The Skin of Democracy: Bucaramanga's Master Plan to Transform Its Public Space

Bucaramanga is located 959 meters above sea level on a plateau in Colombia's Cordillera Oriental. Composed of 17 communes, it has a population of 528,575, while its metropolitan area is home to more than 1,141,700 people. Over the past 30 years, the city has systematically lost its public space due to abandonment, neglect, rapid urban growth, and a lack of coordinated political and planning initiatives that could foster direct communication between residents, public officials, academics, and private sector representatives.

The strategic project “Public Space: The Skin of Democracy” is a suite of initiatives designed by the Bucaramanga municipal government—and integrated into the city's current development plan—aimed at reconfiguring and renovating municipal public spaces. The initiative was launched by the Mayor's Office of Bucaramanga for the 2016–2019 term.

According to the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Observatory, in 2015 the city had 2.5 square meters of public space per resident (sq m/resident) and a green conservation area of 7.5 sq m/resident. In contrast, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of 10 sq m/resident and considers 15 sq m/resident or more to be ideal. These figures place Bucaramanga not only in a high deficit but in a state of “extreme poverty” regarding public space.

Guided by the principles of “Logic, Ethics, and Aesthetics,” we developed various proposals primarily aimed at restoring public trust, with the goal of improving the quality of public spaces in the short, medium, and long term.

One of the key tools to address this deficit quickly has been the creation of a multidisciplinary technical and social support team called the Architecture Workshop. The team ranges from professionals with extensive national and international experience to interns from public and private universities, as well as technical schools. Comprising mostly architects, engineers, surveyors, social workers, academics, and students, they work proactively with local communities to raise awareness and foster the recovery, rehabilitation, renovation, consolidation, appropriation, and humanization of public space.

Driven by social, technical, and business innovation, their collaborative strategy is designed to foster both incremental and disruptive innovations in architectural and urban planning processes through co-creation. These projects engage key stakeholders from Colombia's innovation ecosystem—including universities, government bodies, civic groups, businesses, and industry clusters—to drive the development of human-centered design guidelines.

We aim to expand and improve the quality of public space through three integrated transformation strategies: Connecting Forests, Citizens' City, and Quality Parks.

Connecting Forests

This comprehensive territorial transformation project integrates pedestrian networks with existing green spaces. By establishing connections with the nature surrounding the urban fabric, it ensures the protection of environmental heritage and the enjoyment of the natural landscape. Low-impact physical interventions are prioritized—a vital strategy to control rapid urban sprawl onto the eastern hills, the northern zone, and the western edge of the plateau. This approach reclaims and revitalizes green areas, making them accessible and connecting strategic zones of the city that are currently physically and socially isolated.

Citizens' City

This initiative promotes territorial equity by reclaiming underutilized public spaces, areas occupied by street vendors, and pedestrian zones taken over by vehicles. Humanizing public space is a guiding principle under a new, more sustainable mobility model. We are transforming informal motorcycle and car parking lots into plazas and squares for public gatherings. This effort is supported by a city model that inverts the pyramid of action (a bottom-up approach) to reclaim vital spaces for residents. Additionally, tactical urbanism interventions are planned throughout the city, serving as educational and planning evaluation tools with high social impact, rapid execution, and low costs.

Quality Parks

We are rehabilitating, renovating, and consolidating parks that had fallen into neglect. This includes introducing playgrounds for early childhood (ages 0–5)—which did not exist in the city until 2017—and upgrading outdoor gyms to foster social inclusion and integration. We also promote environmental education and transform the landscape with respect for nature, enhancing vital spaces for urban life and driving the restoration of the native landscape.

Iván Acevedo is a Spanish and Colombian architect with a master's degree. He is the director of the Professional Support Team of the Mayor's Office of Bucaramanga (Architecture Workshop) and a founding partner of BucBa Arquitectos and IAA Studio in Colombia.

This article was written in collaboration with architect John Octavio Ortíz.