Potentialities of Participatory Processes for Local Social Development in the Design for Public Education Infrastructure in Peru: - The case of Santa Elena de Piedritas

Potentialities of Participatory Processes for Local Social Development in the Design for Public Education Infrastructure in Peru: - The case of Santa Elena de Piedritas -





University College London The Bartlett – Development Planning Unit BENGVBU2: Participatory Processes: Building for Development Belen Desmaison 12/01/2015 Word Count: 3294



Potentialities of Participatory Processes for Local Social Development in the Design for Public Education Infrastructure in Peru: - The case of Santa Elena de Piedritas -

Public Education in Peru: Public education in Peru is ranked as one of the lowest in the region, with students reaching low levels of performance in mathematics, science, and reading in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) carried out annually by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Cueto 2014). This low performance is exacerbated by terrible conditions of infrastructure of public schools nationwide, as shown by recent data released by the Ministry of Education (MINEDU) in which an estimated 64% of public schools need to be completely rebuilt and a further 15% are in need of substantial renovation. 1 A study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) found a strong correlation between low levels of academic performance by students and a lack of proper infrastructure in public schools in both urban and rural areas (Duarte, Gargiulo & Moreno 2011). As the need to improve the quality of teaching is a topic beyond the scope of this essay, I seek to highlight the importance of the provision of proper infrastructure as one of the key elements that should be taken into account by MINEDU for future policies to improve the situation and offer an alternative approach to design by using a case study as an example. Rather than the current provision of short-term, generic, and pre-fabricated modules to solve the infrastructure problem2, I propose that MINEDU should adopt a more participatory approach with greater involvement of citizens and designers in order to produce more adequate and longer lasting solutions. A project recently completed in a rural village in northern Peru shows the potentialities of participatory approaches to the design of public schools in poor conditions. Although the project is still too new to assess the impact of design on the academic performance of the 1

ANONYMOUS (2014). Estructuras escolares deficientes, Publimetro. [online] Available at [Accessed on 21/12/2014] 2 MINEDU (2014). MINEDU inicia montaje de 1500 aulas prefabricadas en colegios públicos con infraestructura dañada. [online] Available at [Accessed on 07/01/2015]



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children, it serves as a good example of what should be done on a national level to tackle the problematic aforementioned. Not only that, the methodology pursued to achieve the final spatial outcome required great involvement from all the members of this small rural area, specially the children. For this reason, this project went beyond the improvement of the existing infrastructure and served as a catalyst to foster and strengthen a sense of community as well as a sense of ownership and proudness towards the finished school within the inhabitants of the village. Undoubtedly, the children in this small community learned to appreciate their school and feel more motivated to attend classes. Santa Elena de Piedritas School: The small village of Santa Elena de Piedritas is located in Piura, in the Northern coast of Peru (Fig. 01) and has less than 3,000 inhabitants. It is near Talara, a small port city that has rapidly developed in recent years due to the presence of mining and international companies (Fig. 02). Workers from Enel, an Italian company located nearby, nominated the local school to receive funding for upgrading from the department of social responsibility within the company, Enel Cuore, which had formed a partnership with Architecture for Humanity (AFH) for a programme called Enel Cuore Onlus (ECO). This programme seeks to “promote social development for local communities to those often overlooked or unable to normally afford municipal services.” AFH role is to emphasize “sustainable practices and community participation in order to generate long term solutions and letting the communities take full ownership of their new facilities.” (Open Architecture Network, n.d. B)



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Figure 01. Location of the Department of Piura in Peru.3



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Figure 02. Location of Piedritas Village in relation to Talara. 3

ANONYMOUS (n.d.) [online image] Available at: [Accessed on 21/12/2014]



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The team of architects in charge of the project did a number of activities with different members of the community before reaching a final design proposal. This design proposal had to include certain elements that were decided beforehand by ECO like classrooms, a computer lab, and a cafeteria. However, after the community workshops, some elements in the original programme were modified and new ones were included. The workshops with the community included a drawing exercise where the children were asked to draw the activities they like to do in their spare time (Fig. 03); a mapping activity to label the areas they like and dislike about their school (Fig. 04); and another drawing activity were they drew their ‘dream’ school (Fig. 05). As for the parents, they were asked to describe their expectations for the new school as well as its current benefits and deficiencies. Finally, both parents and children were invited for a final activity that involved their description of what they remember the most on their way from home to the school (Fig. 06).

