DISTRITO CENTRAL (HONDURAS)
Client: BID – Inter American Development Bank – Iniciativa Ciudades Emergentes y Sostenibles
Date: 2015
Status: Completed
Program: Participatory Process for the transformation of the capital of Honduras, Distrito Central
Scope: Design of process and activities; communication, coordination and implementation of activities, workshops + media
Centro Histórico Abierto is a participatory process in the framework of the development of the new urban axis Choluteca River that crosses the capital of Honduras, Distrito Central. The project is part of ESCI program (Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiatives) -also known as ICES- promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB, an initiative implemented in 55 cities of South America.
The aim of Centro Histórico Abierto is to promote a toolkit allowing and facilitating the bidirectional communication between different institutions and citizenship, ensuring that the future urban development of Distrito Central will incorporate the voice of the citizens, bringing the necessary support and creativity for its future development.
Activities focus on the topic of public space in the Historic Center, reflecting about the possible ways to make it a more open, inclusive, dynamic and diverse space. The project is implemented through online activities and onsite workshops, and it is composed by the following parts:
0: Web platform
The online platform includes all relevant information about the project, including past and future activities. A specific section of the website is dedicated to the documentation related with the urban axis Choluteca River. In addition, we implemented for Centro Histórico Abierto a customized version of the Local in, our digital tool to promote participatory and collective processes.
1: Workshop with Stakeholders, Institutions and Citizens
During two weeks, several workshops, meetings and gatherings with different social stakeholders took place in different sites of Distrito Central, such as the MIN_Museo para la Identidad Nacional, Casa Morazán, and the main square of the historical center.
2: Activities with children
We usually involve children in the activities related with participatory processes in our projects. In this case the activities with children were particularly creative and stimulating, since we designed a specific toolkit to let kids reflect about their perception of the urban environment and propose their vision for their ideal Distrito Central. The activities involved children of different ages (from 6 to 11) and were undertaken in public schools, and at the MIN as well.
3: Workshop with University Students
A two part workshop with students from three different universities of the city (UNAH, UNITEC y José Cecilio del Valle) is one of the main activities of the project. About 90 participants, from Architecture, Communication and Journalism faculties, were involved in activities such as exploring the urban environment, mapping opportunities, holding interviews with citizens, and planning urban actions. One of the most outstanding events was the revitalization of selected urban spaces throughout the city, this was materialized on August 1st in an event known as: Ruta Centro Historico.
The outcome of the workshop consists in photos, videos and specific urban actions to punctually reactivate locations at the historical center of Distrito Central.
As part of the project, we also created a participative installation at MIN – Museo para la Identidad Nacional, described in this other post
