El espacio público desde la participación social y la participación ciudadana en la Plaza del Otorongo

Abstract

Both public space and participation are core categories to understand cities´ social dynamics. This study examines how social and citizen participation are manifested in public space, particularly the article identifies the elements of participation found in Plaza del Otorongo, a public space which has recently faced process of transformation. This is a qualitative study that makes use of participatory techniques. The analysis shows that there is a weak relationship between the dwellers, and a lack of sense of community, which avoids the possibility of taking collective decisions respect this public space. This is the result of the inexistence of physical and symbolic infrastructure that can organize people around a shared sense of identity; additionally, institutionalized organization (conducted by the municipality) is welcomed among the users, meanwhile there is a lack of confidence respect social and informal forms of organization. Accordingly, we found out that citizen participation limits social participation in this public space