The number of inhabitants in Cochabamba has expanded enormously during the last
decades and the expansion takes place in the fringe areas, usually on the
forested mountains in the north or on land for agriculture use in the south.
One of these agricultural areas is our project area in Pukara, District 9.
Pukara has grown a lot over the years and the population has increased
considerably. Some expansion has taken place in areas not suitable for
residential purposes. The rapid growth of the area has resulted in an
occupation of areas for agriculture, illegal settlements, lack of necessary
infrastructure and service and environmental degradation.
In this study we have focused on the spatial planning issues, the aim has been
to present an overall layout for the area to show how the area can be
developed. An analysis has been done to define potentials, shortcomings and
various kinds of land use conflicts of the area. We have also made a
classification of business activities that generate most environmental
problems. The classification is made to be aware of what kind of business that
cause most negative effects and which environmental problems that have to be
considered to create a sustainable and attractive area.
The project area contains resources and potentials that could be developed and
become qualities for the area. Land uses today are for agriculture and cattle
raising, for housing and for business activities. In general the big
agricultural land is gathered in the outskirts of the area, whereas most of the
buildings and the business activities are situated in the middle. The farming
landscape gives the area character. The different business activities are
sources of employment and income and they create activity in the area. The
nearness to urban centres is another advantage, which make Pukara to an
attractive place to live in.
Due to lack of spatial planning, the expansion takes place without control. The
main problems are occupation of agricultural land, illegal settlements and
unsuitable and disturbing activities. Some of the illegal settlements occur on
land suitable for agricultural use and the inhabitants lack adequate
infrastructure and service. Furthermore the area contains unsuitable and
disturbing activities, which deteriorate the environment and the living
conditions and make the land unsuitable for housing and unfit for agricultural
use. The main environmental problems are the adobe- and brickyards because they
destroy the land and the brickyards with kilns that discharge poisoned gas into
the air.
To be able to meet anticipated demands the following questions have been
studied: the density of the area, the provisions for economical opportunities,
the infrastructure and service aswell as the accessibility to green open spaces
and recreation. There are three fundamental features in our proposal. The first
feature is that the large agricultural areas are preserved at the same time as
the already half urbanised areas are made denser. In this way it is possible to
take one-step forward to solve the land use conflict between the illegal
settlements and the agricultural land. The second feature is to improve the
housing situation with infrastructure and service. To do that it is important
that existing housing development is legalized and therefore we suggest that
the municipality will start a legalizing project. The third feature in our
overall proposal is that the unsuitable and disturbing activities, which today
are located in the housing areas, are moved and concentrated to an area in the
outskirts of the half rural parts in the north-west of the area. In this way
the areas from the former brickyards could be used for new dwellings. With the
overall proposal as a basis we have individually developed parts of the area in
more detail. These sections aim at illustrating how the overall proposal can be
applied on the two specific sites, east and west of Avenida Panamericana, in
Pukara. We have concentrated on the densification of the half-rural and
half-urban part. The intention has been to show some principals of the planning
of District 9, which need further development before implementation.
We propose that the area is still used for agricultural use, for housing and
for business activities. Since it is unrealistic and inconceivable to move the
illegal settlements and since the demand for land for housing increases all the
time, we have tried to find a balance between the various uses.
The increasing population growth and the depletion of the environment have been
taken into consideration. We propose a suitable plot division to create more
plots and a higher density. We have suggested areas for new dwellings and
developed different types of housing. We have created places for meetings,
recreation and plays. Suitable places for service and different kind of
business activities are suggested, for example a new area for the adobe- and
brickyards is proposed.
The demands for infrastructure and service that is needed in a more densely
built-up and populated area have been taken into account. We have made
proposals for how to a...