UNPHU students present a proposal that combines environmental sustainability and social development of residents in Manzanillo

The Faculty of Architecture and Arts of Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), through a select group of architecture students, under the coordination of the professor and specialist in urban design Mizocky Mota, recently concluded a study on the urban design of Manzanillo, a project framed within the Interuniversity Program Alliance for Urban Development of the border area implemented by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, coordinated by the architect Erick Dorrejo, who is director of Development Policies of the Border Area of the ministry.

This work was carried out with the institutional support of the mayor’s office of Pepillo Salcedo, headed by Ignacio Rosa, who is also president of the Development Council of Pepillo Salcedo, who served as logistical support assisting f the work carried out by the students.

In their study, the teams of students highlight that opportunities were identified to generate a more coherent road network with the future development of manzanillo from the existing road network, prioritized the main access providing it with greater hierarchy and green equipment, with the neuralgic point it represents for the city. The projected future allocation will allow the expansion of the capacity of the flows projected by the port project, the increase of commercial areas and new housing development.”

In this regards, they consider that the main criteria for planning the development of manzanillo lie in three important components:

• The environmental component considering the protection of existing green infrastructure, protected areas and derived ecosystem services.
• The socio-economic component weighing the need to create commercial centers to boost the local economy.
• The spatial component prioritizing the consolidation of neighborhoods improving access to quality public space, improving the connectivity of access roads to manzanillo.

They assure that from the field visit and the urban study carried out has been visualized the need to improve the coexistence of the implementation of the port extension with the environmental systems close to the intervention and the urban and social dynamics of manzanillo, in the absence of the technical designs of the port is impossible to have a finished idea, however we note with concern three areas that must be protected with particular interest (los coquitos beach, the marine edge of the mangroves of ‘estero balsa’ and the mobility of entry and exit of trucks through the city from the port).

They point out that among the main strengths identified are the good urban layout that Pepillo Salcedo must enhance its consolidation and accessibility to the different sectors that compose it, besides its road layout and access to manzanillo is another strength to highlight, a strength and opportunity in itself is the environmental value that represents being surrounded by mangroves and ecological reserves.

Similarly, the main weaknesses lie in the absence of regulations and urban guidelines for land management, the absence of commercial dynamics typical of human settlements to boost the local economy, the lack of technical education and areas for cultural, recreational and community leisure. It does not have a municipal market for the supply of the population. Precarious drainage system in sectors such as the canyons. Spatial disorganization in the public beach of los coquitos, little valorization of the marine coastal border.

The work of this group of students who moved to Manzanillo for such purposes and held extensive discussions with community members allowed the identification of 15 project ideas for Manzanillo detailed as follows: Urban proposals and Architectural projects:

Among the ideas of urban proposals are: Improvements of the road infrastructure of manzanillo, connecting the existing sectors and planned expansion, Increase of public space, creation of pedestrian street and revitalization of existing public spaces, consolidation and improvement of neighborhoods, revitalization of the marine coastal border and los coquitos beach, Green belt and buffer zone of the protected area from the location of the border wall to the zone of possible urban expansion through a landscape project and commercial centers to revitalize the local economy of manzanillo.

Similarly, the ideas of Architectural Projects identified include:

• Proposal for a technical training center for young people in three areas: welding, carpentry, construction teacher, small and large motor mechanics, plumbing, electricity. (nursing, radiology, first aid, among others) and (languages and informatics) (entrepreneurship).
• Proposal for a training center for women (gastronomic workshop, art workshop, entrepreneurship, and nautical mechanics).
• Proposal of tourist center and revitalization of the dock made of mangroves of estero balsa.
• Proposal for a port of manzanillo that reconciles environmental sustainability, the use of the beach, los coquitos and complementary logistics operations.
• Prototypes of collective social housing.

• Municipal market proposal.
• Proposal of sports center.
• Proposal of cultural center and proposal of controlled landfill and circular economy.

They conclude that it is a threat to manzanillo “the inadequate environmental management of construction materials that affects the health of citizens, deteriorating pedestrian infrastructure, neighborhoods vulnerable to flooding and overcrowding, little urban integration between the sectors of the north, south and the zone of expansion of manzanillo, precariousness of materials in existing housing”.