Future scenarios for housing (re)settlements in Ecuador

Abstract

Post-earthquake (re)settlements are too often the results of political decisions, driven by the urgency of housing survivors in emergency. There is very limited evidence of strategic decisions made for the long-term wellbeing of the displaced communities. This has certainly been the case, for the post-earthquake reconstructions developed in the aftermath of the 2016 Muisne earthquake in Ecuador. Previous research has indeed demonstrated, through qualitative empirical research, the failure of the developed resettlements from both a technical and a social perspective. This paper aims to re-think the way to conceive (re)settlements with the aim to co-produce with local experts and inhabitants possible future scenarios. A first pilot case, that adopts design solutions at the urban and housing unit level, which are strongly connected to the local geographic and cultural context, is discussed. This paper presents and discusses the design evolution of the proposed pilot case, posing the attention to the urban development and the housing design, articulated imagining the (re)settlement as a new neighbourhood of the city, with a combination of private and public spaces, that will grow and be fully integrated to the consolidated city as population grow.