Dec 15, 2020
Written By: Terrazas Productivas
Editor’s note: The following blog post has been edited by Agritecture.
About Quito’s Monumental Bullring
Plaza de toros de Quito is a monumental bull ring located in Ecuador’s capital of Quito. Built in 1960 to fit 15,000 people, it ceased to be used onwards of 2011 due to a referendum in which the citizenry voted against such practices. The referendum forced the plaza and its surrounding area to lose its only form of economic activity, and to become a desolate zone. As a result of lack of attention from the appropriate authorities, this unused infrastructure has led to the creation of unsafe spaces.
These unsafe spaces alongside the Bullring’s prime location in being well-connected to the rest of the city gives us enough reasoning to rethink the use of this space to bring about a positive impact in the community.
The Precedent for Food Cultivation
As of currently, Quito only has the ability to supply 5% of its total food demand. More than 50% of the city’s agriland is subused, and only 35% of the landscape that is suitable for cultivation is well-used. Quito’s chronic child undernourishment rate is 29%. This reaches 46% in more vulnerable areas. The overall ecological footprint of Quito’s food consumption is at 40% when including crops, livestock feed, and the energy requirement for food processing and packaging, alongside transportation.
Quito´s food sustainability and production abilities are at risk. This is due in large part to the emergent challenges of crop-suitable lands being lost, water shortages, and food waste increasing.
The Urban Productive Transformation Proposal
Proposed by Lorenza Agostino, Fernanda Espinoza, Paulo França, and Daniel Rodriguez C. for the contest Reactivado Hitos launched by Ideas+Acción Competiciones, The Urban Productive Transformation Proposal lays out ideas to improve the historical, cultural, and local values of the existing infrastructure of the Plaza de toros de Quito, putting focus on food cultivation and urban agrifood system strengthening.
An evaluation of Quito’s agrifood system by FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations) and the RUAF Foundation program Understanding the City-Region agri-food system: Planning for a more resilient and food-safe city has encouraged the local government to commit to the generation of food policies and action focused on local participation.
The PLASSA: FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND SECURITY PLAZA
The PLASSA is a revolutionary idea to utilize agricultural technology to create a productive landscape for renaturation and revegetation. The flow maps present how the structure will continue to allow access into the monument and to city mobility systems, whilst removing physical barriers to establish high quality pathways to assure safety of the population.
The redesign and repurposing of this structure will not only add historical, cultural, and local value, it will also create a space for residents to enjoy and celebrate. Food cultivation will allow for alliances between citizens and institutions, keeping co-responsibility as the central strategy. Additionally, the crops will encourage sustainable practices, innovation, and technological adaptation.
The main goal of the redesigned structure is to allow for connection with nature and the urban environment. The exteriors will be used for diverse cropping, and the exterior frontline will allow for commercial use and flow of people. The bleachers will contain aquaponic systems, rainwater harvesting systems, and solar panels. The arena will be an immersive space that connects the exterior paths and rain gardens, inviting users to interact with the space.
About Terrazas Productivas
We seek the strengthening of Urban Agri-Food Systems related to the production, distribution and consumption of food, which contribute to urban development in general and therefore to the right to the city, through the urban productive transformation of roofs and terraces. It contributes to reducing CO2 emissions related to the transport of food, through short circuits of commercialization and consumption of food. Terrazas Productivas adapts horticultural production systems to urban reality, with the installation of technified systems to guarantee permanent and local production, in order to generate local supply of vegetables in specific populations
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