The Iztapalapa UTOPIAS. Inhabit, coexist, appropriate

Abstract

The utopías (Units of Transformation and Organization for Social Inclusion and Harmony) in Iztapalapa, Mexico City, represent a cutting-edge approach in terms of urban planning, but not just in terms of infrastructure design and facilities to develop recreational, cultural and social activities that facilitate the appropriation and transit of a densely populated area and crossed by structural problems of insecurity and violence. The bet of these spaces is in a palpable way to incorporate the neighbors to entertainment and humanistic activities that can be carried out in facilities that help this incorporation, but the project also surreptitiously represents a sociological and communicative dynamic that can foster symbolic forms of inhabiting, sharing, coexisting and appropriating public spaces, a way of making and thinking about the community in a lasting way and not only limited to the use of the facilities but also to consolidate the roots of attachment and belonging to a place and an idea of society.