The Corralones neighbourhood is located in the Lava Lava District of the Municipality of Sacaba. It is a peri-urban area that is undergoing accelerated, uncontrolled and unplanned urban development, with the generation of irregular human settlements that arise to respond to the housing needs of low-income populations, mainly migrants from rural areas of the department of Cochabamba.

It is a relatively small community of 80 well-organised families that emerged in 2007, when it was a predominantly agricultural area, and which developed through processes of social production of habitat and housing. However, it is characterised by precarious security of tenure, the absence of green areas, lack of facilities and basic services, as well as the degradation of local vegetation and biodiversity.
The existing community center is a very important meeting place and has been self-built with a lot of effort and sacrifice on the part of the neighbours. However, it has not been planned, it does not have adequate lighting and ventilation conditions and the outdoor space was in a state of neglect. From a participatory urban diagnosis workshop, the community's need for multifunctional and training spaces with a gender and multigenerational approach arose. In particular, the women requested a space for training in cooking and baking in order to generate income to improve their domestic economy, as well as quality and safe public space, with multi-generational play and meeting areas.

Based on the participatory urban diagnosis in Corralones, we saw the opportunity to intervene the community centre to generate a community learning space and to requalify the external space. A small amount of funding was obtained to create a playground for psychomotor development and a small square as a multigenerational meeting space directly related to the headquarters. Through a participatory design process, work was also carried out on the proposal for the requalification and extension of the existing building on the upper floor, with a multifunctional room and a room for training in baking and cooking. 

The project aims to become a benchmark for the area in terms of mixed-use community facilities, quality public space, women's empowerment, local economic development, sustainable design and the use of ecological and local materials. At the same time it is related to a project of green and inclusive pavements for the neighbourhood and a 4 km long Urban Biological Corridor project that starts in Corralones and is being implemented with 10 other neighbourhoods in the area in coordination with the municipality, academia and the government of Cochabamba. 

The foundations are being laid to generate participatory and articulated processes of multi-scale urban planning based on urban and environmental governance, in which urban design is related to architectural projects that serve as generators for local socio-economic development.

Since 2020, the multidisciplinary team of the Pro-Habitat Foundation has been implementing the Sustainable Urban Consolidation project with Corralones and several communities in the area. This project intervenes at different scales and integrates social, urban, architectural, legal, educational, cultural and economic components to generate inclusive, sustainable neighbourhoods, in balance with the environment, and to strengthen security of tenure through participatory, inclusive and articulated processes.

Corralones Neighbourhood
Mr. Edgar Garcías is the president of Corralones and, together with his board, they are a fundamental part of the collaborative and articulated work that is carried out in the neighbourhood.

Pro-Habitat Foundation
The design team of the PHF for the Corralones Community Learning Centre is composed by arch. Alain Vimercati supported by Eng. Roxana Triveño, arch. Laura Llanos and past and actuals interns (arch. Verónica Aruquipa, students Dana Jiménez, Luca Tarallo and Daniel Weber). 

Faculty of Architecture and Habitat Sciences UMSS
The FPH is carrying out a study on Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks with lime in collaboration with Prof. Irma Quiróz, a Bolivian architect with a large experience in social production of habitat and bioconstruction who is professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Habitat Sciences and Tec. Sup. Ricardo Nina from the Materials Laboratory of the Institute for Research in Architecture and Habitat Sciences of the University Mayor San Simón of Cochabamba.

Architectural projects developed at the Pro-Habita
Pro-Habitat Foundation FB