I am happy to say that the first Plaza Móvil has taken place at Tecnópolis, a huge fair in Buenos Aires. It was a complete success! The team is very happy but also exhausted.

We had 240 sq meters to work with, which was a little bit smaller than we first thought, so we had to adjust our plans and leave out some of the games. We decided to remove the ball games that we had planned, including football and volleyball.

Everything worked fantastically well, especially for families with children visiting this massive fair. They could rest in chairs and benches and play games together. The children loved the climbing wall and adults were very interested in a small container with an exhibition of photos showing different uses for city streets (art, games, people, etc).

The container was created by my wife Sofia and her organization Usina Verde. My friend Nano helped me with the production of all of the furniture, signs and games. Agustin Unsain made the climbing wall. I would like to thank everyone for their hard work, it really helped to make the event a great success.

I hope you enjoy the video of the first ever Plaza Móvil! From here I will continue to work with community organizations to try and bring Plaza Móvil to local neighborhoods. The project in the La Boca neighborhood with Fundacion X La Boca has been approved by the Ministry of Social Development. Administration will take a couple of months and then we should receive funding to begin work. We're really excited for this next step because it is going to be the "real thing". In the meantime we also received a call from the Culture Secretary of the Government of Córdoba asking for a proposal and budget for a Plaza Móvil for the city and we are working on this. So we're very happy as the idea really seems to be coming to life!

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We have had a very exciting development this month -it seems that the first Plaza Móvil is going to be happening even sooner than we thought! If all goes to plan, we will inaugurate the first Plaza Móvil at "Tecnópolis" - a massive fair in Buenos Aires on July 6^th.

The Fair is held by the national government to commemorate 200 years of independence, and is a great celebration for all. The idea of the Fair is to show advances and innovations in technology and sciences in Argentina to the general public. Entrance is free and last summer it had four million visitors – an amazing crowd. This winter the fair will add a huge space concentrated on design and, within this, Plaza Móvil will represent ‘Design and Community’. We will have 750 square meters to stage Plaza Móvil.

We are very enthusiastic about this opportunity. Even though this is not putting the Plaza on real streets, it is a chance to put the idea into practice and also to make prototypes of all the furniture, games, etc. so that people can use them, participate and let us know their opinion, which we can take into account for future Plaza Móvils! 

We are also continuing our negotiations with the Buenos Aires City Council, with the hope of soon working with Fundacion X la Boca to plan a Plaza Móvil on the streets of the la Boca neighborhood. These talks can take a while, but we are very hopeful of progressing them along soon.

In the meantime, we may see some of you at Tecnópolis!

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Earlier this month we had some important meetings in relation to the Plaza Móvil project. The most important of these was with Fundacion X La Boca, a non-profit organization whose mission is to manage and co-ordinate projects aimed at urban integration and social and cultural development in the La Boca neighborhood. The organization is very enthusiastic about the Plaza Móvil project so we are discussing how we can partner together to bring Plaza Móvil to the neighborhood. This is a great success for us as the Foundation has a lot of experience in managing initiatives in this neglected area of the city.

La Boca is an old and mostly poor neighborhood in Buenos Aires, located on the banks of the Riachuelo River (one of the most contaminated rivers in the world).  The area is mostly populated by working class people who have always looked here for cheaper places to live. The interesting thing about this neighborhood is that it has a very strong identity, not only because of the football that is played in the neighborhood but also because the local people are often out on the streets to socialize and spend time together. There are many "Murgas" or groups of street musicians around, and locals often hold parties on the streets. There is also a pedestrian street called el Caminito, were local craftsmen sell their products to tourists.

Fundacion X La Boca will work with us to look for the financial aid we need to bring the project to life, and to provide a link between the government and the local people. Next week we are visiting some streets in the neighborhood that could potentially house Plaza Móvil.

We also had a meeting with the president of Asociación de Fomento de Monserrat  (The Monserrat Neighborhood Association). The organization is very interested in encouraging the project in their neighborhood and they are organizing their own meetings with politicians and companies that could help us to secure the funds and organize the logistics we will need.  

