Urban Architectural Proposal for Public Space in the Molino River Based in the Historic

Center of Popayán, Colombia.

Delivered by:

ALCY FABIAN MUÑOZ CERON

JUAN JOSÉ MORILLO USCASTEGUI

JONATAN CANENCIO BETANCOURTH

Teacher:

JONH JAIRO DUEÑAS MUÑOZ

Educational institution Colegio Mayor del Cauca

Arts School.

Architecture Program.

English IV program.

Popayán.

2020.

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Index

1. Abstract_____________________________________________________________3

2. Introduction__________________________________________________________3

3. Justification__________________________________________________________4

4. Problem / Question____________________________________________________6

5. Generar objective_____________________________________________________7

6. Methodology_________________________________________________________7

7. Theoretical Framework_________________________________________________9

8. Conclusions_________________________________________________________14

9. Bibliography________________________________________________________16

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 1. Abstract

This is a research project produced by students of architecture, by 8th semester,

which can serve as a reference for different and new architectural proposals made for the

university, itself, as outside it. That has their respective methods and corresponding data by

such research, which in general helps to have a greater knowledge of the subject, deeply and

completely, using the possible tools for their objectives, making use for regulatory issues and

credentials of important sources, but without affect the data collected by the own workshop

of the semester, which seeks to develop a project of the investigative magnitude,

propositional, but with low possibility of development in the real proyect, in addition to an

educational purpose, in this case English iv.

2. Introduction

The old historic center has been the point of development of the economy in the city,

which until recently was centralized, this made that in the sector are located a lot of facilities

that attract a floating population in daylight hours and displacing the habitants to use family

housing as commercial housing, the facilities that are found are educational, financial,

administrative, services, tourism and other services.

The public space is understood as a space of the common good; of the state, an

important element of wealth and urban diversity. In the center of the city of Popayán

(commune 4) we find big problems, there is a deterioration of the public space in the sector

due to the lack of appropriation by the community generating an abandonment towards public

and recreational places. Due to the lack of planning of uncontrolled settlements since the

beginning of the commune, leading to the disorder of green areas, producing contamination

towards the river and public roads by dumping garbage, without effective management. There

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is also a failure in the soils due to the fluvial and hydric origin, generating a deficit in the land

of this sector, which causes difficulties in the great architectural works.

Image 1. Public space in the historical sector of Popayan.

Source: Authors' own.

3. Justification

Popayán is one of the hyper dense cities in the world, with more than 8,000

inhabitants per square kilometer (Simón Gaviria, February 20, 2017), these data show that in

the city there is over construction and that public space is limited and has lagged behind for

the city to accommodate such a magnitude of population. The historic center is the point

where the conception of the city begins, and is currently recognized in Latin America for the

degree of architectural conservation, this reason and the limited budget of the city have

contributed so that the sector has had very few urban architectural interventions, however,

The World Health Organization stipulates that the green and recreational area per habitant in

the city should be of, minimum, 15 square meters and popayán according to the data

corresponding to the number of inhabitants and amount of public space presents a deficit of

95% (Alejandro Bravo Arcos, 2014), being the center of the city the oldest point and showing

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the architecture of the colonial era and its deficiencies in terms of urban space of the time the

intervention is proposed to increase in the sector the green and recreational area suggested by

the World Health Organization.

Since public space is a common good and the State is in the obligation to guarantee its

use, states Architect Luis Miguel Padilla(2019), "The sense of belonging, understood as the

right that all inhabitants have to use the resources of the place where they live, is fundamental

to coexist in harmony". Projects aimed at public space have been proposed in the POT of

Popayán, in the sector we have the Molino’s river basin management project (PONCH

Molino), eastern bicycle path, Molino river boardwalk is presented as an opportunity to make

a proposal that articulates the current plans presented. The sense of belonging, understood as

the right of all habitants to use the resources of the place where they live, is fundamental for

harmonious and coexistence, so it should be an inclusive proposal for the habitants of the

sector.

Image 2. Mosquera Park Public Space

Source: Authors' own.

The urban space proposal generated allows recovering the basin of the river mill that

has been for many years a focus of pollution (formulation of the highest Cauca river pomca,

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2017. Page 35) , creating in its environment insecurity to passersby, being a focus of rodent

housing and due to the poor culture of the city a place to throw waste, the ecological

component of the city increases with the intervention and is rehabilitated for the benefit of the

users of the sector.

Image 3. Public Space Jose Hilardo Lopez Park

Source: Authors' own.

