La ocupación del espacio público en el Centro Histórico de Cuenca en el marco del COVID-19. Caso de estudio: Plaza El Vergel

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way in which public spaces are inhabited in cities. The restrictions applied to the use of public space as a measure to reduce the contagion and spread of COVID-19, and the quarantines decreed in Ecuador, have transformed the public life of people and with it their relationship with public space. Consequently, various design strategies have emerged in order to provide quality public spaces and which, in turn, seek to increase the degree of occupancy of public space, which, in the face of pandemic restrictions, has been affected. The present investigation focuses on determining the degree of occupancy of the El Vergel square, located on the edges of the Historic Center of Cuenca in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why the repercussion that the restrictions of activities in the public space have had is analyzed applying a methodology based on direct non-participant observation, complemented with behavioral tools such as: counting, mapping, trajectory, field diary and photography; that together with the quality criteria it will be possible to demonstrate the strengths, needs and the new way of using the public space square. The investigation is concluded with the intervention criteria that seek to promote the permanence of people in the square and, in turn, that the criteria proposed in this document serve as a model for the design and intervention of different public spaces in similar conditions.