona

Municipality of Terrassa

 

Team

Jordi Peralta Fernández

*estel (Konstantina

Chrysostomou, Arnau Boix i

Pla, Marc Deu i Ferrer,

Alba Dominguez Ferrer)

 

Collaborators

Neighbors of Terrassa

Associations of Terrassa

Press

Read more about the project

at the platform

participa.terrassa and at the

press

Socio-territorial analysis in the Study of Urban Landscape of the Tres Turons


Socio-territorial analysis in the Study of Urban Landscape of the Tres Turons

The Tres Turons area is a unique area between the city and the Sierra de Collserola Natural Park where highly impressive environmental and landscape conditions give attention to a profound review of the structure and quality of the urban landscape.

In this complex space, the Urban Landscape of the districts of Horta Guinardó, Gràcia, and Eixample, paired with a high variable of social, cultural, leisure, and economic dynamics, has evolved according to very different patterns and conditioning factors. Buildings and urbanized spaces are structured around the Turons with sizes and densities that condition the quality of the urban landscape, inevitably marked by the topographical relief. Topography, in fact, is the structuring system of the area that conditions environmental and landscape variables at the same time.

The study is divided into 5 large chapters (Study of historical evolution, Eco-environmental diagnosis, Relevant aspects of the urban landscape, Social structure and services, Human Landscape: everyday life). These chapters are linked to each other, emphasizing the multiple interactions between ecology and landscape. Human, economic and social dynamics converge coherently in a comprehensive transformation strategy to improve the quality of the Tres Turons landscape as a whole.

In this case, *estel was part of a very large team of professionals and focused on the socio-territorial study, intending to analyze the human landscape and the daily dynamics of the neighborhoods. The goal of the project was to understand how people relate to the territory as well as to each other.

In order to understand this complexity of administrative and social structuring in a territorial area of ​​these dimensions (7 neighbourhoods), a cycle of debates has been carried out with representative agents of the neighbourhood. These debates have been complemented with various observation sessions of the public space. As a result, it was possible to report information regarding the identity of the Three Turons. The project was able to ask questions such as: what is the identity of the field, what is the approach to the perceptual field as it relates to the unions and perceptive borders, what are the structuring elements and generators of daily life, and what is the perception of comfort, autonomy and safety in public space.

Place

Barcelona

[1,620,343 inhabitants]

Scale

District

Type of project

Urban Strategies

Citizen cooperation

Duration

6 months [2021-2022]

Promoter

Municipality of Barcelona;

Institut del Paisatge Urbà

(Urban Landscape Institute)

 

Team

B2B Arquitectes (Jordi

Bellmunt, Agata Buscemi)

Irbis,

*estel (Konstantina

Chrysostomou, Marc Deu,

Arnau Boix i Pla, Alba

Dominguez Ferrer),

Fàtima López, Montserrat

Mercadé, Veclus S.L.

 

Collaborators

Technicians of the

neighborhoods:

Vallcarca i els Penitents, la

Salut, la Teixonera, La Font

d’en Fargues, el Guinardó, Can

Baró, el Coll, el Carmel

Neighborhood associations

and groups:

Vallcarca i els Penitents, la

Salut, la Teixonera, La Font

d’en Fargues, el Guinardó, Can

Baró, el Coll, el Carmel