Proposal of urban strategies for the recovery of public space in the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador (August 2022)

Abstract

The study of public  space from the perspective for the implementation of urban strategies leads to investigate the use,  and social relations that are established from the   functionality between users and public space. Currently, in the city  of Esmeraldas,  urban public space does not facilitate encounter and interaction, the social fabric and cohesion between people, affecting the  interrelation between diverse social groups and the construction of the sense of collective life. Despite the importance of these spaces, they are abandoned for the longest time, resulting in crime making use of it.  Under this perspective, the present work aims  to: Diagnose  and nalizar the current state of urban public spaces in the city of Esmeraldas for  the improvement of the decision-making process on the use, social conditions, safety conditions and comfort of public space.  Prior to the establishment of the proposal, in this research, a methodology with a qualitative approach was applied since it is a little explored topic, where data analysis and interviews were used as tools  that  were directed to the community in the human settlement that is part of the daily meeting places of the inhabitants of the city of Esmeraldas where it could be determined that 25% of users interviewed believe that the infrastructure (playgrounds, basketball courts, soccer fields, etc.) responds to the user's perception while 75% think the opposite; likewise they point out that  recreational areas, benches, signage should becreated.  and  places to sell food and remodel deteriorated infrastructure.  For the above, and based on the results obtained and this research proposes urban strategies based on  uses and social relations, from the cultural and environmental perspectives is the  public space to develop a participatory proposal of the urban area of the city of Esmeraldas, in Ecuador.