I also had a meeting with the director of the Asociacion Argentina de Skatebording (Skateboarding Association of Argentina). He has a lot of expertise in this urban sport and has offered us help in designing and producing ramps and accessories for Plaza Móvil. I believe considering alternative sports such as skate boarding, freestyle cycling, parkour (an urban sport where participants jump, vault, and climb over obstacles), etc. will enrich the Plaza Móvil experience.

This is a very exciting time for the team and we are now working with all of these groups to progress the Plaza Móvil project in these neighborhoods.

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My project is moving along well and, following a meeting with Asociación de Fomento de Monserrat (Monserrat Neighbourhood Association) recently, I received a letter informing me that they are very interested in bringing Plaza Móvil to the neighbourhood. Monserrat is a densely populated neighbourhood with very little green space located near downtown Buenos Aires. The area contains a lot of official buildings, including the House of the National Government. This is a great success as it is fundamental to have an organisation on board that is deeply-rooted in the local neighbourhood. The next step will be to arrange a meeting to see how we can work together.

I have a team of three experts working with me to bring the Plaza Móvil project to life;

Sofía Bordenave A lawyer with experience in project management in both government and non-government organizations. Sofia brings great strategic thinking to the project.

Cecilia Barrionuevo. Cecilia has a Bachelor’s degree in social-communication and will be our link to neighbourhood organisations.

Agustin Unsain An Engineer who will work as technical consultant for the infrastructure and design of the games.

The team has been busy evaluating two other neighbourhoods, San Telmo and La Boca in Buenos Aires, to see if they are suitable for the project. Both locations are in the ‘antic’ or older zones of the city and have little public or green space. San Telmo has a lot of very old buildings, while La Boca is more disadvantaged – here, football is in the blood of people: colourful and with strong street life.

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My team and I have recently started to work with the Centro Metropolitano de Diseño (the city's council design institution), who offered to collaborate with us on the project and will help to negotiate all permissions and security requirements.

Communities will have full involvement in designing parks so they meet their specific needs. I envisage people taking ownership of the parks by developing games, events and street trades.

I believe that portability is the truly innovative aspect of this idea. By creating a system that is entirely transferable, the Plaza Móvil can be wholly relocated throughout the city to the areas that need it most. Just by simply encouraging interaction between varying members of the community, the scheme will build stronger relationships across all levels of society.

At the moment we are in the middle of the holiday season in Argentina so things will slow down a little and my next update on the project will be in March. Watch this space!

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My name is Manuel Rapoport and I am very proud that my Plaza Movil project was selected as a runner-up in the Philips Livable Cities Awards 2010. In this first blog post I will tell you a little bit about the idea behind the project.

A large part of the urban population of Argentina lacks access to recreational space as well as the necessary transport means to reach distant parks or squares. The majority of public space is dominated by motor vehicles and pedestrians are limited to narrow sidewalks designed for transit rather than leisure or play.

 On weekends, children spontaneously take to the streets to play football, skate, cycle and use the streets as their general playground. Their basic need to play with friends in an open space exposes them to dangerous traffic. In Buenos Aires, like many other cities, there is a non-equitable distribution of public space. There are currently only 2.6 square metres of green space per person in the city, that’s smaller than the average car parking space, and most people live quite far away from their nearest park.

 
We believe that Plaza Movil will provide an excellent solution for communities to come together and enjoy the space. During the weekends, traffic decreases substantially and side streets are much emptier. With Plaza Movil, we want to use this space and transform it into a public space for recreation for local residents.

Plaza Movil is designed for weekends and public holidays when the selected streets are closed and the following implemented:

• Barricades to block motor vehicle traffic with signs explaining why

• Benches, trash bins and large flower planters

• Mobile playgrounds with swings, goal posts, skate ramps, slack lines – all adaptable to existing infrastructure

At the end of each day, everything is disassembled and moved to the next Plaza Movil site. 

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