Abstract
This chapter describes the process of designing and constructing the Mesuca Sports Park in Petare, Caracas, as a way to promote peace through the increase of dialogue and resilience in the community. Venezuelan institutions have partially collapsed and generated a state of violence and chaos that is reflected in high rates of homicide. The country holds one of the highest rates of homicide in the world at 90 per 100,000 Venezuelans. One of the main tools to promote peace was involving the community of Petare in the design of this Sports Park through Participatory Design Workshops (PDWs) with a transdisciplinary approach between mental health providers, urban designers, and sports specialists. The PDWs were the main tool to foster dialogue among the diverse participants involved in designing and constructing the Sports Park. It is suggested that this dialogue was instrumental in reducing violence. The number of homicides in the Mesuca sector before and after the construction is used as an indicator of the effectiveness of this intervention. In addition, qualitative indicators such a one-year ethnographic research project are also used to reflect the impact of this intervention that seeks to activate the resources of the community despite adversity.
Thanks to Maria Elisa Castillo coordinator of the clinical department at Psychology Unit of the Community Centre of UCAB (UPLA, for its acronym in Spanish) for her valuable comments and contributions. We also thank Citizen Security Department of Municipal Government of Sucre, especially to Maria Gabriela Palermo and Angel Alvarado.
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- 1.
Barrio in Venezuela refers to self-configured neighborhoods that were born through the occupation by migrants of those lands discarded from the regular urbanization process. The growth of barrios has implied high levels of self-construction, and its formalization process usually happens gradually over many years. In some literature, these territories are called slums or informal settlements.
- 2.
Venezuela had what was widely considered the most stable South American democracy until the 1990s when two military coups, spurred by growing inequality, propelled Hugo Chávez to the national spotlight. Chávez won the presidential elections in 1998 inaugurating what he proclaimed as the “Bolivarian Revolution.” A host of factors helped him retain power until 2013, which included wide popular support and an international oil boom that elevated prices of oil, Venezuela’s main commodity. But he also increasingly strengthened his chokehold on power through military involvement in government, corruption, the dismantling of democratic institutions, and the destruction of private productive apparatus. It is during this time that the municipality of Sucre was won by the opposition to Chávez. This municipality governed against the central government’s constant pressure that included budget restrictions and sabotage through parallel institutions.
The death of Chávez in 2013, along with a downfall of oil prices has precipitated an economic and political crisis, to which the government has responded with increasing authoritarian measures such as jailing political opponents and staging fraudulent elections.
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Izquiel, M.C., Cardona, I., Llorens, M., La Roche, M. (2019). From a Junkyard to a Peace Promotion Sports Park: A Transdisciplinary Approach. In: Njoku, M.G.C., Jason, L.A., Johnson, R.B. (eds) The Psychology of Peace Promotion. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14943-7_13
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