Paisaje Transversal is a collective formed by five activist-architects with the goal of democratizing urban design. Paisaje Transversal’s core methodological model DCP — Difusión, Cuidadanía, Proceso Participativo, states their commitment to local and global transparency, pedagogy, and community participation. Within this model, the team maintains a balance between technicality of design and public opinion. Sustainability is defined by environmental, social, and economic factors, and is measured through quantitative data and qualitative input from community members. Paisaje Transversal members deviate from the traditional roles of architects, emphasizing facilitation and mediation between stakeholders rather their vision for a singular, physical design.
Founded in the form of a blog in 2007, Paisaje Transversal’s communal approach to design evokes a larger context of new urban activism that emerged across Spain following the economic crisis. From 2008 to 2016, Spain experienced a severe economic recession for a number of reasons including, the housing bubble, lack of growth, disconnect between regional governments, and high debt-dependency. Unemployment rates skyrocketed and thousands of homes outside of Madrid, and other urban centers, were left vacant. Young people were graduating from school with slim chances of finding work. Industries that once had booming demand such as construction, completely collapsed. As architects, the members of Paisaje Transversal faced a similar challenge—they had to adapt their career paths find relevancy in the Spanish job market and meet the needs of their communities. Youth-led and left-leaning groups catalyzed a series of demonstrations to protest neoliberal policies and austerity measures that had contributed to their country’s situation. At the forefront of the social movement 15M was Jon Aguirre, architect at Paisaje Transversal. In 2011, Jon was one of the organizers leading a pivotal demonstration which brought thousands of people together at La Puerta del Sol, a highly visible plaza in the center of Madrid. Citizenry occupied the space for several nights in tent camps. Paisaje Transversal is one of many collectives that have responded to the crisis by reimagining urbanism through a lens of collaboration.
The 15M movement and its many demonstrations not only brought attention to the concerns and needs of the Spanish people—15M inspired the recent creation and successes of left-wing populist party, Podemos. Founded in 2014 by political scientist, Pablo Iglesias, Podemos’ efforts are directed solving problems of inequality, unemployment, and corruption, contributing factors to the crisis. As of December 2015, the party has held 69 of 350 seats in parliament. Podemos’ ideals and policies as explicit in their Ethical Code, represent a clear break from the past and their growing popularity signals that many Spanish citizens have a new direction in mind for their country.
Gente sin casa, casas sin gente. Madrid, February 2013. Photo by CNN.
La Puerta del Sol in May 2011 ©15M
Really interesting. I wonder what you think of 15M and Paisaje and whether you see their progressivism having an impact (positive or not) on Madrid? How did Paisaje build itself from a blog to an organization in such a relatively short period of time? And is Jon still involved in party politics (i.e. with Podemos?) You should read the work we have on our UDL blog and a couple of events we had re: Podemos, Barcelona Comu, and austerity policies. In particular, We screened a film called SPECULATION NATION that might interest you. UDL-affiliated faculty member, Sophie Gonick usually writes these pieces if you want to search her name on our web site! Do you and Victoria talk about your different experiences with “participatory design” in Madrid?