Filling urban voids in Tucumán

Tucumán has a shortage of quality public spaces for families with young children. But it also has approximately 1,200 “urban voids”, such as abandoned buildings and plots that have not been built on, that could become such spaces – at least temporarily.

Through a participatory design involving workshops, talks and meetings to build networks among communities, land owners and the local administration, this project will investigate how these spaces can become “self-managing” through the flexible use of “parenting friendly pop-up urban furniture” which has been experimentally designed following research on young children’s psychophysical and social requirements and locally available materials.

Update, October 2017: The project has carried out field surveys to identify vacant lots and underused spaces. You can browse the results on this Google map, which is constantly being updated with additional resources and information about the spaces identified. The project has carried out a walking tour with interested parties to identify which of the spaces are promising for the intervention.

The project has started training sessions on producing pop-up urban furniture prototypes, incorporating both theory (on children’s psychological, physical and social needs) and practice (techniques for working with materials such as felt). It has piloted pop-up interventions with children and adults in child care centres and public health institutions.

Update, December 2017: The project has activated the first of the unused spaces it identified, through a partnership with the owner for temporary use. View the pictures and videos on the project’s Facebook page.

The project surveyed more than 500 urban voids, public and private, and mapped more than 100 parenting-friendly public spaces on Google Maps. It reached five agreements to intervene with owners of the spaces concerned.

Over 950 hours of work, the project built 11 safe and durable prototypes of pop-up urban furniture, reusing 15 types of materials including textiles, plastics and cardboard. It reached over 8000 people – from parents and children to professionals, teachers, students and local community leaders who participated in training sessions.

The project featured in local media over 30 times, including an interview on the local television show ‘Con Mucho Picante’.