Mar 31 2014
Arup, a multidisciplinary engineering and consulting firm with a reputation for delivering innovative and sustainable designs, announced today that it has presented a strategic master plan for the centre of Barranquilla to Mayor Elsa Noguera.
Arup led the planning project that focuses on the revitalization of the city's important historic centre.
Among many of the challenges, Barranquilla's city centre was planned without a formal stormwater management system and light precipitation can lead to flooding throughout the city streets. It also has one of the lowest green-spaces-per-citizen densities in the world. Additionally, the city is characterised by heavy congestion, narrow roads occupied by street vendors, uncontrolled parking, and discontinuous pedestrian and cycling environments. The master plan aims to address these issues.
Arup's strategic plan aims to enable the city's growth while maintaining the historic center and upholding environmental sustainability and climate change preparedness. The principles behind the plan focus on diversify the economic activities, create a new public space network to improve accessibility and promote a healthy life style, create a new delivery agency for the historic centre and implement a plan for social inclusion alongside the physical framework. Some of the strategies proposed include urban mobility and bike paths, infrastructure with permeable surfaces, zones for flooding protection and branding the historic center as a culture and tourism destination.
Barranquilla's Mayor, Elsa Noguera, welcomed the strategic plan and said it is a very good match for her vision for the city. The next step, according to Mayor Noguera, is to implement the plan in order to revitalize the historic center.
According to Arup Project Direct Pablo Lazo, "We are very excited about this plan and the future of Barranquilla because it gives us the opportunity to explore further the ideas of city planning based on resilient urban strategies and smart mobility systems."
Source: http://www.arup.com