Figure 03. Children drawing their daily activities

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RESTREPO, C., AÑAÑOS, E. (2012). Location [diagram] In: Workshop: The School: A place for community reinforcement, Santa Elena de Piedritas. [online] Available at [Accessed on 21/12/2014] NOTE: All images, unless otherwise noted, were obtained from this website.



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Figure 04. Children walk around the school with green post-its to label areas they like and red ones for areas they do not like.





Figure 05. Children draw their dream school.

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Figure 06. A collage of different drawings done by children describing what they see on their way to school.

These activities helped the architects discover a number of characteristics within the community that were helpful in the design of the final proposal. For instance, the activities showed how ambiguous is the concept of ‘community’ for the children. The reason, as the architects explain, is a lack of organisation within the community, which was enhanced by a lack of a communal space (Restrepo & Añaños 2012). This led the architects to propose “spaces that promote the community organization, the sense of belonging and the space appropriation of the school as a community centre.” (Ibid) Additionally, the activities showed a clear emphasis on the necessity of shaded spaces both for studying and playing, given the high temperatures this dry region experiences year-round.

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The community was also involved in the design and construction processes. Children built 3D models and meetings with parents and other adults of the community were held after school hours to discuss the latest design. Later on, members of the community helped with construction while children and women participated in workshops for the construction of the playground and other areas of the school, which included the use of recycled materials like a boat for the playground, structures made of scrap metals, and bottle caps (Fig. 07 & 08).

Figure 07. Children in the playground, which was constructed with recycled materials including scrap metal from nearby companies and bottle caps.



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Figure 08. Girl standing in front of one of the structures built using recycled materials. The result is a school that escapes the typical dry and static atmosphere that predominates public schools in Peru, which deny any possibility to potentiate creativity (BIAU 2014). It is also a school that responds to its surroundings, not only by the use of local materials for its construction but also for a design that emphasises ventilation and shade using light materials (Fig. 09). Moreover, it is a building that can be used for multiple purposes as its classrooms were designed with flexibility in mind, allowing contiguous classrooms to join if necessary and also allowing the school to be used at night, which was not possible before (Fig. 10). This last point allows the school to become a community centre after school hours, offering a place for all members of the community to meet and carry out social events.



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Figure 09. Children, architects, and teachers in front of the finished school.

Figure 10. School illuminated at night.

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An example of participatory design: The experiences of the Santa Elena de Piedritas School (SEPS) serve as a good starting point to see the positive outcomes of participatory processes as well as to pinpoint limitations that were present and that are often replicated in similar projects. Firstly, I will analyse why the project is considered a good example of participatory practices, as shown by its publication in major architectural online journals and its recognition in international biennales. The different activities with the community, as well as their continuous involvement throughout the design and construction processes, make this project ‘people-centred’ which is perfectly aligned with what Guijt describes as “the broad aim of participatory development” which is “to increase the involvement of socially and economically marginalized peoples in decisionmaking over their own lives.” (Guijt 1998 in Cooke & Kothari 2011, pg. 5) In this way, the environment created is one where there are better possibilities for the school to be well maintained since there is a sense of ownership and responsibility towards it from those involved in its realisation (Frediani & Boano 2012, p. 203). Additionally, this projects serves as a turning point in the way community members see themselves due to their role as active and involved contributors rather than being passive recipients (Sanoff 2007 & Fuad-Luke 2009 in Frediani & Boano 2012). This new self-vision has the potential to transform their role as citizens and potentiate their claims for a better quality of live, which is specially significant given the involvement of children in the process as they have greater possibilities of becoming active citizens in the future. Lastly, beyond the impact the project had on the community itself, it serves as an example to question “the role of the practitioner in the process of participatory design by focusing on achieving change through the facilitation of community-led initiatives.” (Frediani & Boano 2012, p. 205) Existing power relations remain sustained: Despite the successes described above, there are certain limitations in the project that may hinder its possibilities to achieve social development and transformation beyond a local scale. This can be seen in the analysis of power relations at multiple levels: within the community, between the community and Enel, and between the community and the

