LIMA, Peru — One man rests while another reads, both lounging on recycled wood benches in Lima’s populous outer San Juan de Lurigancho district.
The Línea Uno rapid transit train rumbles loudly on its tracks overhead, but the small square of public space near the Los Jardines station is busy nonetheless. “Probetas” — leftover cylindrical pieces of concrete from a local manufacturer — line the small patches of grass. Stacked wood platforms provide a place to rest beneath a wooden canopy. A large chalkboard perched beneath the train track pylon awaits colorful drawings to invigorate the otherwise grey, fume-filled cityscape.
This is one of 17 interventions organized in the past two years by Ocupa tu Calle, a Lima-based grassroots organization born out of COP 20 and affiliated with citizen observatory Lima Cómo Vamos, which promotes the recovery of disused or misused city spaces through localized urban interventions.