NTRODUCTC OC ONINTROINTRODUCINT DUCTIONCTIONCUCCU

‘People make the city’. Intrigued, avoided, feared, loved, neglected, depended, there are many ways to describe the relations that many Salvadorians have with the Centro Histórico San Salvador. One thing is certain everybody has a strong opinion about this amazingly vivid city center. Oblivious to the context we visited the Downtown area and were surprised to see the intense livelihood in the public space, totally blocking out the neglected buildings. While the local students of our generation mostly avoid or never even been to this area, the older generation was able to inform us about the place that seems to contain a lot of the cultural history of El Salvador.

From squatters in vacant buildings, informal settlements and mesons, the dwelling typologies adapted to its context and the commercial importance never left the historic centre.

[RE]DEVELOPMENT?

19351955197719952003

DIALOGUE[RE]DEVELOPMENT

?

“Our number one concern is not the disaster vulnerability, but the murders and violence. In the previous month [prior to our visit] there were 360 murders in the country, mostly related to gang activity.” [San Salvador has more than 200 per 1000 habitants affected by criminality.] - Local policemen

“I visited CHSS at night to bring food for a voluntary project. While I was driving I didn’t want to stop or slow down because if you do, the ‘boxes begin to move’. When I had to stop, this actually happened but as soon as they saw I was bringing food, they did not rob me.”- Sofia Bonilla, student of UCA

“We have to visit CHSS around the time most vendors arrive or leave, just to feel the social tension and see the hurry of the vendors to get out of the place. […] We are foreigners in our own city center.”- Billy Solano, architect for Grupo Roble and teacher at the UCA

“It takes me more then a year to apply changes like putting up walls, a bathroom or change a part of the façade. I admire the artesanos [craftsmen] who work and sell in this area and I want to contribute to the issue by establishing a little shopping center in my house. I know a man who makes guitars and has to sell them all over the country because it’s too unsafe for buyers to come visit him in CHSS. In front of my house are bars and prostitutes. It’s incredible that they have security and we don’t have guards in [for) my house.”- Resident speaking at the Forum that took place at UCA

POLITICAL

“During the ‘50s wealthy families left CHSS and labour families were living in mesons (a former mansion where multiple families now live and share the basic services). The earthquake destroyed most of these mesons and the people were displaced. They lost an affordable way of living and reacted with squatted settlements. Related to this displacement is the increase of economic activity, in the sense of street vendors. This became a form of living which is occupying the open space/streets of CHSS. Adjacent to earthquakes, hurricane Mitch in 1998 also influenced these tendencies. The results of the programs (slum upgrading) of Fundasal which focus on mesons, became visible and should be taken into account for spatial planning and architecture.”- Roberto Chinchilla, OPAMSS

SPATIAL

“Aside for the circumstances I accept [this livelihood]. Salvadorians know they need to work to eat, every day”.- Resident of meson La Décima in CHSS

“If you can’t find it Downtowh (CHSS) you can’t find it anywhere”.- Common saying from the residents of San Salvador

ECONOMICAL

FOR

MA

L

Almost completely blocked by the occupation of the street; the stores and restaurants that are located in these historic buildings are a form of formal activity in the area. The entrance is protected with heavily armed security guards.

GR

AD

AT

ION

VE

ND

OR

S

There are different levels of informal economic activities, which in turn find their place in the open space. First we have the informal market stall, which occupy the sidewalk. The stalls are more or less permanent, mostly built up with tin/aluminium sheets, bamboo/wood or different kinds of fabric cloths. The second degree is the vendor with cases and boxes which stay in one place. The last level is the vendor that moves around with products.

INTENSIF

ICATION

SPATIAL LAYERS

Traffic contributes a big part to the density of the open space. Very high estimations of the quantity of buses brought us to the Ministry of Trans-port, owned by government officials. Impossible to have a look into the bus-system, we tried to map this quantity with other tools. In one of our workshop about CHSS, the intensity of the traffic and the heavy pollution was repeatedly portrayed.

TR

AFF

RTT

FFIC

TR

AF

TR

F

“One of the biggest problems is the big amount of busses passing downtown every day. There are 365 different bus lines that have downtown as destination. It causes traffic, pollution and danger for pedestrians.- Sonia Baires, Alcaldia San Salvador

POLITICAL

[RE]DEVELOPMENT?

