Pedro Vázquez Declaration

Pedro Vázquez, resident of Chamberí, Madrid, working in communication on ecology and social justice proposed the right to a green, traffic-calmed neighbourhood with local life.

Proposed urban right
Everyone has the right to live in a neighbourhood with sufficient green areas, traffic-calmed streets, fewer cars and a local fabric that supports everyday life.

In Chamberí, as in other dense neighbourhoods of Madrid, green areas are scarce and highly valuable for daily life. Trees, small resting areas and shaded spaces are not decorative elements: they help people walk, meet, breathe better and protect themselves from heat.

The neighbourhood still preserves some green spaces and part of its local life, but both appear fragile. The dominant presence of cars reduces space for walking, resting, planting trees or creating places of encounter. Climate adaptation cannot be separated from this question: how much space the city gives to traffic, and how much it gives to caring for everyday life.

To protect
Protect the few green areas that remain in the neighbourhood and the local commerce that still sustains proximity and daily life. Both are part of Chamberí’s identity and everyday resilience.

To remove
Remove the centrality of cars in the neighbourhood. Reducing their presence would free up space for walking, planting, resting and creating safer, more liveable streets.

To change or add
Introduce more trees, more green areas and traffic-calming measures across the area. The voice also points towards greater pedestrian priority, understood as a way to give space and priority back to people who walk.

Declaration wording
Cities should guarantee green, traffic-calmed and lively neighbourhoods, where reducing traffic makes it possible to recover space for trees, shade, rest, encounter and local commerce. Protecting existing green areas and creating new spaces for climate care should be part of just adaptation, especially in dense neighbourhoods with limited public space.