IN-PERSON Barcelona Livable Cities. Section B

Abstract

Cañadas, El Moral, and Colinas de Tonalá: Decent Housing for the Community of the University Center of Tonalá. The field of Environmental Psychology focuses on the relationship between individuals and their surroundings, particularly how they interact within both physical and social spaces. This has sparked an ongoing debate between Psychology, which studies human behavior, and Architecture and Urban Planning, which emphasize the design of physical spaces. Amos Rapoport (1997) introduced the field of Environment-Behavior Studies (EBS), a discipline that examines environmental design in relation to human behavior. Individuals seek dignified housing that offers habitable spaces—beyond mere materiality—spaces that are livable and conducive to meaningful experiences (Article 4 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States), understood as a human right. In the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area (GMA), Jalisco, Mexico, during the 1970s, housing developments for social interest were built on the city’s outskirts. These were high-density, horizontally structured, single- and multi-family residential units with mixed land use, often located far from essential infrastructure, public amenities, and recreational spaces. This study examines how housing developments in Tonalá, a municipality within the GMA, have been designed without considering principles of Environmental Psychology or the right to adequate housing as outlined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These housing units are currently inhabited by students and staff from the University Center of Tonalá (CUTonalá), where limited access to infrastructure, services, public space, and amenities is evident.