The councilor of said department, David Hernández, considers that «with this action, we show our way of involving citizens in decision-making, by initiating participatory processes with the aim of valuing these squares as meeting spaces where we can share community activities in public places ”.
In total, some 1,200 surveys have been carried out in the neighborhoods of San Antonio, La Vera, Las Dehesas and Punta Brava, among the citizens who use these public spaces, counting in turn with the participation of different groups, such as the Rehabilitation Center psychosocial AFES Mental Health. “The involvement of the PFAE in municipal policies is being key for the development of participatory actions and reach as many people as possible,” says the Councilor for Citizen Participation, María Jesús Hernández.
Surveys have focused on the use of the Esquilón, Las Mesitas, del Medio, San Antonio, El Tejar, San Antonio Skatepark, Manuel Ballesteros, Las Dehesas, La Candelaria and Cruz del Rayo squares. The results obtained show the real needs of each square, among which the demands to create new green spaces or rest areas stand out, as well as the need to improve accessibility for people with reduced mobility and children’s pushchairs.
Based on this process of citizen participation, the Sustainable City area has started the procedures to contract the drafting of the execution projects for the urbanization of these nine municipal squares. “The contributions of the citizens,” explains David Hernández, “help us to jointly plan urban policies, as well as to make the town squares safer, more accessible and useful for neighboring communities.”
Both from the Citizen Participation area and from the Sustainable Citizen department, the need to have neighbors is insisted as one of the fundamental premises that have been established in the diagnosis and the search for solutions to the demands of residents and to satisfy the quality of life demand of users. Hence the need to have deployed a team that has participated in the preparation of the surveys whose neighborhood contributions will serve as a basis in the drafting of the projects to give a full response to the improvement, depending on the use and characteristics of each enclave. Remember the involvement of nearby groups when setting the needs of each area.
