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Similar to the Care Blocks, which currently provide services to women and caregivers, the Green Blocks could be a network of parks and community gardens created to provide ecosystem services and well-being for humans and other species.
Strategically located to reduce inequality in access to green areas in the city and to create new ecological corridors for our birds.
Green Blocks could also be laboratories for social innovation and regenerative living learning in close proximity to people.
We invite you to contribute to this vision with your comments, ideas and suggestions.
This is an open and plural space for conversation to continue exploring desirable futures for Bogota.
A design futures project on urban regeneration and nature-based solutions by Rafael Franco.
Supported by:
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Mitigating the effects of climate change will be one of the toughest challenges for cities. With 7 out of 10 people living in cities by 2050, it is necessary to increase the speed at which we develop resilience and plan for our future. In this context, urban nature is one of the key strategies for cities as it offers multiple systemic benefits at once.
However, while research and development around Nature-based solutions has been important in the global north in the last decade, there is a lack of research, support and planning for these in the global south.
Bogota, Distrito Natural maps the systemic challenges of urban nature in Bogota, Colombia and co-designs preferable futures in collaboration with a local citizen community that leads the co-governance of one of the first urban forests of the city.
This project seeks to amplify these efforts by developing organizational and future thinking capabilities in grassroots communities and proposing engaging visions and ideas for policy makers and institutions.
To design the speculative scenario and proposal, this project used a futures and participatory design methodology based on research and the collaboration of multiple stakeholders from the nature-based solution ecosystem.
Top down perspectives
I ran interviews with 3 public officers leading urban forestry management and public innovation in the city, and 5 researchers working on Nature-based solutions across Colombia and Europe.
Bottom up perspectives
I invited the Santa Helena Urban Forest Community to participate in 3 online workshops to envision preferable futures for urban nature, using this place as a case study. Collaboratively they reflected on the forest's evolution, its current challenges and risks and their vision for the future. Through these interactions, we co-designed a strategic plan to guide the agenda of the organization for the next years.
Explore the futuring process here.
Do you have a question?
Feel free to contact me if you want to know more about the project.
rafael.franco@network.rca.ac.uk
ig. futurismomagico