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government. Firstly, despite the fact that the usage of the term ‘community’ normally “conceals power relations within communities,” (Cooke & Kothari 2011, p. 6) given the small scale of the village in terms of inhabitants and the fact that the project was a school, it can be assumed that this was a particularly homogeneous community that had similar interests and needs. This, according to Miessen, leaves little opportunity for dissensus or conflict, which he considers necessary for the possibility of a political message of change. As the author explains, the prevalence of consensus rather than conflict “merely produces multiplications, but rarely new knowledge.” (Miessen 2010, p. 95). As everyone agrees with the project, there is little room for the possibility to sparkle a desire for social rights and claims beyond it. Additionally, the decision to renovate the school was made by others outside the community and both the architects and the community members had limited opinion and options. In spite the fact that undoubtedly the school needed renovations, if the community had had absolute freedom in deciding how to use funds from exterior resources, they could have chosen differently. As Cooke & Kothari explain, this kind of participatory approach “fail[s] to recognize how the different, changing and multiple identities of individuals impact upon their choices about whether and how to participate, and overlook the potential links between inclusion in participatory processes and subordination.” (2001, p. 9) This premediated decision by outsiders led to a project that worked more as a space of cooperation than one of collaboration. As Miessen points out, whereas cooperation “necessarily takes place in a client-server architecture,” (thus leaving little room for change) collaboration, which may have occurred if the community had had more freedom to chose, is “the most fertile site of revolutionary potential. It is where change can occur, frameworks of difference can flourish, and the creativity of multiplicity can generate productive practices.” (2010, p. 99). These restricting facts -homogeneity and pre-meditation- arise questions of the effectiveness of a similar project in more complex heterogeneous societies in urban areas where conflict predominates.





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Moreover, given the emphasis on design that pervades this project, it leaves little room for social change as it addresses only “the manifestation of [local] problems, while leaving the root causes of inadequate access to services [...] unchallenged” (Frediano & Boano 2012, p. 203). As Frediano & Boano explain, while participants “exert a direct influence in the proposed design plan, those initiatives often provide localised solutions leaving unchallenged the structural and institutional processes underpinning the mechanisms of poverty and injustices” (2012, p. 208). Thus, by addressing only the need to renovate the school, the project does not address greater problems like the dependency of the community to international companies around the area nor the failure of the government, particularly MINEDU, in providing proper educational infrastructure on a national level. As is clear in this case, “participatory ideals are often operationally constrained by institutional contexts that require […] goals to be met.” (Cooke & Kothari 2011, p. 8) The decision to renovate the school and not other areas of the village was made by others and this was done, beyond the genuine desire of some to help the school, to meet the goals of Enel of social responsibility as a marketing tool of the company to improve their image. Furthermore, this project undoubtedly perpetuates the dependency this small community has to Enel since, otherwise, they would not have been able to access funds. As Cooke & Kothari explain, this project can be easily seen as an “attempt to influence power relations between elite groups and the less powerful.” (2011, p. 11) The school could serve as leverage for the company in the future in their relationship not only with the community but also with the government. In this sense, it can be said that “participation is always constrained, and hides and at the same time perpetuates certain sets of power relations.” (Cooke & Kothari 2011, p. 11) With this, the role of ECO and the architects involved becomes one of “human software through which investments can be made with the least local opposition,” that is, their role as enablers of a participatory process hides other ulterior motives of the private company (Cooke & Kothari 2011, p. 9). ‘Investment,’ in this case, refers to the ideals of the company to improve their image and a desire to have more control over the area.

