Mercado como espacio de intercambio y cohesión social: perspectivas del mercado La Carolina en la ciudad de Quito

Abstract

Following the construction of government entities in the financial sector in the north of the city of Quito, the “La Carolina” market has suffered problems of declining sales, mainly due to the low presence of users visiting the place The focus of this thesis is mainly to promote the social cohesion of the “La Carolina” market through its original spatial form considering the preexistence of its historical cultural memory and commercial development within the city’s urban area To promote social cohesion through its spatial form research began on livelihood goals particularly social capital and its relations with activities that can promote the interaction of people with an architectural object These concepts were linked to the public space as an articulating axis between the architectural object and the immediate context in order to establish social relations to the users who visit this place In addition a descriptive matrix of Latin American markets was made according to their spatial typology with the purpose of comparing their functional and spatial characteristics with “La Carolina” market This allowed us to know the potentialities that “La Carolina” market design can integrate with the purpose of generating social cohesion through its spatial form Next, an evaluation matrix was carried out with the design criteria that could generate social cohesion These criteria were divided into three levels architectural object immediate context and, as system linked to the city In addition two collages of prospective leaps were made in 100 years of “La Carolina” market related to the architectural object with the immediate context and the public space as axes of social relations Finally conclusions and recommendations of “La Carolina” market are described regarding the activation of the social cohesion through its spatial form.