Metro in the city of Quito
The project for building a metro in the city of Quito has being developing and changing for the last years but with an uncertain outcome, so it is worth it? First I would like to talk a little bit about Quito; the city is located in the Andes region at two thousand meters height, it’s restricted by two mountains so the growth of the city has been in a linear pattern so the all the city traffic flows in a linear way. The Projects value it’s estimated to cost around three thousand million dollars.
So a city like Quito really needs a metro, we already have a mass transport called Trole that it’s not working properly for a lot of factors, such poor design and planning and the most part for a lack of maintenance and implementation, The Metro project has to overcome a lot of technical issues including the preservation of the Historical center of the city that is more than four hundred years all and its at risk of being destroyed if the planning it’s not correct. How this massive project will affect and improve the way of life for the inhabitants of Quito, the first part of the project will be the construction of one line that will cover a longitude of 23 km across the city with 16 stations located in important spots of the city.
The city is lacking of basic implementations and services such as hospitals and cultural places urban places like parks and plazas, for me is not the moment for building and investing so much money in a project that is not Profitable and it’s not going to improve in a significant way the life quality of the inhabitants, and also the project its being used as a façade for a political platform in a very corrupt country that doesn’t care if the planning its done correctly but it’s an opportunity to divert funds, the same thing happened with the new airport of the city that was budgeted In three hundred millions and end up costing around seven hundred and the worst of all, the new airport doesn’t meet the city needs and its already obsolete. We can expect the same thing it’s going to happen with this new massive project. First improving and solving the existing issues of the already implemented mass transport with a relative small amount of the original budget, and with the rest start investing in different urban scales projects focusing on renewable energies and the directly interaction with pedestrians, and step by step ending our need of using car by providing alternative ways of transport ,this not only will benefit and solve all the movement and connections issue of the city but also in a way with the pass of time this it’s going to change the behavior of the people.
All these different projects will also serve as a catapult to boost the local economy by creating iconic places for recreation and commerce in strategically selected places to reduce the necessity of moving and buying goods from outer places but instead trying to produce and satisfied all the requisites of the site locally. Architecture should be a way of solving issues by improving the quality of life of the people living in a certain place by providing and satisfying all the needs with future proof elements that are capable of adapting to all the environmental changes and be self-sufficient or at least take advantage of all the resources in a efficient manner, I don’t think that the metro project is a viable solutions for the city, I think that Latin America cities should learn from all the mistakes that first world countries have already confront and lived , for example Barcelona it’s a city that’s been learning from a long process of changing to reach the great final outcome that these city is living now a days with a great urban infrastructure and a high standard of living by thinking first on the persons and their needs instead of the cars.
