In Spring 2024, First-Year Planning students from Columbia University, GSAPP, traveled to Asunción, Paraguay, to study the relationship between the city’s historic center and La Chacarita, an “informal” neighborhood shaped by both precarity and vibrancy. Through site visits and conversations with residents and local organizations, the studio examined how planning and design might engage with the everyday realities and existing connections between these two distinct yet intertwined parts of the city.        

The resulting proposals focused on countering stigmatization and supporting local and indigenous narratives through new forms of documentation and organization. Developed during a period of global unrest and heightened awareness of displacement, this work reflects on the complexities of city-building and the importance of listening to and learning from communities often overlooked in conventional urban practice.

Read the full report here

Course: Urban Planning Studio I
Guided by Professors José Luis Vallejo, Ryan Devlin, and Teaching Assistant Elizabeth Alvarez