Jorge Álvarez, resident of Moratalaz, Madrid, working in the production and coordination of cultural activities.
Proposed urban right
Everyone has the right to live in an accessible, green neighbourhood with quality shared spaces, where moving around is easy and where there are places of encounter that support cultural life, everyday leisure and coexistence.
Moratalaz appears as a neighbourhood with a distinctive urban structure: small gardens in front of homes, green areas between groups of buildings and a residential scale that can feel welcoming to someone who has recently arrived. This presence of nearby vegetation makes the everyday environment more liveable and friendly.
The neighbourhood has valuable qualities, but also urban solutions that seem to have been added without enough reflection on how people actually move. In streets with slopes, many stairways have been accompanied by ramps, but not always in the most practical, comfortable or attractive way. Accessibility should not be solved only by placing ramps next to stairs; it should involve rethinking whole routes that are safe, continuous and pleasant for everyone.
To protect
Protect the neighbourhood’s nearby green structure: the small gardens, the green areas between buildings and the kind of residential urbanism that, although simple, makes the neighbourhood feel welcoming and everyday.
To remove or rethink
Rethink many of the existing ramps, not to reduce accessibility, but to improve it. The aim would not be to remove support for people who cannot use stairs, but to design routes that are more functional, continuous, attractive and useful for people with reduced mobility, older people, families with pushchairs or any resident who needs to move without obstacles.
To change or add
Change certain inherited visual elements that mark a specific period and that today may feel uncared for or poorly integrated into a contemporary idea of the neighbourhood. Beyond aesthetics, this raises the question of how the urban image affects people’s sense of care, belonging and dignity in shared space.
Add a central place with a clear and recognisable life: a beautiful, active and open space that works like a village square. Not just a park, and not just a cultural centre, but a place where people can spend time, meet, rest, take part in activities and feel that the neighbourhood has a shared heart.
Declaration wording
Cities should guarantee accessible, green neighbourhoods with quality shared spaces. Accessibility, culture, everyday leisure and urban beauty are part of the right to a liveable neighbourhood.