topic of the slides came up. They said, well if we're going up the stairs, why don't we go down the slides? So we included slides associated with sandy areas for the children to reach. Then we included amphitheaters, which were needed by the school, and where they would also celebrate the “burning of the monkey” festival, typical of the region. This is how the different programs were put together. It should be understood that there are few public spaces here, so there was a lot of project aspiration. At one point they wanted to include a public swimming pool, so limits had to be set, but in the end, we worked on these places according to local needs. Alberto Teixido R Because of the participatory process that creates design and somehow predicts uses, unexpected and unwanted things will likely start to happen. For example, skateboarders or graffiti may appear. Thus, is there any variable where the material selection is thought of in a circular logic? Can this project be dismantled in the future without major complications? Rodrigo Werner R Yes, of course, we came up with the idea of the rock because Chile's Route One, which connects Iquique, Tocopilla, and Antofagasta, had just been built. At the work site, there had been some stones lying around for a couple of years and we recycled them and brought them to the park. These stones have a very rough surface and have tonalities. Therefore, because they are so irregular, graffiti doesn't look good. The rock is a material that was available and has many qualities for the northern zone; we were also able to bring in people who worked in veneer; the Socoher construction company found old masons. Stone was no longer being used, so a material that was in disuse was reacti- vated. With the builder, Juan Celpa, we researched rock pavements. For example, in the images, you can see: that this rock is rustic but that one is polished or flamed. There is a natural rock pavement with polished concrete. Another pavement is washed concrete with embedded rock. This one is a jewel and it was a craftsmanship to make it because a mesh had to be installed, then tie the mesh to the rocks, then the concrete, and finally wash it. It was amazing. We made a showcase of what can be done with rock, and that could be perfectly replicated in other places in the north. Alberto Texido R How can this successful experience be replicated - with climatic and scale differences - in the future in our cities, well adapted to old and new challenges? Rodrigo Werner R In Chile, a landscape project is very undervalued; its high degree of complexity is still not understood, especially because we have a very abrupt and dynamic geography. If something is not flooded, it is washed away by a flood, or the river overflows, or a rock falls on it, or it disappears after a tsunami. Hence, dealing with public spaces, especially in areas not related to cities' consolidated areas, in- volves very complex engineering projects. A lot of engineering, geology, geotechnics. We are doing very interesting things that involve this hard engineering: environmental impact studies, maritime engineering, or hydraulic modeling to avoid flooding. One imagines that the landscape is like putting walkways and plants and it looks like “Land Art”, but in these urban design and landscape projects in Chile there are projects that involve more than thirty specialties, and above all, many approvals with strenuous paperwork. We go through National Monuments, the Directorate of Hydraulic Works, Serviu, the Directorate of Works, the Ministry of the Environment, the DGA, SECTRA, MOP Roads, SESMA, sanitary companies, electric companies, municipal departments, among others. One can spend several years in these projects and for the same reason, not all of them come to fruition. !
but I don't know if they have grown or not. Whether the shade per tree option was discarded or whether it failed. Rodrigo Werner R The park was completed at the end of 2022 and at that time there was still no domestic graywater recycling law in place. The issue of sustainability and low maintenance in the Geopark did not go that way. There was a good selection of plant species that could be found there because on the road between Antofagasta and Tocopilla, or between Calama and Tocopilla, there are practically no tree species. Here the predominant species are eulychnias, which are very isolated cacti on the brow of the bluff that take advantage of the camanchaca, but down here on the coastal plain outside the coastal edge, there are practically only therophytes, totally absent in dry years. Hence, the municipality recommended species that worked for them and we planted the same ones. We also planted native trees with an intermediate canopy, such as chañar and carob. The rocky substrate allows them to grow as saplings rather than as a large shaded tree. Trees in the north take longer to grow than in the south, so give them time. Let's wait a couple of years from now to see how they grow. FIRST, LISTEN Sebastián Rozas R In Santiago, one can see that public spaces are progressively being closed, with fences, guards, timetables, etc. How did you address the issue of security? Rodrigo Werner R In this area, we held many participation workshops with the neighbors and also with the schools. The people themselves understand that this place is a tremendous benefit and they are taking care of protecting it. They have helped to fix a slide or take care of the plants because the amount of plant species stolen is tremendous. However, the truth is that, as it is today, the security crisis, is that at any moment it could be fenced off. It is not a permanent wild card. Alberto Texido R Regarding the energy issue, how was night lighting and garbage management solved? Rodrigo Werner R The municipality had ruled out installing solar panels because of the large amount of particulate matter; in two months their efficiency would have decreased by a third. In addition, the batteries would have been stolen and vandalized. Therefore, we agreed to carry out a detailed Dialux study to locate the least possible number of lights, which were specified as high-standard LEDs with the least possible consumption. Vegetation management is very slow-growing and thriving, but there is no pruning or elements that produce plant waste. Garbage management is minimal and we work together with the John Kennedy School, who asked us for access to the park. They have an urban garden and an area for recycling, so they take care of the garbage created in the park and collect it. The garbage that can be recycled is treated at the school itself. Sebastián Rozas R In the previous citizen participation process, were you able to distinguish any sense of inhabitant identity concerning the landscape? Rodrigo Werner R We had a contest to name the park´s rocks because there is the Camel's Rock precedent. Then there is the Elephant Rock, the Pirate Rock, and the Inverted Boat Rock; this way, they didn't want to eliminate them because they already had a name. That helped the idea of identity a lot, it was an important anecdote. Sebastián Rozas R In the park design itself, did you start with any plans or did you start from scratch? Rodrigo Werner R We did three or four workshops with neighbors and the schools. We started by listening. We never start with a project ready because we have had bad experiences. We have a tool called sociomap in which, based on a map, a photo, or some other element, the participants, with some rules of the game, start to scratch, talk about the place, and indicate what their stories and aspirations are. Here, for example, the
Rodrigo Werner Sánchez He is an Architect from UFT and holds a postgraduate degree in Architecture and Universal Accessibility from Universidad Católica de Chile and a BIM Certificate. He is currently a
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