Prioritising the places and people that need it the most
Asertos Programme
Asertos Programme for the Community Regeneration of Vulnerable Neighbourhoods
The Asertos programme has been developed by Arquitectura Sin Fronteras España and Quatorze, with the certainty that the solution to urban vulnerability lies in the communities. Certain areas of our territories accumulate social, economic and residential problems, which represents a public health problem. To tackle this, we abandon the deficit approach and focus on discovering, connecting and mobilising the strengths of communities in order to ensure adequate housing and quality common spaces.
EU Member State, Western Balkans or Ukraine
Spain
Local
Alicante, Valencian Community (Transition Region).
No
No
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
2023-11-06
Yes
ERASMUS
No
Yes
No
No
As a representative of an organisation, in partnership with other organisations
The Asertos programme has been running in Alicante since 2017, promoted by Quatorze and Arquitectura Sin Fronteras España. "Asertos" is the Spanish word for "assertions", a statement that you strongly believe is true. We affirm that everyone should have an adequate home and work, and that community participation is the greatest engine for social change. We promote community regeneration in vulnerable neighbourhoods, areas of our cities that suffer the consequences of social, economic and residential problems. One third of Alicante's population lives in vulnerable neighbourhoods, which constitutes a serious public health problem. From the salutogenic theory, we affirm that it is essential to discover, connect and mobilise the resources available to the population, in order to address the needs from the inside out. We started with a pilot project in the Cemetery Neighbourhood, which has now been extended to three more neighbourhoods. During these years, we have achieved the direct participation of 20% of the neighbourhood with the creation of 4 common spaces. We have fully rehabilitated 9 buildings and carried out 67 emergency interventions (electrical and structural risks, damp, etc.). We work in the city of Alicante, but with a glocal perspective, as we understand that urban vulnerability is a recurrent phenomenon in European cities. The housing upgrading has had a direct impact on 152 people, 43 men, 44 women and 65 children (30% of the neighbourhood population). The pilot version of the project has been completed, reaching sufficient maturity to consider a medium-long term process with public funding (ongoing) and to replicate the initiative in other territories. We were published by UN Habitat Mexico in 2021 and received the award for social innovation from Obra Social "la Caixa" in 2022. The success of the programme is shown by the fact that, the recent change of political colour in the regional government has not led to a decrease in investment in the area.
community regeneration
deprived neighborhood
social & solidarity-based architecture
asset-based community development
salutogenesis
Inspired by this understanding of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), the community urban REGENERATION of the Asertos Programme is articulated through a Resource Bank, which responds to sustainability from these three axes:
> Laying the foundations for social sustainability through a directory of community resources, created on the basis of interviews with people who have needs to satisfy, but also have strengths to contribute. The professionals working in the citizen space encourage learning conversations to make these invisible resources visible, connect them and mobilise them in concrete tasks that respond to needs shared by several neighbours. In this way, the foundations are laid for an interdependence that generates links between people based on trust, achieving community autonomy.
> Laying the foundations for ecological sustainability, assuming the community resource as a primary source of well-being and the local production of energy and food as a priority. A responsible consumption of a short and optimised cycle also involves seeking energy efficiency in housing, reflecting on the improvement and maintenance of the same from this same perspective.
> Laying the foundations for economic sustainability. The programme has worked on the creation of assembly dynamics for the management of the improvement of the housing stock and common spaces. At the same time, the connection between the community and the public authorities has been dynamised in order to facilitate access to resources from outside the neighbourhood, such as rehabilitation funds. However, the logic of the real estate market and the situation of the labour market make economic sustainability very complex. This is why we are creating a multi-purpose cooperative for housing, users and social integration, which serves as a tool for vulnerable communities to alleviate the great socio-economic differences and the unequal impacts of the global crises we are facing.
> Laying the foundations for social sustainability through a directory of community resources, created on the basis of interviews with people who have needs to satisfy, but also have strengths to contribute. The professionals working in the citizen space encourage learning conversations to make these invisible resources visible, connect them and mobilise them in concrete tasks that respond to needs shared by several neighbours. In this way, the foundations are laid for an interdependence that generates links between people based on trust, achieving community autonomy.
