SOLARS VIUS

PARTICIPATORY DOMAIN

Category> Urban; Planning; Renovation; Design; Participation;

Role> Project coordinator.

Location> Lleida, Catalonia, Spain.

Year> 2012-2016

Client> Empresa Municipal d’Urbanisme.

Collaborators> Thais Ibarrondo, Maria Soler Bravo, Oriol Aubets, Basurama,

During the economic crisis, the city centre of Lleida experienced an acceleration of degradation and collapse.

This project started with the vision of improving the socio-urban condition of the city centre of Lleida, taking advantage of the “meanwhile situation”.

2012, Lleida. An old building collapsed in the city centre. No lives to lament; no one was living there. A new plot appeared. Not a new building, but a fenced plot.

This project was developed in three acts.

A bit of story

The closest part of the city centre to the historical castle is almost unrecognisable. Inhabitants were leaving the sloppy streets and the old and dark apartments gradually. Temporary workers arrived for the fruit season, and people with very few resources and clandestine bars took the area. A very complex social reality was utterly unknown to me initially and became part of my interest during the four years I have been involved in the project.

Emboldened by the 2011 occupy movement, I propose to the municipality to use the empty spaces generated for non-built plots. This proposal became more elaborated and converted into a plan for intervening in 4 main vacant plots, but it was partially accepted. I started to collaborate with the municipality for open private spaces and convert them into temporary public spaces. A legal contract was created ad hoc and accelerated critically the aspect.

The summary of this story is divided into three phases. The first one I’ll call Solars Vius (it means: Empty plots Alive), due to it was the moment where all was set up, the big intentions, the relations and the name. One by one was the condition for opening the plots. There was not a specific budget, but it was still possible due to the priority concept of activating existences and reusing materials. For that first phase, we opened two spaces reusing furniture and material in the municipal storage. It became well-perceived in the media and politically, so we kept working to open more plots. The following actions need to be announced chronologically due to the acceleration of the process:

Mapping the empty spaces, the local agents and main occupations of the streets.

Mapping the empty spaces, the local agents and main occupations of the streets.

Taxonomy of the empty urban plots

Taxonomy of the empty urban plots

ACT 1

  • New contacts to start temporary cessions to local associations.

  • Another building collapsed (c.Tallada). With that, two more buildings are demolished. Instead of closing it with a hurdle, it’s proposed to be part of the project and just opened. The whole plot is covered with concrete pavement. (decided by the municipality)

  • We organised a summer party in the plot Alsamora with some city’s cultural agents.  Freshquibiri: A public party in the street.

  • Closer collaboration with the third sector organisation: Prosec, who works with the youngest of the neighbourhood. We developed a participatory process with them because they are close to a big municipal plot that could be activated. (Seminari)

  • A new building collapses. A new concrete pavement to be mapped (c. Cavallers)

  • A public competition for using the old market (Mercat del Pla) is launched and wins a multi-brand pop-up store that integrates some of the empty plots already opened in their proposal.

The Mercat del Pla started ACT 2.

ACT 2

Collaboration with Mercat del Pla and installation of Pop-ups.

ACT 3. El Pati Obert

Transformation of an empty plot with the tight collaboration of different actors.

The transformation of this plot is framed for the project Solars Vius. This place is used for experimenting with and learning some disruptive techniques to develop the creativity of future teachers. Coordinated by UdL (University of Lleida), Art Center La Panera, the collective group “Basurama” and “Solars Vius.

After a first workshop with the future teacher to activate their creativity, they prepared activities for activating participation in the street, mostly with the younger of the neighbourhood.