The inhabitants, who are mostly students, service workers, commercial area and

tourists, are characterized by the high index of educational facilities, municipal service

companies, formal trade and the historic center of Popayán, known for its architectural

conservation, which are located in the sector and which in turn generate a large floating

population, and the habitants of the sector will benefit from having spaces for leisure,

recreation sports in a dense sector polluted by urban activity.

4. Problem / Question

What is the urban architectural proposal to improve the public space around the river

mill hydrographic based in the historic sector of the city of Popayán?

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 5. Generar objective

To design an urban architectural proposal for public space in the basin of the mill

river in the historical sector of Popayan Colombia.

Objective specific

● To design an urban architectural proposal for public space in the base of the

Molino’s River in the historical sector of Popayan Colombia.

● Determine a conceptual idea that articulates the determinants of public space

and the user and gives an identity to the architectural proposal of the public

space.

● Integrate architectural technological aspects into the proposal in order to

present a sustainable proposal.

6. Methodology

Type Of Investigation

The research has been proposed with a qualitative approach since an analysis will be

made of the current regulations regarding the treatment of the river basin of the river mill and

its use in the generation of public space in the historic center of Popayán, as well as the plans

and programs related to the specific sector of the proposed intervention.

The type of study proposed is descriptive since an analysis will be made of the

current conditions of the public space, the interventions to be carried out according to the

regulations, the affectation in the sector, all this with a view to provide a solution that the

inhabitants of the sector and the city, and the environment require.

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 Sources of Information

Primary and secondary sources of information will be used in the research, taking

into account Primary Sources. These are all those users and companions to whom a research

instrument was applied. In this case, the data come directly from the population or a sample

of the population. These sources contain original information, which has been published for

the first time and has not been filtered, interpreted or evaluated by anyone else. They are the

product of research or an eminently creative activity. Ubaldo, Acosta (2009) and that

secondary sources of information are those that contain primary information, synthesized and

reorganized. They are specially designed to facilitate and maximize access to primary sources

or their contents. They start from pre-elaborated data, such as data obtained from statistical

yearbooks, Internet, media, databases processed for other purposes, articles and documents

related to the disease, books, theses, official reports, etc. Ubaldo, Acosta (2009).

Phases Of Development

The research will be carried out in 3 phases:

Phase 1. Interpretative: information gathering. - Urban analysis where information

will be obtained about the size of the watershed, fauna, flora, landslide risk if applicable,

landscape units, regulations, urban furniture affectation, heritage protection areas, population,

landmarks, nodes, land use and associated conflicts.

Stage 2. Argumentative: analysis of the urban intervention guidelines for the

adequate development of the public space proposal; DOFA diagnosis of the sector to take

advantage of the strengths and minimize the weaknesses, diagnosis of the regulations to

determine the scope of the intervention and the possible impact of the intervention on the mill

river basin in the historic center; analysis of the information collected from primary sources

and the information found in phase 1, the purpose is to determine the conceptual idea that

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articulates the determinants of public space and to be able to make a proposal with identity in

the sector.

Stage 3. Propositive: Architectural proposal, in the historic center of the city of

Popayán, consistent with the regulations, the needs of the inhabitants and the architectural

sustainability needed in the urban spaces of the cities.

7. Theoretical Framework

● Public Space In Historic Centers

The Historic Center of the Heritage City tells us about the history of the site and its

inhabitants. It is a complex and inherited space, where the entire population owns some part

of the space. In the Historic Center there are contradictory activities and functions, but at

present the public spaces that make it up have been transformed according to the needs of the

community, the plans and management of public policies, to mention a few factors. The

public spaces of the Historic Center have been transformed over time due to the needs and

problems they have faced. Particularly the Historic Centers that are considered Cultural

Heritage of Humanity challenge specific interests and problems, since the transformation to

which they are subject is linked to the tourist and commercial offer, forgetting the importance

it means for the city and its inhabitants (Lagarraga,2010,p.1 ). This perspective shows us how

all the historical centers with worldwide recognition present the same challenges and at the

same time the same deficiencies for their inhabitants; The sector where the architectural

urban planning is proposed includes the neighborhoods: el cadillal, el modelo, el Bolívar and

the historic center of the city, is a place where specific problems are presented such as the

deficit of public space, narrow streets and sidewalks due to the initial design of the

checkerboard plot, this reason and the commercial nature developed, has generated in is

sector for the inhabitants a problematic as Grijalba (2017) states: "The problem that we are

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facing the densification of users due to the growth of the city has increased the resident and

floating population of the sector with problems such as lack of parking spaces, which is

reflected in the improper occupation of parks such as José Hilario López, congestion of the

roads, and the affectation in pedestrian mobility, deteriorated sidewalks and not designed with

inclusive regulations that affect people with reduced mobility (Idrobo and Morillo, 2020).