> Laying the foundations for ecological sustainability, assuming the community resource as a primary source of well-being and the local production of energy and food as a priority. A responsible consumption of a short and optimised cycle also involves seeking energy efficiency in housing, reflecting on the improvement and maintenance of the same from this same perspective.
> Laying the foundations for economic sustainability. The programme has worked on the creation of assembly dynamics for the management of the improvement of the housing stock and common spaces. At the same time, the connection between the community and the public authorities has been dynamised in order to facilitate access to resources from outside the neighbourhood, such as rehabilitation funds. However, the logic of the real estate market and the situation of the labour market make economic sustainability very complex. This is why we are creating a multi-purpose cooperative for housing, users and social integration, which serves as a tool for vulnerable communities to alleviate the great socio-economic differences and the unequal impacts of the global crises we are facing.
As Alberto Rubio Garrido points out in his article "Le Corbusier and the autonomy of architecture" of 2015, "by becoming autonomous, that is, by attending exclusively to the rules that are proper to it, architecture becomes a social fact". Architectural and urbanistic projects are the central elements of the discussions, but what we are talking about is good living. To articulate a collective debate on the future of a neighbourhood in the process of degradation, from Asertos we propose a double service of social architecture and community animation from within the community, through 4 types of activities, which allow us to understand the relationship that is generated between the people who are part of the program, whether professionals, volunteers or users. Ensuring access for all to PERMANENCES, moments in which professionals spend time in the neighbourhood, inform about the objective of the program and transmit the possibilities to be part of it. During these moments, meaningful relationships are established, connecting people are recognized and strengths are identified. Encourage attachment to specific working groups by means of ASSEMBLIES or PARTICIPATORY WORKSHOPS, which serve as spaces for exchange and collective decision-making. Precipitating community promotion of FORMATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS and COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES, that are spaces of transformation and learning in which local skills are brought to the fore and collective decisions are made, without losing the intercultural and festive dimension. The aesthetic dimension of the resulting spaces becomes a performative element of the life of the community, which understands and has managed the change that has taken place, and also finds meaning in it. These three factors are the basis of the Sense of Coherence, which according to the Salutogenic Theory (A. Antonovsky, 1969), is the condition for the generation of health and well-being.
The programme understands sustaining a good life as the main goal of urban transformation. To this end, it is necessary to equip communities with the tools to achieve resilience in the face of a world that destroys community relations through consumerism, welfarism and professionalisation, as explained by Cormac Russell in Rekindling Democracy (Cascade Books, 2020). The overall objective of the project is to PRECIPITATE community-based urban regeneration through Asset-Based Community Development, which promotes social inclusion and the well-being of the communities living in three of the city's most vulnerable areas. To this end, we pursue several specific objectives (SOs): SO1, to facilitate the access of the population living in vulnerable areas to adequate housing; SO2, to facilitate the access of the population living in vulnerable areas to decent work and an honest wage; SO3, to facilitate the access of the population living in vulnerable areas to common spaces in their neighbourhood; and SO4, to co-design Neighborhood Community Action Plans linked to the Urban Agenda 2030. The project is open to everyone who wants to participate and focuses on both needs and strengths. The thesis is simple, the resources present in the community can respond to the needs present in the community. However, we know that social change is slow and moves at the pace of trust. Therefore, we work with people who step forward and want to participate, we communicate the results publicly based on transparency, and we generate short timetables based on the idea of iteration. "If you didn't want to or couldn't participate in this cycle, that's OK, the next one starts in three months, we'll let you know". Generally, inclusion in the project starts with material motivations, linked to concrete needs, which are translated into clear actions. Gradually, the people involved become interested in decision-making, which eventually leads them to the assemblies of the specific groups.
