Reimagining La Rosa Creek

The Parsons Design and Urban Ecologies class joined was Corporation Cultural Nuestra Gente (CCNG), a local arts organization in the Comuna 2 neighborhood of Medellin, Colombia. My team came together around a common interest of the roles the creeks played in the physical, social and economic dimensions of the neighborhood. After our initial encounter with the neighborhood, CCNG expressed an interest in creating youth programs around the La Rosa creek.

Our study aimed to rethink creeks, not only as an ecological feature, but also as an economic, social and cultural body. We bolstered our background research with a variety of field research methods to better select and understand the sites along La Rosa best suited for initial interventions. To create a strategy and proposals with the help of CCNG we used a variety of field research techniques:

• Interviewed local community leaders from Sinai, an informal section of Comuna 2 under threat of displacement by the city.
• Led workshops with Sinai youth about their perception of the surrounding water systems using drawing exercises and disposable cameras.
• Surveyed the La Rosa creek using defined methods, sketching and photographing the space.

We created a variety of programmatic and built proposals for CCNG and identified responsible municipal institutions and potential local partner organizations. We also proposed time-lines and rough budget estimates for each proposal in hopes of facilitating the process if CCNG decided to move forward with these proposals.