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Potentialities of space and the process of design: In spite the fact that this project mainly perpetuates existing power relations, it also has the potential to sparkle better opportunities of engagement and the possibility of forging an active citizenship. Although it is still too early to assess the impact that this project will have on the community at both social and political levels, it is possible to envision certain potentialities. The significance of both the process of design and the space produced within a participatory approach always carry with them the potential to produce political and social aspirations that go beyond the project itself, and this project is no exception. With the possibility of the school to become a community centre, the community now has a space that not only fosters social meetings but that also has the potential to become “an integral element of the interruption of the ‘natural’ (or better yet, naturalized) order of domination through the constitution of a place of encounter by those that have no part in that order.” (Dikeç 2005 in Boano & Kelling 2013, p. 46). A space that could foster active citizenship has been created, what is yet to be seen is if the community uses it for that purpose. The centre helps to foster a new sense of community which was not present before, where ‘community’ is understood as “a social relationship that includes working together toward a shared aim,” giving rise to a relationship “defined by solidarity and reciprocity.” (Boano & Kelling 2013, p. 47) This communal space enables “sustained adaptation and [has the possibility of fostering] dissensus;” (Frediani & Boano 2012, p. 219) where ‘dissensus’ is understood as the struggle for political and social justice by manifesting disagreement with the current police order (Ranciére 1999 in Boano & Kelling 2013, p. 43). Thus, the community centre, which enables the creation of an active community, has all the potential to represent and become the “inherently political nature of space” (Boano & Kelling 2013, p. 42). It could become a space for political struggle, which occurs when “the excluded seek to establish their identity by speaking for themselves and striving to get their voices heard and recognised as legitimate.” (Boano & Kelling 201, p. 43)





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The possibility of future political engagement, fostered by the appropriation of the school as a community centre, is also triggered through the active participation of the community throughout the design process. This involvement had an impact in the way they think by helping them understand the significance of the new communal space and also served as a trigger to rethink their lives and livelihood. (Sangpradap 2013 in Boano & Kelling 2013, p. 53) What is yet to be seen, and what the project has the potential of producing, is the acknowledgement of the participants of their rights as citizens and a desire to claim those rights; that is, the transformation of the community from passive recipients of aid into active citizens. This potential change of mentality is, as Boano & Kelling explain, “a call for perpetual democratisation in which active citizens –who commit to managing themselves and their spaces autonomously – are continuously struggling to become active and participate.” (2013, p. 41) As Ruez explains, a good participatory process should not simply aim to ‘include the excluded’ in the existing police order, which would only signify the reinforcement of the current status quo of social and political injustice. Rather, development practices should aim for an inclusion that “through such including, reconfigures the landscape in such ways as to change the condition under which arguments can be understood, speakers can be acknowledged, claims can be made, and right can be exercised.” (Ruez 2012 in Boano & Kelling 2013, p. 45) Now that the community has had the opportunity to become aware of their potentialities and capabilities in the production of quality spaces, there is hope that they will demand similar recognition and involvement in the future for the continued development of their village. Conclusion: Providing institutions that children feel proud of attending is a first step in removing the stigma of public education in Peru. Given the great potential that space and proper infrastructure have on improving the performance of students, MINEDU has a great opportunity of bettering the low performance of the nation in educational standards by using this project as a model, rather than continuing with the –limited– production of schools with poor spatial quality. It is time for the government to take responsibility in the provision of this kind of infrastructure rather than being dependent on private companies. Inviting architects to become involved in participatory projects like this one would not only

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help to achieve a change of mentality in design professions, which are in desperate need to become more socially invested, but will also help to assure the sustainability of the project in the long-run. This would be achieved through the commitment of the community on the maintenance of the school due to a sense of ownership, as has already been showed in the usage of SEPS since its completion. Examples like SEPS need to be replicated in a national scale not only to improve education but also to foster a sense of community and incentivise the production of knowledge at local levels.





