Acupuncturas Monteverdes
Monteverde is a region located in the Cordillera de Tilarán in the Puntarenas Province, considered a major ecotourism destination of Costa Rica; perhaps best known for its Biological Cloud Forest Reserve that represents the countrys richness in biodiversity and abundance in nature. According to Newsweek magazine, it is one of the Americas 100 Places to Remember before they disappear, it also has been deemed one of the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica by popular vote, and has been called by the National Geographic “the jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves”.
Tourism is a growing sector in Monteverdes economy, besides its famous local agricultural products (mostly dairy, beef and coffee beans). Located at the crossroads of the various entrance points to the individual parks that make up the National Cloud Forest Reserve and other national tourist attractions, such as the nearby Arenal volcano, and the pacific coast, the village of Santa Elena has become a local service hub for the tourism industry in this area. Santa Elenas original community consists of 6 500 permanent residents, but this number is seasonally multiplied by the number of visiting tourists, having grown from less than a hundred yearly visitors in 1975 to around 50 000 in the mid 1990s to 250 000 in recent years. With the amount of temporary inhabitants, problems to urbanization rise: insecurity, traffic congestion, an urban public space that is dominated by cars and the notorious mini buses connecting the local hotels with the entrances to the parks, resulting in raised levels of environmental pollution. This occurrence of problems has already started to divide the original village population into a group of people who strongly benefit and continue to invest in the further exploration of the tourism potential and those that would like to turn back the clock in order to return to the quite beauty of this once remote community.
How could a sustainable growth unfold without threatening nature as the very base of the villages economical existence? How could Santa Elenas chaotic character be reversed to the original condition of a charming mountain village without blocking the tourist development in the region? How could the native village population maintain its unity? In a participatory design process, initiated by the local chamber of tourism and open to all sectors of the population, we developed a set of urban acupunctures to be realized within the coming years. The goal is to strengthen the social charter and identity as well as the economical potential of Monteverde, and to protect the unique natural habitat in these cloud covered mountains of Costa Rica.
Monteverde is a very representative case for small towns or villages in Costa Rica that have urbanized through a process of local or intraregional migrations of both workers and visitors towards places of interest that have developed strongly under the impact of an international tourism industry. The individual urban acupunctures applied in Santa Elena can basically be applied in any other place in Costa Rica or countries with similar problematics, such as an increase of insecurity, decline in the quality of public space as well as motorized traffic and subsequent environmental pollution. The urban acupunctures proposed in Santa Elena can function individually or as a combination of the different systems, depending on local needs and budget.
The proposed interventions in Santa Elena respond to the local natural habitat of the tropical cloud forest. Iconographic hanging bridges of the natural parks are applied in the city in order to cross nature without damaging it. A protected green trajectory is proposed to link the different buildings and public urban spaces to the newly created park and multifunctional ecological stadium as well as to the nearby national parks. The terraces of the rivers are equipped for urban agriculture, creating an open air showroom for local products. The ecological stadium offers space for large scale events that the population intends to organize, such as an annual music festival and a weekly organic food fare. Santa Elenas economy is stimulated by offering middle class households affordable places to live, work and consume. Within the densified multifunctional urban core, small to medium scale businesses prevail. All buildings are equipped with devices to harvest natural resources efficiently. Interior spaces are positioned in a way to minimize solar heat gains and to ensure natural ventilation, thus reducing the energetic footprint of the built environment. All motorized transport from Santa Elena to the entrances of the cloud forest reserve will be organized with electric buses that are charged by the hydroelectric energy produced in the many rivers that run through Monteverde.
Tourism is a growing sector in Monteverdes economy, besides its famous local agricultural products (mostly dairy, beef and coffee beans). Located at the crossroads of the various entrance points to the individual parks that make up the National Cloud Forest Reserve and other national tourist attractions, such as the nearby Arenal volcano, and the pacific coast, the village of Santa Elena has become a local service hub for the tourism industry in this area. Santa Elenas original community consists of 6 500 permanent residents, but this number is seasonally multiplied by the number of visiting tourists, having grown from less than a hundred yearly visitors in 1975 to around 50 000 in the mid 1990s to 250 000 in recent years. With the amount of temporary inhabitants, problems to urbanization rise: insecurity, traffic congestion, an urban public space that is dominated by cars and the notorious mini buses connecting the local hotels with the entrances to the parks, resulting in raised levels of environmental pollution. This occurrence of problems has already started to divide the original village population into a group of people who strongly benefit and continue to invest in the further exploration of the tourism potential and those that would like to turn back the clock in order to return to the quite beauty of this once remote community.
How could a sustainable growth unfold without threatening nature as the very base of the villages economical existence? How could Santa Elenas chaotic character be reversed to the original condition of a charming mountain village without blocking the tourist development in the region? How could the native village population maintain its unity? In a participatory design process, initiated by the local chamber of tourism and open to all sectors of the population, we developed a set of urban acupunctures to be realized within the coming years. The goal is to strengthen the social charter and identity as well as the economical potential of Monteverde, and to protect the unique natural habitat in these cloud covered mountains of Costa Rica.
Monteverde is a very representative case for small towns or villages in Costa Rica that have urbanized through a process of local or intraregional migrations of both workers and visitors towards places of interest that have developed strongly under the impact of an international tourism industry. The individual urban acupunctures applied in Santa Elena can basically be applied in any other place in Costa Rica or countries with similar problematics, such as an increase of insecurity, decline in the quality of public space as well as motorized traffic and subsequent environmental pollution. The urban acupunctures proposed in Santa Elena can function individually or as a combination of the different systems, depending on local needs and budget.
The proposed interventions in Santa Elena respond to the local natural habitat of the tropical cloud forest. Iconographic hanging bridges of the natural parks are applied in the city in order to cross nature without damaging it. A protected green trajectory is proposed to link the different buildings and public urban spaces to the newly created park and multifunctional ecological stadium as well as to the nearby national parks. The terraces of the rivers are equipped for urban agriculture, creating an open air showroom for local products. The ecological stadium offers space for large scale events that the population intends to organize, such as an annual music festival and a weekly organic food fare. Santa Elenas economy is stimulated by offering middle class households affordable places to live, work and consume. Within the densified multifunctional urban core, small to medium scale businesses prevail. All buildings are equipped with devices to harvest natural resources efficiently. Interior spaces are positioned in a way to minimize solar heat gains and to ensure natural ventilation, thus reducing the energetic footprint of the built environment. All motorized transport from Santa Elena to the entrances of the cloud forest reserve will be organized with electric buses that are charged by the hydroelectric energy produced in the many rivers that run through Monteverde.
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