A horizontal governance model has been established, consisting of a driving group in the neighbourhood and working subgroups, adressing different issues depending on the proposed initiative. These forums have met approximately once a quarter. Each group has been working towards a defined objective, using the resources necessary to carry out the actions in a transparent manner. During the meetings, tensions that have arisen have been dealt with in order to provide assembly-based responses to prioritisation needs, especially in terms of housing emergencies.
DRIVING GROUP // The driving group is made up of the technical team and the community connectors, and its objective is the general coordination of the programme from a reproductive and care approach.
SPECIFIC GROUPS // These are larger working circles focused on specific themes: one on housing, one on the management of the Resource Bank and three on common spaces. All the groups work on issues of neighbourhood identity, training, transformations and community events. The Asertos community facilitators are responsible for convening, moderating and secretarial work at the tables.
COMMUNITY BOARD // Assemblies in which the entities and departments of the public administration that intervene in the territory coordinate the actions that are carried out. They have been maintained with a very institutional functioning, which has not facilitated collaboration with the community. However, at Asertos we advocate for a neighbourhood representation in this space by each one of the specific groups.
RESOURCE BANK // The transformations and community events involve the participation of the community through the Resource Bank, which is the tool that enables community exchanges to be read from the logic of the Time Bank.
VOCATIONAL WORKSHOPS // At all stages of construction, the aim is to transfer knowledge, creating moments of educational work in different areas (painting, masonry, gardening, etc.).
DRIVING GROUP // The driving group is made up of the technical team and the community connectors, and its objective is the general coordination of the programme from a reproductive and care approach.
SPECIFIC GROUPS // These are larger working circles focused on specific themes: one on housing, one on the management of the Resource Bank and three on common spaces. All the groups work on issues of neighbourhood identity, training, transformations and community events. The Asertos community facilitators are responsible for convening, moderating and secretarial work at the tables.
COMMUNITY BOARD // Assemblies in which the entities and departments of the public administration that intervene in the territory coordinate the actions that are carried out. They have been maintained with a very institutional functioning, which has not facilitated collaboration with the community. However, at Asertos we advocate for a neighbourhood representation in this space by each one of the specific groups.
RESOURCE BANK // The transformations and community events involve the participation of the community through the Resource Bank, which is the tool that enables community exchanges to be read from the logic of the Time Bank.
VOCATIONAL WORKSHOPS // At all stages of construction, the aim is to transfer knowledge, creating moments of educational work in different areas (painting, masonry, gardening, etc.).
LOCAL // The participation of local entities has been crucial to the development of the programme. The definition of the Cemetery District as a pilot comes from previous conversations with the schools, the Housing Board or the Social Services, who saw this area as the most excluded and, therefore, as a great challenge. Once the programme was established, we can highlight the collaboration with the GRAMA association on urban agriculture issues, the work with the Nova Feina Foundation or with the Local Development Agency in terms of job placement, or the work with the Altur Cooperative for construction training.
REGIONAL // Collaborating with the social and housing departments of the regional government has enabled the development of the programme. In addition, during the years 2022 and 2023 this collaboration has also involved the programme's participation in the drafting of a Neighbourhood Law, although this has not been formalised due to political changes. Academic collaboration with the Valencian Building Institute and the University of Alicante has facilitated the experimental use of construction techniques and qualitative evaluation methodologies.
NATIONAL // Collaborating with Obra Social "la Caixa" has been continuous and has allowed the birth of the programme and its methodological consolidation, always with a focus on innovation, which has led to us being awarded its national prize for social innovation in 2022. At this level, we can also highlight our collaboration with MITMA, specifically with the Vulnerability Observatory, whose theoretical framework has always been the basis of our proposal. Its monitoring has allowed us to understand the contexts in which we work from a statistical perspective.
EUROPE // Quatorze's presence in the project has allowed it to take on a European scale, participating in international forums, such as the Erasmus+ PASI (Participatory Actions for Social Inclusion) project.
