Process of holistic urbanism in the barrio El Calvario, El Hatillo, in Caracas, Venezuela.  The project works with high risk population and locations - elders, youths, and collective commons inclined to both landslide and increasing respiratory illness - to propose building on traditional Venezuelan humidity management to create rooftop gardens and shared condominio garden spaces within this historic informal settlement.  These eco-social structures, condominio gardens groups, join with the middle class neighborhood, school, and hospitals next door to manage a shared stream area, stabilizing the slope and building a working urban farm.  The process is catalyzed and sustained by a new restaurant and culinary academy specializing in urban garden produced cuisine. 

The project was designed for the CAF Development Bank of Latin America urban design competition in 2015. It was a collaborative effort: Franco Micucci, Maria Beatriz Garcia-Rincon, Maria Mercedes Hernandez, Bernardo Dorbessan, Manuel Barrios, Alan Waxman, Abner Calixter, Judith Rodriguez, Claudia Vergara, Cruz Criollo, Jose Angel Perez, Karen Mata, Nicole Garcia, Beatriz Garcia, Beatriz Gamero, Arantxa Hernandez, Luis Miguel De Jesus, Jorge Gonzalez

The project will move into implementation over the following months. It is a pilot program of the new Latin American development foundation Urban Elements.