WDM 4_23 Lecture | Improve the landscape through community work

General subject area | Landscape and community

Abstract | Due to the Ecuadorian social-cultural background, community work has been always existing under the Kichwa language name of “Minga” which consists of collective work for the betterment of physical space. Ecuadorian people have an immense load of indigenous cultures and features, one of them is guard the nature and water as the first provider in the settlement. Unfortunately, this attribute is being lost due to the growth of the city. On one hand, Quito, the capital of Ecuador counts with 182 streams, all polluted by wastewater, sewage, and garbage. And on the other, the high cost of living in the hyper center has led the population to abuse hillside, ravine land and build settlements that do not meet basic living requirements. Most of these neighborhoods have a high probability of disaster due to earthquakes, alluvion, rains, etc and they are strongly contributing to the degradation of the natural landscape around the ravines. Therefore, the settlements have polluted the streams and rivers widening the already existing infrastructure gap in the city. The aim is to describe the main characteristics of Minga, study cases of neighborhoods that have helped to recover landscape through community work in damaged areas, specifically in slopes or ravines near to rivers in urban areas, and approach intervention guidelines to develop the landscape situated in slopes in the city of Quito.