Translator: Martin Connolly Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
When I was a little girl, I had a dream.
A dream about changing the world.
I imagined neighbourhoods filled with flowers
I imagined neighbourhoods full of children,
I imagined very beautiful cities.
I didn't know it at the time but I was thinking about changing a paradigm.
I imagine all of you know,
Latin America, our part of the world, is one of the scenes
of the highest levels of violence and inequality on the planet.
A study carried out by the United Nations in 2011,
shows us that we have
3 out of the 5 most violent countries in the world:
Honduras, El Salvador & Venezuela
And what's being done in the cities to fight this problem?
The problem is complex. It has many faces.
It's complex because when we have cities & neighbourhoods
with high levels of social and environmental inequality,
it affects the level of violence.
It also has an impact on delinquency.
And lastly, It makes us afraid.
So, how de we react?
Naturally, we shut ourselves away.
When we're afraid, the first thing we do is shut ourselves away,
to protect ourselves and that's what neighbourhoods do.
As we can see in the image, they close up,
with windows, metal bars and that makes us very afraid.
I don't know if at this part of the talk, you will have guessed
what my profession is:
I'm an architect and I was lucky enough
to be the first architect in 10 years,
to be trained using a Canadian methodology
which designs safer cities.
But this methodology
has nothing to do with the armed forces
or with the police directly,
it's about the city.
It's about us, it's about the neighbours
I would like us to think for a second and take a break to discuss
how all of you feel here in Buenos Aires.
How do you feel in Argentina?
Do you feel afraid?
Are there dangerous neighbourhoods?
Are you afraid to go out at night?
These are the same questions to which I get the same answer
in many Latin American cities.
We did an online survey
one month ago
to find out how all of you feel in Buenos Aires
and how the people from Buenos Aires felt
and we got some interesting responses
First, more than half of all those surveyed
told us that they trusted their neighbours
and the people they know.
Also, more than half told us
that a strategy they used to protect themselves and their homes,
was to install tinted windows in their cars, for example
or they installed alarms or metal bars.
So faced with this question:
What is the ideal profession to combat delinquency?
More than half of you also said
the police and the military.
Then we asked them about the architects
and nobody replied because they didn't think
that architecture had anything to do with it.
In 1962, an urban journalist
called Jane Jacobs published a book called
"The Death and Life of Great American Cities",
which is the image we're looking at.
Jacobs analysed various world cities,
very concerned because she saw
that the modern movement was erecting buildings
and often forgetting about the people.
And in a way this tells us two very important things,
that for us to feel safe in a city
we need to restore what we have lost:
human contact.
I need to connect with you,
I need to connect with my neighbour to feel safe.
The other thing Jacobs told us was:
eyes on the street, to see and be seen.
All of you see me here today and I see you.
I don't have a wall that blocks my view.
There's good lighting. The same thing happens in the city.
The CPTED methodology is based
on five principles which are universal
but are applied culturally
Number one is natural surveillance,
To see and be seen. I see you, you see me.
This photo is of a 'country' here in Argentina.
Is this a good or bad example?
Bad. Why? What's missing from this picture?
People, exactly, natural surveillance.
I can have a nicer living space,
but there's no one keeping an eye out.
On the other hand, this image is of a school in Mexico,
the children are playing volleyball
they're having fun and looking out for each other.
Second principle. Territorial reinforcement,
identity in the public space.
We all want to leave our mark.
What happens when we see a neighbourhood like this?
Which is also in Argentina.
What is the message, that it's decayed and full of rubbish?
Maybe the people who live there
don't have any self-esteem and are also afraid.
So, what do we have to do?
Let's fill the city with positive landmarks.
This is a market in New Delhi, India
where during a religious festival,
they cover the floor with coloured earth
and this is how India celebrates a national holiday.
Third principle: Natural access control.
Why do we keep using steel bars?
Why are there metal bars around the parks in Buenos Aires?
The parks in Buenos Aires are so beautiful,
I haven't see other cities with parks this beautiful.
Why do we surround them with metal bars?
Why is it Parque Alemania's fault?
Why? Because we are afraid.
Are metal bars the solution?
Or will it be that as a society we build security ?
Fourth principle: Maintenance.
Why don't we think of ways to make our neighbourhoods more sustainable?
What do we do with the rubbish?
Let's make a recycling program so that the youth have jobs
and they don't fall into a life of crime.
And the fifth principle: Community participation.
We are now at the heart of the strategy, which is the native expert.
Why do you think that this playground is empty?
Even though it's nice and new?
Nobody asked the user. And who is the user?
The native expert.
We are all native experts.
The kids, the grown-ups and the grandparents.
Has anyone ever asked you
what colour you want your park to be?
What colour do you want your bench to be?
No, because generally it's already planned.
What happens when someone asks the native experts,
dream your park, dream your suburb?
This is what happens: in La Banda, Monterrey,
in Mexico, to the north in a tiny community
we did a drawing workshop with children.
Pablo drew this rocket and the question was,
Dream your suburb! Then it made us think and we said to him:
"Pablo, that's beautiful! Why do you want a rocket?"
"Ah" he said " I have to fly away and I have to fly away very quickly".
"And what happened to you Pablo?" And he showed us a scar.
He had a big scar on his head,
because he'd been run over twice.
And why? Because of La Banda,
a tiny suburb, had been imprisoned
between a high speed motorway and a huge property development,
that had increased the number of cars
without evaluating the impact.
Or him.
Look him in the eyes, I present to you José.
José is from La Mara in Honduras.
La Mara es a group of youths,
who sometimes work for drug traffickers and hitmen.
José is afraid. José tattoos himself
José is searching for his identity but deep down he is afraid.
I met one of these Joses ten years ago
In the middle of the street and he put a gun to my head.
Do you believe that José dreamed about killing me?
José dreamed about dancing to hip-hop and he drew a stage.
Dream your suburb, José,
And what did he dream of, the boy from La Mara
photographed by the great Christian Poveda?
He dreamt about a stage, because he dreamed,
like all of us can dream. he dreamt of a smooth floor,
so that he could slide in his shoes and that is just how José dreamed.
What happens when all of us dream?
If all of us could help design our city,
we would have the greatest of dreams.
We began an initiative in 2006 in Santiago,
where 10,000 children dreamed and in Mexico in 2012,
we made 14,000 children dream.
When the native experts dream,
they make visions come to life, concrete, sustainable and safe,
like this one in Paraguay,
Cateura, a group of children,
organised by a music teacher,
They recycle rubbish, make violins, cellos & play classical music.
Or this one that we restored in Chile,
in Puente Alto, we restored this space, here.
That is my message today.
It's an invitation: walk with me,
the path of the native expert,
Let's build safer cities together.
(Applause)