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REFERENCES: BOANO, C., KELLING, E., (2013) Towards an Architecture of Dissensus: Participatory Urbanism in South-East Asia, Footprint, 7 (2), pp. 41-62 BIAU (Bienal Iberoamericana de Arquitectura y Urbanismo). (2014) Colegio Santa Elena de Piedritas [online]. Available at [Accessed on 22/12/2014] BURGESS, R., CARMONA, M. AND KOLSTEE, T. (1997) Contemporary Policies for Enablement and Participation: A Critical Review. In Burgess, R., Carmona, M. and Kolstee, T. (eds) The Challenge of Sustainable Cities. Chapter 6, pp.139-162. London, Zed Books. COOKE, B. AND KOTHARI, U. (2001) The case of Participation as Tyranny. In Cooke, B. and Kothari, U. (eds) Participation – the new Tyranny? London: Zed Books. CUETO, S. (2014) PISA in Peru: Achiving Poorly, But Improving, Norrag. [online] Available at [Accessed on 21/12/2014] DONG, A. (2008) The Policy of Design: A Capabilities Approach. Design Issues, vol. 24, N. 4, pp. 76-87. DUARTE, J., GARGIULO, C., MORENO, M. (2011) Infraestructura Escolar y Aprendizajes en la Educación Básica Latinoamericana: Un análisis a partir del SERCE [online] Available at [Accessed on 21/12/2014] FACHO, A. (2014) Lo que nos deja la XVI bienal de Arquitectura del Perú, Habitar [online] Available at [Accessed on 21/12/2014] FREDIANI, A. A. AND BOANO. C. (2012) Processes for Just Outcomes: the Capability Space of Participatory Design, Oosterlaken, I. (ed.) Capability Approach, Technology and Design, Springer. MADANIPOUR, A. (2010) Part I: The changing nature of public space in city centres. In Whose Public Space? (pp. 32–36). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge MIESSEN, M. (2010) Collaboration and the Conflictual, The Nightmare of Participation, pp. 91- 104. Sternberg Press, Berlin. MITLIN, D. AND THOMPSON, J. (1995) Participatory Approaches in Urban Areas, Environment and Urbanisation, vol. 7, n. 1., pp. 231-250. OPEN ARCHITECTURE NETWORK (n.d. A) Santa Elena de Piedritas School. Available at

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[Accessed 28th of November, 2014] OPEN ARCHITECTURE NETWORK. (n.d. B) Enel Cuore Community Empowerment Program. [online] Available at: http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/enel_cuore [Accessed on 22/12/2014] PURCELL, M. (2002) Excavating Lefebvre: The right to the city and its urban politics of the inhabitants. GeoJournal, Vol. 58, pp. 99-108. RESTREPO, C., AÑAÑOS, E. (2012) Workshop: The School: A place for community reinforcement, Santa Elena de Piedritas. [online] Available at [Accessed on 21/12/2014] RIOS, M., (2008) Envisioning Citizenship: Toward a Polity Approach in UrbanDesign, in Journal of Urban Design, 13(2), pp.213-229. SANOFF, H. (2008) Multiple Views of Participatory Design. International Journal of Architectural Research. Vol. 2, N. 1, pp. 57-69 TAYLOR, M. (2007) Community Participation in the Real World: Opportunities and Pitfalls, New Governance Spaces. Urban Studies. Vol. 44, N. 2, pp. 297-317. STICKELLS, L. (2011) The Right To The City: Rethinking Architecture's Social Significance, Architectural Theory Review, Vol.16 (3), pp. 213-227.



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