Análisis de las transformaciones socioespaciales en la calle Río Yasuní – Ambato a partir de la intervención urbana “Espacio Sano y Seguro” (2024-2026)

Abstract

This research analyzes the longitudinal impact of "Healthy and Safe Space" placemaking intervention on the socio-spatial transformations of Río Yasuní Street in the Huachi Chico sector, Ambato, during the period from 2024 to 2026. It is justified by the need to evaluate the temporal sustainability and autonomy of placemaking strategies in complex environments characterized by social friction between permanent residents and visitors, such as the transient university population. Using a sequential mixed-methods approach that combines spatial analysis, descriptive statistics, and qualitative coding, information was processed from residents, students from two nearby institutions, and merchants. The results demonstrate that, while the material infrastructure, the urban infrastructure, stabilized residential settlement, the lack of post-construction maintenance and neglect of vegetation degraded the physical environment. Furthermore, the cessation of functional programming, community software, facilitated the return of problematic activities such as public drinking on Fridays, increasing the overall perception of insecurity by 2026 to forty percent for women and twenty-five percent for men. Statistical and vector analysis revealed a critical gender divide, where female users experience structural urban anxiety due to the presence of blank walls and the low expectation of collective support. It is concluded that socio-spatial transformation is partial and dependent on external cooperation. Physical interventions experience accelerated social deterioration when the organizational component, the institutional orgware, of the municipality operates in a fragmented manner, disrupting the secure design of public policies. Therefore, active local management and community participation mechanisms are structurally required to ensure true long-term urban sustainability and social cohesion.