Citizen Input Central to Public Space Success, Mexico Forum Argues
Community engagement is key to creating vibrant public spaces. Experts emphasize the need for resident participation in design, promoting social cohesion and addressing diverse needs. Prioritizing community input ensures spaces serve their intended purpose.
The creation of vibrant and functional public spaces goes beyond mere construction; it necessitates the active participation of the very people who will use them, according to experts at a recent forum held at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The discussion, titled "Public Space and Social Work: Struggles, Resistance, and Collective Action," underscored the critical role of community involvement in fostering livable conditions, social cohesion, and a sense of ownership within urban environments.
Guadalupe Imelda Manzo Guerrero, a professor at UNAM's National School of Social Work (ENTS), emphasized the indispensable role of social work in this process. "The construction of public spaces requires the participation of residents in the design of projects that generate livable conditions, processes of community cohesion, ownership, a sense of identity, and belonging—strategies that require the intervention of social work," she stated during the forum held in the 8 de marzo de 1857 auditorium.
