Collective actions in the recovery of public green spaces: Ortega Ravine case, Quitumbe, Quito-Ecuador

Abstract

Green spaces are protagonists in the new way of conceiving public space, where the collective actions undertaken by social organizations use natural benefits as a source of unlimited resources that improve their quality of life. In this context, public green spaces are in a favorable setting for the development of local activities. However, in the South of Quito, the logic of the State is opposed to the recovery of green areas as triggers of urban life, prioritizing the construction of massive houses and facilities before the recovery of streams and forests that are characteristic elements of the topography from the city. Here the categories of collective actions undertaken by the Alianza Solidaria Housing Cooperative in the recovery of Quebrada Ortega were analyzed and determined. Interviews, photographic archives, semiotic analysis and surveys were the techniques used to feed a mixed analysis methodology. As a result, we find that community participation and self-management are decisive collective actions in the appropriation of public spaces. Finally, the role of women becomes an essential element for executing the processes to improve the quality of life of the community.