REGIONAL // Collaborating with the social and housing departments of the regional government has enabled the development of the programme. In addition, during the years 2022 and 2023 this collaboration has also involved the programme's participation in the drafting of a Neighbourhood Law, although this has not been formalised due to political changes. Academic collaboration with the Valencian Building Institute and the University of Alicante has facilitated the experimental use of construction techniques and qualitative evaluation methodologies.
NATIONAL // Collaborating with Obra Social "la Caixa" has been continuous and has allowed the birth of the programme and its methodological consolidation, always with a focus on innovation, which has led to us being awarded its national prize for social innovation in 2022. At this level, we can also highlight our collaboration with MITMA, specifically with the Vulnerability Observatory, whose theoretical framework has always been the basis of our proposal. Its monitoring has allowed us to understand the contexts in which we work from a statistical perspective.
EUROPE // Quatorze's presence in the project has allowed it to take on a European scale, participating in international forums, such as the Erasmus+ PASI (Participatory Actions for Social Inclusion) project.
Our team is made up of professionals from various disciplines. Proof of this is the name "Architects Without Borders" which, in 2015, after 23 years of existence, changed into "Architecture Without Borders". The organisation is not made up exclusively of architects, we value the presence of multiple disciplines as a key element that allows us to cover a wide field of action and to use an integral approach in all the projects. This approach is also shared by Quatorze, with interdisciplinary teams in France and Spain. In the Asertos programme, we can highlight the following disciplines:
> ARCHITECTURE, as the design of spaces suitable for various social functions.
> PUBLIC HEALTH, as a search for the well-being of the population as a whole.
> SOCIAL EDUCATION, as non-formal pedagogy based on sociability.
> BIOCONSTRUCTION, as a set of disciplines that transform the inhabited environment, with a focus on sustainability.
This multiplicity of disciplines within the same team greatly facilitates communication with entities or areas of the administration that are not so diverse. The work methodology we use is the direct result of this transdisciplinarity, which not only brings together disciplines, but also cuts across them. As Manfred A. Max-Neef explains in "Fundamentals of transdisciplinarity" (Universidad Austral de Chile, 2004), we must take into account the relationships between the disciplinary levels: empirical, propositional, normative and value-based. This implies being rigorous when confronting technical criteria with the intentions or will of people and user communities, local associations or Third Sector entities (NGOs), and the agendas of the public authorities; in other words, with all those who may be benefited or harmed by the consequences of the changes that are carried out. This complex system makes up a set of rhythms and positions between agents, which must be put together as if it were a dance, in order to weave sustainable links at all levels.
> ARCHITECTURE, as the design of spaces suitable for various social functions.
> PUBLIC HEALTH, as a search for the well-being of the population as a whole.
> SOCIAL EDUCATION, as non-formal pedagogy based on sociability.
> BIOCONSTRUCTION, as a set of disciplines that transform the inhabited environment, with a focus on sustainability.
This multiplicity of disciplines within the same team greatly facilitates communication with entities or areas of the administration that are not so diverse. The work methodology we use is the direct result of this transdisciplinarity, which not only brings together disciplines, but also cuts across them. As Manfred A. Max-Neef explains in "Fundamentals of transdisciplinarity" (Universidad Austral de Chile, 2004), we must take into account the relationships between the disciplinary levels: empirical, propositional, normative and value-based. This implies being rigorous when confronting technical criteria with the intentions or will of people and user communities, local associations or Third Sector entities (NGOs), and the agendas of the public authorities; in other words, with all those who may be benefited or harmed by the consequences of the changes that are carried out. This complex system makes up a set of rhythms and positions between agents, which must be put together as if it were a dance, in order to weave sustainable links at all levels.
