Cali, Colombia's third most populous city, includes hundreds of thousands of households living in precarious circumstances. Many lack public services, mobility infrastructure, and adequate parks and open space. To address these problems, programs aim to improve public space in marginalized neighborhoods.

The Bulevar de Oriente, completed early this year between Alfonso and Bonilla y Marroquín II neighborhoods, is among the most noteworthy projects. This public pathway, nearly a mile long, used to be a wastewater channel and a repository for garbage and pollution. Now, a multipurpose park and transportation corridor serves neighborhoods for 18 blocks on both sides.

Bulevar de Oriente is a cultural, sports, artistic, and environmental platform—and a community meeting space. It features squares, sports and cultural stages, and educational facilities. Pedestrian pathways, a multipurpose court, a soccer field, a skatepark, a mist plaza, and a bike lane promote a healthy, active lifestyle. The park also includes a few thousand square feet of commercial spaces and room for additional retail.

In awarding the 2024 Charter Award Grand Prize, the jury upholds Bulevar de Oriente as a model for improving troubled cities worldwide through public space intervention.

As a wastewater channel, it was a locus of urban, social, and environmental segregation, according to the design team. In this “patch of land and mud,” a park emerged. It serves as “a novel knowledge-sharing platform led by residents, fostering cultural engagement through dance workshops, urban gardens, and other activities supported by institutional entities,” the team explains. A gallery of 58 murals, crafted by local artists, infuses color and life into the corridor.

The Bulevar de Oriente has been endorsed by the highest officials, including Columbia President Gustavo Petro. “Public space is a democratic act, a democratic construction, a space for the people to recreate and breathe away from problems, to build art, to analyze and debate politics and power against the elites that have condemned us to live in a socially unequal country,” Petro explained during the pathway’s inauguration.

As a transportation corridor, the design emphasizes the human scale. “This project proposes a mobility structure primarily centered on pedestrians and cyclists, with vehicular usage relegated to serving nearby residences, emergency vehicle access, and public transportation. Hence, pedestrians take precedence in the proposed public space areas,” explains the design team.

The neighborhoods were engaged in design and implementation. The community was actively planting vegetation, for example, creating sponsorships for each species. “This community commitment ensures the protection and care of the proposed species, significantly contributing to the ecological sustainability of the project,” the team reports.

Added Mayor of Cali Jorge Iván Ospina Gómez: “This is perhaps one of the most important works from a social and economic perspective in Cali. It will be a pedestrian corridor, a space for sports, culture, and the gathering of citizens.”

Note: The Charter Awards will be presented in a ceremony on May 16 at CNU 32 in Cincinnati

Bulevar de Oriente, Cali, Colombia (Neighborhood, district, and corridor category): 

• Alcuadrado Arquitectos SAS, Principal firm
• Secretaria de Vivienda social y hábitat, Client
• Epífita, Landscape consultants

2023 CNU Charter Awards Jury

• Matthew Bell (chair), Professor, University of Maryland School of Architecture, Principal, Perkins Eastman in Washington, DC
• Diane Jones Allen, Professor, College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington
• David Baker, Principal, David Baker Architects in San Francisco, CA
• Anne Fairfax, Principal, Fairfax & Sammons in New York, NY, and Palm Beach, FL
• C.J. Howard, Principal, C.J. Howard Architecture in Washington, DC
• Neal Payton, Principal, Torti Gallas + Partners in Los Angeles, CA
• Rico Quirindongo, Director, City of Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development