Description

In 2016, the Secretariat of Social Development of the Mexico City (SEDESO) identified 45 colonies (neighborhood) of the Mexican capital with high levels of social vulnerability, and in order to improve the public image, signed a collaboration agreement with the civil associations Accion Poetica (Poetic Action) and Mensajeros Urbanos (Urban messengers). On April 13th 2016 arose the institutional action Ciudad y Palabra (City and Word).

City and Word consists in painting the walls of houses with fragments of poetry, thoughts or positive quotes, as well as murals or paintings. The objective is to transmit and interact with citizens of the City of Mexico to create an urban image that reflects the identity and mind of its citizens.

SEDESO, through the Citizen Participation Undersecretary (CPUS), is the responsible of spreading the strategy among the inhabitants of the colonies selected for the intervention, through personal interviews, cultural talks to the neighbors oriented to get their consent to paint the messages in the walls.

The action looks to intervene in a total of 27.000 walls. The first phase, initiated in April 2016 contemplates the intervention of between 2.250-2.500 households and public spaces, painting 50 walls per week. Until now, 1307 walls have been intervened contributing favorably to the construction of collective identity and sense of belonging in the inhabitants of colonies, neighborhoods and villages where the messages are located. Likewise, we can appreciate more respect for the painted walls in comparison with other walls of houses or private or government announcements.

In 2017, apart from keeping the intervention in the walls with positive messages, we will also make the first call for young artists of the Young High School (INJUVE-CDMX) to intervene in the walls with the best designs. We also contemplate the possibility of intervene in the 329 public markets and the prisons of the city.