The greatest difference between Asertos and other urban regeneration or community development programmes, is that we assert that the analysis of the problems and their impact on people only offers us a partial reality. In order to understand these ecosystems from their complexity, it is essential to complement the needs-centred view (deficit or pathogenic approach) with a view that focuses on strengths (salutogenic approach). The Salutogenic Theory offers us a theoretical framework from the paradigm of health creation, which we can operationalize by means of the asset model. On the other hand, we consider the Diffusion of innovations Theory as the framework in which to project social change. Change moves at the speed of trust. That is why if we aspire to change people's behaviours, we have to foster trusting relationships. In order to bring about social change, an active search for positive deviants is needed, understood as individuals or groups whose unusual but successful behaviours and strategies have enabled them to find better solutions to problems than their neighbours, who face the same challenges and barriers and have access to the same resources. Discovering, connecting and movilizing local resources with these innovators, attracts the "early adopters", who copy this change in behaviour. These two groups add up to 14% of the estimated program beneficiary population living in the neighbourhoods where we will work, which, following the innovation diffusion model, is the minimum critical mass needed to achieve long-term sustainable social change. We owe these ideas to the work of Mauricio L. Miller, described in his book "The Alternative: Most of what You Believe about Poverty is Wrong" (2017), and the work of the ABCD Institute and Nurture Development, described with particular clarity in the book “The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods” (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2022), by Cormac Russell and John McKnight.
The work methodology we use is a fusion of the Asset Based Community Development of the ABCD Institute and Nurture Development, and the social and solidarity-based architecture methodologies of the Quatorze association and ASFE:
DISCOVER // Making visible and recording the resources and needs present in the neighbourhood communities, generating a Resource Bank that serves as a repertoire/directory of knowledge, capacities (talents, skills and passions), connecting people, positive deviants, local citizen groups, entities with local presence, stories or places of interest.
CONNECT // Facilitating moments of meaningful exchange through learning conversations with residents, and the organisation of assemblies at different scales for collective decision-making, co-design and co-management. By relying on internal resources and prioritising from within, the search for external resources is more strategic, conditioning relations with private, social, academic or public entities.
MOBILISE // Planning, organisation and implementation of actions for the community transformation of neighbourhoods through participatory activities and works that have generated spaces for community use and management. Community assets can be also mobilised for the celebration of community events, which serve as festive moments and open doors for the dissemination.
The continuous participation of the communities in all phases generates participatory action-research processes. For socio-spatial explorations we use tools from the sociology of inhabited spaces, such as the sociogram or inhabited mapping. We also use tools from qualitative research such as appreciative enquiry or asset mapping. When it comes to collective decision-making, we use assembly animation tools that are close to holacracy. For the co-design of spaces we have a variety of participatory tools adapted to each group of participants. In co-construction we combine training formats with others that are more open and less formal.
DISCOVER // Making visible and recording the resources and needs present in the neighbourhood communities, generating a Resource Bank that serves as a repertoire/directory of knowledge, capacities (talents, skills and passions), connecting people, positive deviants, local citizen groups, entities with local presence, stories or places of interest.
CONNECT // Facilitating moments of meaningful exchange through learning conversations with residents, and the organisation of assemblies at different scales for collective decision-making, co-design and co-management. By relying on internal resources and prioritising from within, the search for external resources is more strategic, conditioning relations with private, social, academic or public entities.
MOBILISE // Planning, organisation and implementation of actions for the community transformation of neighbourhoods through participatory activities and works that have generated spaces for community use and management. Community assets can be also mobilised for the celebration of community events, which serve as festive moments and open doors for the dissemination.
The continuous participation of the communities in all phases generates participatory action-research processes. For socio-spatial explorations we use tools from the sociology of inhabited spaces, such as the sociogram or inhabited mapping. We also use tools from qualitative research such as appreciative enquiry or asset mapping. When it comes to collective decision-making, we use assembly animation tools that are close to holacracy. For the co-design of spaces we have a variety of participatory tools adapted to each group of participants. In co-construction we combine training formats with others that are more open and less formal.
