Abstract

MONTES PESQUERA, Juan Carlos; FLORES LUCERO, María de Lourdes  and  GUEVARA ROMERO, María Lourdes. Public Space, the Need for the Neighborhood Organization to Recover it. The Case of the San Manuel Neighborhood, Puebla, Mexico. Rev. Ciudades Estados Política [online]. 2022, vol.9, n.1, pp.35-51.  Epub Mar 28, 2023. ISSN 2462-9103.

The public space is a meeting, interaction, and cohesion place to develop various activities of the inhabitants. However, the lack of attention and lack of actions for its improvement have led to its deterioration, and its gradual loss. The case of the San Manuel neighborhood, located southeast of Puebla, Mexico, demonstrates how poor conditions of the public space have led not only to its near abandonment but have also become a propitious place to commit crimes. Likewise, the actions carried out by organized neighbors to reduce this problem are detected. The qualitative methodology used four techniques: documentary review, semi-directed interviews, neighborhood meetings, and field trips. Among the results, they emphasize that restoring public space can positively affect its use and avoid the risk of it becoming a setting suitable for committing crimes. For this reason, joint neighborhood action is necessary and urgent without taking responsibility away from local governments. However, this process can be slowed down if the organization is weak, disjointed, or has poor communication with the public sector. Communication strategies need to be established to improve the organization. To this end, higher education institutions can help trigger collaborative work actions between the public and social sectors.

Keywords : Collaboration; public space; identity; insecurity; social organization.

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