Calle viva, Zona viva

Sammanfattning: Located in Central America, Guatemala is the most populated country of the area with around 15 million inhabitants. The capital, Guatemala City has 923,000 inhabitants and is currently home for 55% of the country’s urban population. Guatemala City, with its 42% of territorial extension consisting of green, is considered a green capital. The city has a very characteristic geographical composition called ravines which creates the ecological and green belt of the city. Currently, there are efforts being made to create more projects relating to the green and public spaces of the city, but we still have a long way to go.  As many other cities in Latin America, Guatemala is facing a constant challenge regarding public spaces. The use of public space has been decreasing for years due to factors such as feeling of safety,  difficulty in accessibility, poor distribution of public spaces in the urban grid, and poor condition of the infrastructure. These challenges have shaped new social patterns. Nowadays, shopping malls have become the new public space. These spaces provide more than just shopping, they provide experiences. On the other hand, they also limit and control who can access them and when, under which conditions, and following a set of rules.  These challenges have made me question; Where do we meet equality? How can we provide proper urban public spaces that meet their function? How will shopping malls transform over time and how can we adapt these new social dynamics created by the shopping malls to the public space?  Throughout this project I attempt to challenge these questions with the idea of bringing people back to the streets so that they can engage with the city and the streets on an everyday basis. To achieve it I have proposed the following manifesto with 3 main statements: “- Equality manifested through the city’s urban structures which start on the streets.     Everyone can access them; in them we are all equal.  - Streets are places to be, to share, to experience. Spaces to live outdoors, to enable interaction.  - Shopping Malls are spaces of constant transformation that will progressively change its functions. “ The aim of the project is to explore in a challenging way how the relationship between shopping malls, green and public space can be addressed and interact in a process of transformation in Guatemala City.