ABOUT (ENG)

In face of all the current complex challenges that are apparent even at a neighborhood scale -the ecological crisis, the social inequalities and the speculation with a basic necessity such as housing, the undesired loneliness and lack of sufficient social services for the elderly -and the burden it implies for women-, the lack of valorization and remuneration of reproductive work that leads women -main caretakers in a patriarchal society – to be economically dependent, the disappearance of social ties…: It is necessary to try new ways of living and sharing, to experiment with other models such as cohousing with assignment for use against speculation, time banks or social currencies. Could we try and combine them at a small scale? Could we apply cohousing strategies to an existing built and social environment? Could we place care at the center of it all?

Barrio Orba is a prototypical working-class neighborhood, built in the 60s in the periphery of the city of Valencia for the arriving families from Southern Spain. In the 1980s its community movement was particularly strong: they demanded and finally obtained public facilities and services. The social tissue is still very much alive, with many cultural and activist manifestations,but the population has aged and many elderly people are living alone without the necessary care. The unemployment rate is very high especially among women, and the national migration at its origin has become now an international one.

Recooperation is an intervention strategy to be implemented through a pilot project in one of the housing blocks. It aims to address the obsolescence of the

neighborhood's housing stock -in terms of space, typology, accessibility or

efficiency- and the unmet needs of its residents, particularly the elderly, all

while putting care at the center.

The idea is to develop a pilot of a ‘disperse cooperative’ in an existing built environment, with shared spaces and care. This could be implemented through a system for exchanging/sharing spaces, care, services or material goods -connecting the available resources to meet the existing needs. It could be done wit a social currency, and it will in parallel lead to a refurbishment of the built environment.

This pilot, replicable and scalable, adopts a community perspective for addressing care and habitat adequation instead of and individual or institutional one.

More information here, here and here.

This project led to work on the Strategic Plan for the neighborhood with Traza Territorio in 2021/22.

ABOUT (ESP)

Barrio Árbol comenzó como un proyecto de estudiante y acabó ganando un premio de ONU-Hábitat y tomando la forma de un Plan de Barrio, muchos años después, desde Traza Territorio.

Una serie de estrategias de intervención -accesibilidad, eficiencia energética y reprogramación de espacios- en un barrio de vivienda obrera de la periferia valenciana, posibilitadas gracias a un sistema de espacios compartidos.

Más info aquí