● Water recovery and generation of public space.

The development of cities around rivers has been a constant for human beings,

which has resulted in high water pollution. Hough (1998) states "Today the city has turned its

back on the river and it has become a void between spaces, instead of being a space in itself.

It has become a forgotten space that no one appreciates or uses. The marginality and

deterioration of rivers is directly related to their accessibility" (p.) and Hough states: "Its

health and diversity must be restored and the river brought back into the city so that it can be

appreciated and experienced as a valuable and essential part of urban life. This is achieved

with urban design principles that do not hide the rivers, but bring them back into the urban

system, linking them visually, physically and emotionally with the people who inhabit the

city." (p.)

For the Ministry of the Environment In Colombia, cities have frequently settled on

the banks of water sources, which, as a result of accelerated and unplanned growth, have been

polluted, often to the point of being irreversibly affected or definitively extinguished. This

represents not only an environmental problem but also a problem of public health, since

polluted waters are one of the main sources of diseases. (p.14) With this perspective, public

policies have been generated on the importance of rivers in Colombia and their recovery,

therefore the regulation of minambiente (2014) "responds to the need to incorporate the

guidelines and directives of the National Policy for the Integrated Management of Water

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Resources (PNGIRH) (2010) in relation to the planning structure of watersheds and the

provisions of Decree 1640 of August 2012" (p.7). and allows the generation of plans for the

planning and management of watersheds in the country. In Popayán, the Plan for the

development and management of the Molino river basin, approved in 2006, this Pomch of

Popayán is articulated with the Popayán Land Management Plan in a project that allows the

recovery of the Molino river basin and the generation of public space in the sector fully

described in the Special Management and Conservation Plan for the historical center of

Popayán, approved in 2007.

● Public Space In Consolidated Sectors

Currently there is skepticism about the generation of public space in consolidated

sectors, such as historic city centers. It is a fact as mentioned above that the historic centers

have moved away from the needs of the inhabitants because they were consolidated densely

and have remained so over the years, however as presented by the Architect Edwin Riaño,

giving life to a historic center or a consolidated sector is possible with proper architectural

intervention.

The thought process and the ideas that support this Urban Design Final Project come

from skepticism. In this case, a creative skepticism, applied to the look, the analysis, the

characterization and above all to the conception of the Urban Design project in the center of

the contemporary consolidated city. If skepticism is generally considered as any inquisitive

attitude towards the established knowledge, represented as by facts, opinions, designs or

beliefs declared as unquestionable truths at a given time. Creative skepticism then poses the

doubt regarding the rationale that explains the current state of things, seeking to elucidate

their formal origins and look at them from other assumptions or other mechanisms to

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transform them. To question the conceptual foundations, the starting points and the

immovables from which the design of public space in the consolidated city that led to the

current state of things was conceived. Riaño (2017).

● Sustainable Public Space.

Sustainability implies the improvement of living standards in accordance with the

carrying capacity of the natural and urban environment. Sustainability implies that the

consumption of resources does not exceed nature's capacity to replace them. It addresses the

maintenance of biodiversity, health and quality of life in the future. Sustainability is a

dynamic balance, and a path in which the goals are articulated in the medium and long term,

based on the intrinsic conditions of each locality. (ICLEI, 1994).

For this reason, sustainable urban design should focus on the recovery of degraded

ecosystems, the inclusion of natural processes and the creation of new public spaces that

guarantee the mitigation of environmental impacts developed by society in recent years

(Thomas, 2003).

Dr. Ester Higueras, Architect Ester Higueras, in her book El reto de la ciudad

habitable y sostenible (The challenge of the habitable and sustainable city), sets out ten

principles for sustainable development, taking into account all aspects that affect energy

consumption in cities and makes the following proposal:

1. Adequate study of urban density and the negative consequences generated by

both high density (it will generate congestion) and extremely low density (it

will generate continuous traffic and increase infrastructure costs).

