Peatoniños
Images by LabCDMX
Peatoniños (aggregation of the Spanish words for pedestrian + child) is a local government program of interventions to repurpose abundant street areas as space for play.
The project aims to provisionally compensate the deficit of play spaces in deprived areas of Mexico City, tackling uneven distribution of public space, insecurity of streets and excessive priority given to cars in the overall street space. The intervention contributes to generating a first approach for children to their right to the city thorough a pedagogical and participatory approach.
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Organisation LabCDMX Governmental Organisation Beneficiary Local community
Scale of catchment Neighbourhood Built environment component: Streets
INTERVENTION DESIGN LEARNINGS
Spatial/physical
Temporary restriction of motorised vehicles circulation on the selected section of a street.
Material
The elements required to block circulation can be light and low cost, making it an affordable intervention.
Process
Engagement actions prior to the activity are fundamental to get authorisation by local authority and to communicate both to the community participating as well as the people that could be affected by the restricted circulation.
Location
Streets selection criteria: the program prioritises streets where
a) the number of children is high,
b) there are no or very few open spaces or green areas; and
c) the development index is below average.
Implementation learnings
(1) Plan the exit strategy. Establishing the time frame for each stage of the project, the milestones and the indicators of success is essential for the project to be strengthened and replicated.
(2) While this kind of solution is effective to temporarily alleviate the shortage of urban recreational areas and imagine a city where children have priority over cars, it does not solve structural deficits of recreational or green land use like parks do, and it may represent a compromise for cars and public transport.
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