Community Engagement, Participatory Planning, Research, Writing
In March 2024, a small group of us from GSAPP traveled to Paraguay to work with the community of La Chacarita, an informal neighborhood in Asunción. Our aim was to help preserve Indigenous knowledge and advocate for the community’s right to stay in their place to which they hold deep roots despite relentless flooding and the looming pressure of profit-driven development. We explored a range of cultural spaces—from archival libraries to private homes—to better understand the breath Guaraní traditions. What we encountered barely scratched the surface. The vastness of the region’s anthropological and ecological history was humbling.
Through conversations and archival material we learned about the presence of Indigenous groups who shaped the Paraguayan landscape, following the Paraguay River as their constant guide. Many of their descendants still reside in La Chacarita. What was once a land of abundance has been forced into the margins, its vitality eroded by environmental destruction and systemic neglect. What was once a meandering branch of the Paraguay River was paved over in the 20th century to construct La Costanera highway, now forming the neighborhood’s northern edge. This severed La Chacarita from its natural floodplain, leaving it vulnerable to rising waters. Today, stormwater has nowhere to go, stagnating within the built environment and creating hazardous conditions that damage homes, schools, and critical infrastructure.
Our time in La Chacarita culminated in a participatory workshop at the heart of the community. Children were invited to draw a collective cognitive map of home—depictions of places that held meaning in their daily lives. These maps were displayed alongside satellite imagery of the same areas, a striking contrast between lived experience and the distant abstraction of aerial cartography. To the children, home is a patch of grass, a barbershop, a bike path—not a neutral arrangement of streets and plots.
The forces that continue to push La Chacarita’s residents toward dispossession are powerful, but there is strength in resistance. Aware of the inherent imbalance in leading a workshop in a community not our own, we ensured that all materials remained with the people who created them while amplifying their narratives beyond Paraguay. What has stayed with me most is how the children responded when we asked them to show us their neighborhood—they welcomed us with pride.
To the policymakers and developers eager to erase informal settlements in the name of capital expansion: these are human lives, not untapped financial assets. If you wish to act in good faith, support these communities in improving their infrastructure—but do not demolish their neighborhoods. The old model of urban renewal should remain in the past.
View the full report here
Columbia GSAPP I Spring 2024 I Instructors: José Luis Vallejo, Ryan Devlin I Tools: ArcGIS Pro, Adobe Creative Suite I Collaborators: Anisa Kharimah, Arimbi Naro, Charlotte Boulanger, Mateo Alexander, Nyadeng Mal, Reina Dissa, Saumil Sanghavi, Tim Small, William Fainaru Callahan