(IN)TANGIBLE HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

Piranesi was one of the first to evoke a city with a vertical growth in the etches of Carceri d’Invenzione (1745). These etches, made by hand, offered a visual heritage about how cities should grow. As population starts to increase at a rate of approximately 81 million people a year, the optimization of the land is a must. Quito, the Ecuadorian capital has changed its growth pattern, from horizontal to vertical. The reason behind this change is the relocation of the Mariscal Sucre airport, where the new law now allows the city to rise up to 32 stories in height around the business quarter. The rapid densification of Quito is catching up quickly, having to solve problems of infrastructure not only for future generations, but for habitants living in the capital right now. That raises a question at how to best look at the future, to foreshadow and imagine the next urban solutions to address for this Latin American Capital. Overlapping Cities, takes from the imaginary, to study the future of Quito´s vertical evolution. These virtual representations, use the new zoning laws as parameters for research to create renders that foreshadow the vertical city. In search for a sustainable development the computer generated images take lessons learned from cities like Santiago de Chile and Rio de Janeiro, both cities like Quito, have considered their rigid topographical borders in order to accommodate for their growth demands. Looking at the work of Rem Kookhaas in Delirious New York , it is believed there is a way to convey the feel of an unrealistic, almost idyllic process of development. Overlapping Cities will shed a new light into how to best incorporate this UNESCO site into Quito’s future and help Ecuadorians through digital renders, to imagine living in this capital from an unexplored angle.