Chile
Metropolitan Regional Government
01-03-2016
01-07-2017
Redesign project of the main avenue of the city (and of the country) that arises as a project of integral urban recovery that returns to the citizenship the preponderance that has lost due to the increase of the automotive park through one of the initiatives of major Urban intervention promoted in the country, with cultural, social, historical, urban and mobility implications.
The Alameda (a big major avenue) turns 200 years and the municipal government has decided to renew this emblematic route and to project it towards the future, counting on the participation of the citizens. This project seeks to guarantee the right to participate to all potential stakeholders or affected by the project, ie, that all opinions can be considered in a timely manner and affect the final design.
All citizens can participate. In addition, the dialogue groups are open to Neighborhood and Unorganized residents of the surrounding areas, Adult and senior organizations, Organizations of people with disabilities, Trade unions of the sector (tenants, artisans, supplementaries), Municipal officials and Neighbors and owners of commercial premises in the area potentially subject to expropriation.
The process contemplates three forms of participation: Metropolitan Meetings, in which to deal with transversal themes and common to the whole axis; Territorial Dialogues to address specific local issues to the different sectors and a Citizen Consultation, which can be done through the website NuevaAlamedaProvidencia.cl/consultas or in the Casas Abiertas, information points deployed along the axis, where citizenship can approach and respond. In addition, a Citizen Observatory was created and a accountability is planned in June 2017, once the process is completed, where the Regional Government will make a public account explaining which of the citizen recommendations expressed in the process of citizen participation were accepted and justifying which were excluded.
The first stage of the process carried out from March to September 2016 is known as Dialogue and consultation and 17 participatory sessions and a public consultation were held, allowing more than 4000 people to express their opinion on the Nueva Alameda Providencia project. Once completed, a Citizen Observatory was created in October, formed by a group of 73 volunteers, which emerged in the various participation events, which seeks to bring the project closer to the citizenry and serve as a "bridge" between the stage of dialogue and the stage of accountability. This last stage is scheduled for June 2017, in which the authorities will report on what citizen contributions were incorporated into the final design and why.
Between May and August, residents, students and workers from the communes of Lo Prado, Estación Central, Santiago and Providencia met in the so-called "Territorial Dialogues" to discuss the different sectors covered by the project. In total 4 territorial dialogues were carried out in specific sectors of the 4 communes of the axis: Pajaritos - Exposición, Exposición - Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa - Miguel Claro, Miguel Claro - Tobalaba.
Between April and May 2016 4 Metropolitan Meetings were held to bring to public discussion topics important to the city and related to the Alameda Providencia Axis. More than 380 people participated, distributed in 27 work tables. In addition, 150 people attended the Seminar to launch the participatory process (March 24). The topics covered in each of these meetings were:
1-Baquedano, with the objective of establishing a first diagnosis of the place identifying elements to preserve and improve, and discuss solutions to the problems highlighted.
2-Sustainable urban mobility, with the aim of discussing optimal solutions for the redistribution of public space in favor of sustainable mobility on the axis.
3-Paraderos of public transport, with the aim of discussing the needs and requirements for the design of the stands of the Nueva Alameda Providencia.
4-Urban design and landscaping, with the aim of discussing around urban design issues, understanding Nueva Alameda Providencia not only as a transport project, but a city project in general.
Finally, more than 3200 Citizen Consultations were answered between March and September 2016. Some of the opinions expressed, regarding the advantages of the Nueva Alameda change are: to improve travel times and reduce the possibility of accidents, Central park of the Alameda or improve the circulation of pedestrians in the sidewalks.