Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

In 2019, facing the dual challenge of addressing the shortage of public spaces and incorporating ravines into the territorial continuum as green spaces, FUNDAECO and the Municipality of Guatemala, in conjunction with the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, started defining and implementing the concept of Barranco de Bolsillo. The aim of the model is to enhance fair, inclusive, safe and sustainable public green spaces by generating an urban green continuum and rethinking historically neglected ravines. To this end, a participatory process was organised to design an ecological park with the concept of a Barranco de Bolsillo and work was carried out on a model that could be reproduced in other municipalities in the metropolitan area and even other intermediate and emerging cities.

This project aims to convert a ravine into green infrastructure in the municipality of Mixco (metropolitan area of Guatemala) as public space and to generate ecosystem services. The proposal builds on the experience of the previous project and places special emphasis on promoting and recognising environmental rights in urban areas and disseminating the ecological value of ravines.

The intervention plans to reproduce the pocket ravine model and guarantee the right to public space for the municipality’s inhabitants. The beneficiaries are the inhabitants of Mixco, particularly those in the areas of the parks and surrounding neighbourhoods.

All the actions and processes incorporate a focus on rights, gender, diversity, environmental sustainability and democratic governance, all of which are necessary elements to ensure a positive impact on the territory.

This project contributes to ensuring the right to a healthy environment, the right to the city, the New Urban Agenda, economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), among others. It also contributes to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities”, SDG 15 “Life of terrestrial ecosystems”, SDG 13 “Climate Action” and also, throughout all actions, SDG 3 “Good health and well-being” and SDG 5 “Gender equality”.