These traditional one level buildings are mainly used as dwellings and small businesses, like ‘fotocopias’.

DW

ELL

ING

/CO

MM

ER

CE

NGO

In front of a church the public space of a former gang territory is renovated to improve social control and to benefit from the connectivity.

RE

NO

VA

TIO

N P

UB

LIC

SPA

CE

An office building of multiple layers (6 or 7 estimated) damaged by earthquake, now has 3 layers and is in use with no sign of any intention for reconstruction/renovation.

“RU

INS

”

Informal vendors are frequently forced aside by a heavy traffic flow. Especially the buses cause a great amount of pollution and danger. Along side the garbage this contributes to a very unhealthy atmosphere.

TR

AFF

IC

Low-rise building damaged by earthquakes and neglected for years. In most cases the ground floor is used for storage and commerce, in other cases the building is abandoned. The structure is damaged and forms a great danger of collapsing, because of the high developing costs reconstruction is only done on a small scale.LO

W-R

ISE

VA

CA

NT

CHSS has an established network for basic services which is adapted formally or informally to provide the increase of demands.

In between the blocks called ‘manzanas” there is a variety of street profiles. In some streets it’s prohibited by law for the vendors to sell while others are completely taken over and formed into market spaces with roofs. The courtyards of the blocks are mainly used for parking. This seems to be considered very profitable as the majority of the kids we asked in one of the workshop what they would do with one block in CHSS, responded with renting it out as parking space

SITY PUBLIC SPACEAPTY C S CPY UDENSITY PUBLIC SPACEEBLIC SPY PSIT B ASPACSU

[RE]DEVELOPMENT?

DIALOGUE[RE]DEVELOPMENT

?

Wealthy families left their, mostly one level, houses called mesons in the 50’s because of the migration influx of labour families. This working class occupied the mesons in another way; multiple families each with a single house/room (a module with an estimated floor space of 20m2) sharing facilities like bathrooms. The earthquakes of 1965, 1986 and 2001 caused internal displacement and severely damaged the constructions of the buildings. Reconstruction by government or owners did not follow, resulting in the residents moving out, settling in squatted (informal) settlements nearby or rebuilding their modules inside the plot of the meson. Because of this, the civil war and the economic crisis, during the ‘80s the

DWELLING TYPOLOGY: MESONMGL L G :L P OTDW MMMEE TTYY MW L P NMY Y:YL YDWELLWELLING TYPOLOGY: MESONNG TTYPONG TYPO GY:OLOLOGG TT ML MY NOWE G MT YTY OY GYTYD Y M NMML G EL TTL ME LNG TY

economic activities in the public space peaked with the increase of informal vendors. After visiting three mesons, it became clear that these are small communities inside this hectic part of San Salvador. With the help of NGO Fundasal some became well organized and were able to improve the way of living with technical incentives, like installations for basic services (water/sanitation etc.). Reconstruction means a new start. In one meson they put the focus on improving the court yard as public space. The perspective on material use could change; some residents we interviewed now prefer lamina (tin/aluminium sheets) for fast and more affordable recovery.

The mesons are psychical evidence of a cultural way of living in San Salvador. Residents living under the poverty line, use the foundation of historic wealth to build a home. They have to cope with social, economical and political issues on a day to day basis and reorganize their way of dwelling in CHSS with the disruptive force of earthquakes. Self organization, guidance from local NGOs like Fundasal and international material supply seem to improve comfort, evident in the adaptation of the individual modules in these mesons.

DIALOGUE19351955197719952003

OGOGOGCONNECTIVCONNECTIVITY Y TY YCONNECTIVITTIVITNECONCONCO G’’OGOG‘HISTORICAL DATABASE‘HISTORICAL DATABASE’E’ABASE’AS‘HISTORICAL DATTABAL DATAAL DRICAL ALSTOHISTCOMMERCEOGOGCOMMERCERCERCECOMMEERCRCOMMEMMCOCNETWORK BASIC SERVICESNETWORK BASIC SERVICESSSERVICESESERVICESSWORK BASIC SERNETWORKWORK BNETWUNIVERSITIESUNIVERSITIESITIESTERSIRSNIVERRUNIVERUNUNUECONOMY DEPENDENCEECONOMY DEPENDEENDEEPEEPEMY DEPY DEECONOMY DECONECEECEOUTDATED REGULATIONS’TDATED REGULATIEGU TULAGUUGUGEGED REGOUT‘OU‘OUSOCIAL (IN)SECURITYSOCIAL (IN)SECURITY)SECURITYURCUCUECSECESESN)CIASOCCSOSOSOTRAFFIC INTENSITYRAFFIC INTENSITYSITYTENSITYTEC INAFFICRAR

( )( )( )( )

[RE]DEVELOPMENT[RE]DEVELOPMENT?

