The vibrant life unfolding on the foothills of Cali is deeply stigmatized and associated only with disaster. The design ingenuity of residents, community culture and the ways in which they shape everyday life have all been written off as vulnerable communities living upon precarious slopes, adding to the pressure of displacement and ecological calamity. We challenge this perspective to acknowledge and celebrate life on the foothills.

Across ecological and social frontiers, our project centers current and future ways of living and moving with water.

Reforestation, large scale upstream water reservoirs and capacity building within the community are our major tools in realizing these goals. Over time, we envision a stabilized and strategically rewilded territory through policy-protected and incentivized communal stewardship, fortifying ecological resilience and socio-economic opportunity.

Following the water down the hill, we resurface it in instances, and draw it deeper into the ground in others. With human health closely tied to hydrological health, we create initiating points for waste management, encouraging people to develop sustainable habits around water and waste. We plug into the existing socio-infrastructural system to achieve this. The proposal is expected to evolve over time to strengthen the eco-hydro-social networks that redefine life in self-constructed settlements across Cali.