The implementation of the Asertos Programme in the Cemetery District of the city of Alicante has allowed, from 2017 to 2023, to shape a working methodology that is beginning to be replicated in other urban or rural contexts in our province. The most direct replicability that we consider is in the Valencian Region as a whole, which has more than one million people living in these areas (VEUS data, 2020). We have observatories similar to those in this region in our country (Spain) as a whole and in other European countries, such as Denmark, France, Great Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands. These countries also detect Urban Vulnerability as a priority problem and may be interested in our results. In addition, we are committed to the creation of a social housing stock for rent, in the style of Housing Associations, which will follow the methodology of the Asertos programme. This is a multi-purpose cooperative for housing, users and social integration, which we have called Celestina Urbana (Urban Matchmaker), and will allow social investment, both public and private, for the purchase of devalued housing in vulnerable neighbourhoods, and its rehabilitation. In order to disseminate the methodology and share the tools we have developed, the cooperative has the figures of “expectant members” (people who want to seek residential solutions like the ones we defend in their territories) and “professional members” (people who want to orient their workforce to the development of this type of project). In addition, administrations will also be able to be part of the cooperative as “public members”. The massive improvement of housing in these neighbourhoods will be accompanied by social, labour and community support, allowing for an improvement in living conditions, but avoiding phenomena of urban exclusion linked to the improvement of the areas, such as gentrification.
The Valencia Region has gone from having 12.3% of its population living in vulnerable neighbourhoods in 1991 to 43% in 2011, the highest rate in mainland Spain. The regional observatory data shows that in 2020 the most affected province was Alicante, with 26.31% of its population residing in areas of low vulnerability, 33.09% in areas of medium vulnerability and 12.19% in areas of integral vulnerability; in total, almost three quarters of the provincial population. Urban Vulnerability is a Public Health problem encouraged by urban segregation, a process of exclusion that confines populations with disadvantaged situations in specific territories. It is a direct result of the real estate market, in which we find a great disparity in housing prices depending on their location. The ecosystems generated by this concentration of urban problems have a negative impact on the health and well-being of their inhabitants. The social aspects identified as the most important determinants of health are unemployment, educational level and housing. Poor housing is a social determinant of health that is not sufficiently taken into account. The presence of humidity, the lack of resources to maintain an adequate temperature or the lack of natural light increase the risk of respiratory problems, difficulties in falling asleep or the appearance of musculoskeletal disorders. In addition, the residential situation has a direct impact on mental health and conditions the availability of social support networks. In these contexts, it is very difficult to generate social capital, social networks deteriorate and health worsens. For all these reasons, urban vulnerability and the tools to measure and tackle it can represent a great potential for innovation in public health, since they allow the monitoring of several fundamental social determinants of health. This idea is particularly indebted to the report "Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts", edited by Wilkinson and Marmot in 1998.
During the 6 years of work in the Cementery District we have generated a census of 233 people (115 women [W] / 118 male [M]) interested in participating in projects to transform the area, whether motivated by problems in their homes or by the desire to access employment. Training activities have been carried out in which 64 residents have participated (21M/43W). From 2020, the transformation of abandoned plots of land, which served as informal dumping grounds for people from inside and outside the neighbourhood, has given rise to the generation of common spaces with the participation of more than 50 people in participatory works, progressively generating green and leisure areas: Community Garden (400m2), the Cura Gardens (1800m2) and the Sun Parc (500m2). The Resource Bank is nowadays formed by 68 people (37W/31M). In total, the mapping has brought to light 1,640 assets (727M/896W). Men identified 23.5 assets on average, compared to 24.2 identified by women. If we look at the average by asset type, women identify more assets related to skills, home, places and imaginaries, while men identify more assets related to projects and partnerships. Attendance at permanences is an indication of motivation and willingness to change. It is worth noting that young couples with children are the most mobilised segment of the population. In many cases, in addition to being in a situation of need, they are starting a family project and are involved in changing things for the better. To date, the programme has accompanied 25 families in their housing improvement processes. Since 2017, 67 urgent interventions have been carried out to improve safety in homes, and there has been 9 complete renovations thanks to the specific agreement with the Regional Goverment, developed during the years 2022 and 2023. Through social and material changes, the programme reduces the inequalities present in our city and advances in the eradication of poverty.
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