Okuplaza

Okuplaza is a participatory strategy to recover underutilized urban areas and transform them into active public spaces through the application of tactical urbanism.

The first recycled Okuplaza was created for the Festival of Arts in Valparaíso (FAV) and was realized between the 24th and 27th of January 2013. We began by summarily validating a set of hypothesis: Would it be possible to recycle thousands of plastic bottles in a city where no recycling habits, adequate infrastructure, or installed recycling system exist? Would it be possible to co-create a public space with citizens by transforming trash into something valuable? To find out more about this project, click here Name: Okuplaza del Reciclaje Partners: Escuela de Diseño de la Universidad Católica de Valparaíso + Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes. With the support of Triciclos, Ecocurauma, the organization Ecoviandantes, the Parque Cultural Valparaiso, and of multiple local organizations including the centro comunitario autogestionado Patio Volantín, the Cooperativa Cinco Soles, the junta vecinal Cerro Panteón and the junta de vecinos Nº7 del Cerro Polanco. Date: January 2013 Location: Valparaíso, V Región, Chile. Watch the Okuplaza del Reciclaje and the Okuplaza Cívica video: Recycling Okuplaza and Civic Okuplaza from Ciudad Emergente on Vimeo. OKUPLAZA San Diego is a short-term urban intervention that seeks to cultivate long-term change by occupying the San Diego-Bandera axis in Santiago Centro. To read more about this project, click here Name: Okuplaza San Diego Partners: Universidad del Desarrollo + Municipalidad de Santiago + Tecnologías Sustentables + Plantabanda + Ciudad Emergente. Date: October 2013 Location: Eje calles San Diego – Alonso Ovalle, Santiago, Chile. Watch the Okuplaza San Diego video: Okuplaza San Diego from Ciudad Emergente on Vimeo. The Civic Okuplaza was realized using recycled materials and repurposed scaffolding for the Festival of the Arts in Valparaiso (FAV). This initiative’s main objective was to give greater visibility to the projects of Valparaiso’s citizen organizations and generate dialogue between them. To read more about this project, click here Name: Okuplaza Cívica Partners: Escuela de Diseño de la Universidad Católica de Valparaíso + Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes + Ciudad Emergente. Date: January 2013 Location: Valparaíso, V Región, Chile. To conclude the diagnostic process, executed over months by CREO Antofagasta’s participating team, we created the Okuplaza René Schneider that integrated neighbors from both René Schneider Norte and René Schneider Sur, to promote collaboration between the two neighborhoods and a more cross-regional vision. The tactic’s goal was to activate a residual space within the population, that presents the necessary opportunities to become transited area and a space for public congregation. To accomplish this we designed a day-long temporary Okuplaza, which broke the routine of the space and its inhabitants by offering leisure and recreational activities for both children and adults. The activities included a fair, a football championship, artistic, musical and dance shows, as well as neighbor-installed recycled swimming pools where children could play and escape from the heat of the holiday. In addition to the recreational and cultural activities, the event was used to close the evaluation of indicators for the diagnostic. We developed different tools to gather information such as a survey of point-of-origin and destination, a socio-environmental map, a participatory urban mapping, and a Tree of Ideas where we collected the neighbors’ suggestions of activities they would like to realize in their neighborhood. Over 60 residents of all different ages and sectors participated in the tactic and enjoyed an innovative cultural day within their own neighborhood.

Date: 24 de January 2014 Location: Av. Covadonga Nueva con Circunvalación Alberto Hurtado, sector Centro Alto Population: René Schneider Norte y Sur

Just like the Okuplaza in Centro Alto, this tactic made the creation of the diagnostic-phase possible carried out in August 2013 with the participation of the CREO Antofagasta team, in the Villa Las Americas. The tactic’s goal was to transform a parking space currently allocated collective-taxi parking into a space for people. We designed a temporary day-long Okuplaza which broke the routine of the space and its inhabitants by offering leisure and recreational activities for both children and adults. The activities included artistic pesentations, a photography exibit by the neighbors, conversation tables, the construction of collaborative mappings, kids games, and more.. In addition to the recreational and cultural activities, the day was used to conclude the indicator diagnosis by implementing different tools to gather information. These tools included a survey of point-of-origin and destination, a socio-environmental map, a participatory urban mapping, and a Tree of Ideas where we collected the neighbors’ suggestions of activities they would like to realize in their neighborhood. Over 100 residents of all different ages and sectors participated in the tactic and enjoyed an innovative cultural day within their own neighborhood.

Date: 1 de February 2014 Location: Plaza de los Colectivos, General Bonilla Sector: Centro Norte Population: Villa Las Américas

Okuplaza La Cantera is a temporary urban intervention in La Cantera, Antofagasta. For the Okuplaza a micro-landfill was communally cleaned by volunteers and residents in late March 2014. The Okuplaza aimed to activate and give life to the space with the help of organized citizens and to transform it into a space for everyone , thus preventing the return of the dumpsite. To turn it into an active public space, we experimented with a variety of possible uses for the space: productive, educational and recreational uses. Fairs organized by neighbors, workshops on the reuse of trash, and games for children of all ages were undertaken. We also raised a multifunctional shade structure and the neighbors painted messages on the stairs that became visible after the place was cleaned. In addition, commemorative plaques were installed to denote the importance of the process undertaken by the community to recuperate the space and promote its care by the same residents. This intervention was carried out in two instances. In the first, a plaque allowed everyone to keep track of the days we had kept the place clean, a fair was held , and the community painted the stairs. In the second, La Cantera became a playground for all ages, walls were painted by local artists and the installation of commemorative plaques celebrated its recovered.