II Public Architecture Contest for the Design of Urban Acupuncture Actions

The concept of urban acupuncture arises from the intersection between urbanism and traditional Chinese medicine of acupuncture, where needles are used in problematic points of the body in order to balance its energy. Like its Chinese counterpart, urban acupuncture aims to generate the integral and chain improvement of a sector through specific interventions in strategic places, based on the understanding of the city as a connected and systemic organism. In addition, urban acupuncture actions have urban participation as a central axis, recognizing the community's vision of the territory it inhabits and contemplating the physical, social, cultural and economic potentials and needs that are inscribed in a given territory. In other words, urban acupuncture actions seek to improve physical, economic, social and environmental sectors of the city on a local scale, addressing the problems present in the territories through the transformation of public space by means of sustainable, "timely, rapid, limited and articulated interventions that create positive chain reactions, stimulating a change in the habits of citizens and strengthening urban dynamics" (Secretaría Distrital del Hábitat, 2020).

In this scenario, the District Secretariat of Habitat formulated the Investment Project No. 7642 called "Implementation of Urban Acupuncture actions" which seeks that, through the proposed Urban Acupuncture interventions, positive and chain reactions are generated in strategic sectors of the city that present imbalances and deficits, strategically taking advantage of their potential. It also seeks to strengthen the consolidation of the SIDICU - District System of Care[1], through interventions in the area of the blocks of care under the responsibility of the District Secretariat for Women. The objective is to transform, improve, revitalize and dynamize the territory in an agile manner in order to favor a limited and local approach through community participatory design strategies, in order to achieve a correct and efficient understanding of the problems and consequently offer effective and high impact solutions to vulnerable populations, taking into account the social, environmental, cultural, economic and patrimonial dynamics and realities.

The competition is organized by the Colombian Society of Architects and entries will remain open until November 9.

Registration available here