Local NGO Fundasal focuses on the residents in CHSS, who live under the poverty line. The incentives differ from basic service installations to complete new construction, like the meson San Esteban.

Out of the perspective of the private sector a competition was set up for the renovation of public space near meson San Esteban.

Unique in the context of El Salvador is dwelling for multiple focus groups. Normally the typology is orientated on families of 3-7, here there are also single and 2-3 typologies developed. International NGO GTZ and local university UCA investigate the pro’s and cons of capacity buildig in mesons: communities building the houses themselves, with professional guidance.

DW

ELL

ING

NGO

The national government takes the responsibility to maintain the infrastructure (roads) and with regulations they keep the sidewalk in front of the government buildings free from pedestrians.

The local government owns 7% of the property, while the remaining 93% is owned by the private sector. They focus on small projects in the public space that they can finish within the time period of three years.They organize the informal street vendors with over 250 organizations, coordinated by a local governmental organ: ‘Gerencia el Centro Histórico’.

The community reacts with squatting, informal vending etc. With the help of Fundasal they learn how to be organized (in meson) and form a ‘corperativa’ that gives them a platform to voice their opinion for dialogue. Some areas are controlled by gangs and have great influence in the CHSS area.

The university UCA has a social program: students have to work 600 hours in their entire studies in social work, only in the faculty of Architecture it’s mandatory that they work in the field of architecture/engineering (the building sector).

OR

GA

NIZ

AT

ION

NGO“In 1965 the earthquake triggered some new settlements, these promoted the CHSS area. The one in 1986 did the same but these settlements made up the AMSS area. After ’86 Districto Italia, a settlement ‘in the middle of nowhere’ build by the Italian government, which is slowly being integrated in the urban structure. […]Municipalities buy the land and they have to buy the cheapest, which are usually far away from the beneficiaries’ lost homes. According to him, it’s has to do with landmarks and the capacity of the national and local government to ‘foresee’ social housing.”- Carlos Ferrufino: architect/teacher and the director of the Faculty of Architecture (UCA)

“The main reason for a choice to avoid CHSS is the political situation. While he’s waiting for ‘another change’ I have to point out the absence of political, social and security stability. My company is right-orientated and they feel that the Alcaldia lacks in the policy and management, for example in regulating the pollution and crowdedness caused by traffic. Basically the issue regarding CHSS is not an issue of the buildings and that why most developers strategic choose the suburbs for projects. […] The property owners of the abandoned buildings want to rent the space out. The places are for the most part rented for services for the people (habitants & vendors) of CHSS, for example storage.”

““As a teacher I try to get my students involved with CHSS, give them social colored assignments. You have to understand most of the students never been to CHSS.”- Billy Solano, architect for Grupo Roble and teacher at the UCA

“You architects [urban planners] put the attention towards plaza’s, malls and the decentralizing the commercial use of CHSS. The sellers are incorrectly portrayed as a problem that makes the CHSS ugly and dangerous. Stop ignoring and include the sellers in the plans. We are a problem according to you, but it’s not cosmetic it’s something social and we have families and are a part of society”.- Pedro Julio Hernandez, member of a civil organization and seller CHSS at the Forum CHSS at UCA

“Downtown (CHSS) is a reflection of the psychology of the people. The city will be chaotic because we are chaotic; the real value of the city is the human essence”.- Man in the audience responding at the Forum CHSS at UCA

In this workshop one of the groups empha-sized the importance of integrated urban planning for a redevelopment project in CHSS, if it was affected by a natural disas-ter. The main approach in the developing phase was including the needs of the ben-eficiaries and trying to reach out to the public: “Educate them about the history so that they can love it”.