2. Complexity and variety of morphologies and building typologies in urban

structures that configure more sustainable urban developments. The aim is that

there are volumetries of new buildings seeking morpho-typological variety, as

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 a necessary requirement for urban sustainability. The diversity of building

typologies is an attribute of sustainability since it implies: .- variety of

architectural forms that help to structure the space, providing it with references

and internal singularities .- variety of housing, combining closed block

housing, open block housing, single-family houses, etc. . - variety of people,

according to their income and possibilities of acquiring one type of housing or

another .- better adaptation to the conditions of the place, the relief, and the

values to be perpetuated, (for more rugged reliefs, single-family houses, to

provide sunshine and ventilation to many houses, south-facing towers, etc.).

3. Proposal of mixed uses by compatibility based on environmental thresholds

and temporal and spatial flexibility for better use and performance. It is

considered advisable to avoid excessively monofunctional developments, so

that they are not dormitory neighborhoods of large cities, but have their

tertiary, commercial, industrial, etc. activities. Also to avoid industrial estates

or business parks without associated commercial or residential activities,

always within the margins of compatibility.

4. Un sistema de áreas verdes y espacios libres estructurantes de la vida urbana,

adecuados en cantidad y calidad a los requerimientos sociales particulares de

cada lugar, que permitan áreas ambientalmente equilibradas y de bajo

mantenimiento (buscando la biodiversidad y la plantación de especies

autóctonas aclimatadas a condiciones climáticas extremas, de bajo consumo de

agua y que consideren la calidad del valor paisajístico de su entorno). Un

nuevo enfoque de la naturaleza en la ciudad requiere considerar la

habitabilidad de los espacios abiertos, la continuidad de los espacios verdes y

la biodiversidad.

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 5. Optimization of supply networks and urban infrastructures (sewage, rainwater,

street lighting, etc.) quantified and located according to efficiency criteria

(separate sewage networks, centralized heat generation, etc.).

6. Facilities integrated into the network of open spaces and green areas, with

diversity of use according to age, time, etc. in order to optimize their facilities.

7. Sustainable urban traffic management, with a variety of measures: traffic

calming, preferential pedestrian zones, efficient public transportation network,

considering pedestrians as the protagonist of the city, etc.

8. Reduction and reuse of municipal solid waste at all scales

9. Environmental valuation of peri-urban land.

10. Social cohesion, equity and citizen participation, in the end, establish the key

to evaluate if the urban complex really works and brings social benefits to its

residents (if they live well). Higueras (2009).

8. Conclusions

The invasion of the mill's river bank with the uncontrolled growth of the city is the

main cause of contamination and occupation of public space in the sector; therefore, urban

renewal is necessary, as well as the demolition of several properties along the intervention

zone and the recovery of the watershed protection zones that have been invaded by

constructions.

It is necessary to regulate the use of land in the sector to allow the proliferation of

housing and therefore the consolidation of new users, as it is crowded during the daytime by

a large floating population attracted by the large number of facilities in the sector, but at night

the sector is desolate.

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 From the analysis of the planimetry it can be determined that 75,000 square meters

of public space will be generated in the sector. Therefore, it has been determined that the

intervention should be done in three phases: the first in the mosquera park sector, the second

in Julio Arboleda park, the arcade of the forge and Julio Arboleda park and the third from

carrera 8 to carrera 11 of the sector, the first phase has a gastronomic and cultural vocation,

the second phase will be cultural and the third phase of active activities. for the development

of this intervention, a proposal is presented for phase 2 of the sector.

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9. Bibliography

Pemp Mayor of Popayán, (2007). Special Plan for Management and Protection of the
Historical Sector. Colombia:Popayán

Pomch Mayor of Popayán, (2006). Development and Management Plan Subbasin Rio Molino
– Pubus. Colombia: Popayán.

Pot Mayor of Popayán, (2002). Territorial Development Plan of Popayán. Colombia:Popayán.

Larrañaga, Ana Elena Larrañaga. (2010). Transformation of Public Spaces of the Heritage
City. The Zócalo of the City of Oaxaca. University of Guadalajara. https://upcommons. upc.
edu/bitstream/handle/2099/12855/07_Larranaga_Ana. pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Grijalba, Álvaro Orlando (2017, 5 March). Popayán, trouble and change. Ovidiohoyos. com.
http://ovidiohoyos. com/node/6510.

Idrobo Eliana Y Morillo Juan Jose (2020), urban analysis Workshop 5 Public space. High
school of Cauca.

Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development (2005, December) Series 5.

Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (2014), Technical Guide for the
Formulation of Watershed Management and Management Plans.

Hough, M. (1998). Nature and city. Urban planning and ecological processes. Barcelona:
Gustavo Gili · Global Voices

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