Regresar

Urbicide. A Look Through the Mirror

Abstract:

The paper deals with the term urbicide (death of the city) according to the parameters outlined by Fernando Carrión, which are natural, anthropic, and symbolic. In the first case, two earthquakes that occurred in 1797 and 2006 in Ecuador, in different temporalities, show that the physical death of the city is temporary, since with the recovery of its materiality, history is restored and a renewed identity is put into effect. Anthropic and symbolic death are analyzed in the historical center of Quito, whose long-standing history is currently undergoing a social crisis that is expressed in systematic depopulation and repeated actions for its destruction, however, the popular commercial vocation of this space, the complexity and volume of this activity became evident during the global health emergency between 2020 and 2022 to show that the popular market, the street vending and floating population are the few activities that remain in this space and keep the historical center alive. A finding in this analysis was to identify that with a political decision and collective resistance to the death of this part of the city, it is possible to change the sign of the urbicide.