Susudel's Market: A rural initiative from the Ecuadorian Andes for the reactivation of public space

ILUCIDARE, an EU-funding project aiming to make heritage-led innovation and international relations in Europe an example for sustainable development and international cooperation, recently published an article about a social initiative led by one of its partners - the University of Cuenca. The article unveils how an Andean community turned an unused public space into a lively market place in times of pandemic.

In 2020, the agricultural production activities of Susudel endured with full force the lockdown and sanitary measures imposed by the global pandemic with the closing of the Oña Sunday market, their main supply point. In response, the community of Susudel decided to flood a public space in the city to carry on promoting the local agricultural production activities and started the creation of a local market on Plaza de las Escaramuzas, a wide public area enabling for physical distancing. The market of Susudel was born.

The ILUCIDARE local team accompanied the efforts of the Susudel community through a participatory design process. They carried out a series of co-creation workshops leading to the development of a strong decision-making process that has progressively been applied to the market. The design workshops helped the community of Susudel think and shape the organisation and management of the space as well as develop a prototype of furniture for the market.

Find out more about the creation process and evolution of the Susudel’s Market in the full article published by ILUCIDARE.

Photo © courtesy of the Ciudad Patrimonio Mundial project