San Francisco Park & Main Puerto Ayora Dock Redesigned

I am studying a course called “Urban Planning”, and this is my third and last Action Project. In this unit I studied about cities as a whole, and about the different qualities that make a city great. I began with studying about why cities were built in the first place, and about how they progressed and grew into what they are now. I interviewed Mrs. Ivonne Torres, the director of Sustainable Development of the Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. She told me all about how the town I live in (Puerto Ayora, Galapagos) grew into what it is today, as well as the different difficulties it went through in the process.

For this Action Project I had to choose a specific urban area and take everything I’ve learned about cities to improve its planning.I am most proud of the fact that this course gave me the opportunity of learning a lot about the town of Puerto Ayora, given that I have only lived here for the last 4 months ago and I barely knew anything about its organization and history.



I will redesign the main Park and Dock of the town. The park’s name is San Francisco, and it is situated at the end of Baltra St., in the furthest point South of Town. The dock is situated in the Southern end of the park, which is limited by the sea.

The park is shaped as a rectangle, with its longer sides curved southward.  The main dock is also shaped as a rectangle, a much thinner one, with four small docks shaped as rectangles as well that branch out from the dock (two on each side).The dock also divides into two rectangles at the very end. The total area is 3840 square meters.

There are several purposes for this area. All of the boats coming from the different islands across the archipelago arrive at the main dock, and all of the boats that leave from this island to others also leave from the dock, as well as boats that leave for scuba-diving, snorkeling and surfing trips or to other parts of the island for other purposes in general. In order to get to the dock you must cross the park, and therefore the park is usually full of tourists and residents going or coming from the dock throughout the day, carrying their luggage. San Francisco Park and the main dock are both situated in the “busiest” part of town (relatively; Puerto Ayora is a pretty small town and rather unbusy). Usually in the evening the men of the town meet to play a sport called “Ecua-volley”, an Ecuadorian variable of the Volleyball sport, along with their families who come to watch them play. Youth begin arriving mostly at night when the men have stopped playing Ecua-volley and they have enough space to skateboard and hang around. Rails and ramps are stored when men play Ecua-volley and are taken out by the youth at night, and stored back when they are done skateboarding. The park also counts with a 20 m. long stage in the East end of the park, where most of the social events in town occur, such as concerts, festivals, contests, etc., as well as a small section full of games such as swings and slides for kids. 

One of the main strengths of this area is the fact that it is always full of people, and that it is a place of great economic flow to the town. Sailors and their crews make their money taking passengers such as tourists and businessmen to other islands in the main dock, as well as making small trips to other parts of the island. Small businesses are scattered around the park as well, mostly providing tour guides and food. The street parallel to the park is also full of restaurants, tour guides, the biggest supermarket in town, and one of the main churches. Merchants also appear in the evening, selling food and drinks to tired Ecua-volley players and their families, as well as anyone else walking through the park. The park is also a very safe place, where kids come from their homes without their parents to meet with other friends to play in the evening. Very rarely is something stolen and if you leave something forgotten you have a good chance of finding it exactly where you left it or picked by someone for protection. It is also a very clean park and  counts with some small neat green spaces, as well as with an artistic statue of a Galapagos seagull with a message from the artist and a patriotic altar with the flags of the country, province, and town. The park also faces the sea along all of its Southern border, and it is a beautiful place to sit and watch the colors of the sea as well as the sunrise. Finally, the dock (even though it is not meant for this purpose) is just about the best place in town to go sightseeing for sea lions, smalls rays and baby sharks. At night, the lights of the dock inside the water are turned on which permit you to see all of the sea nightlife, which is simply stunning.

This area, however, also has several weaknesses. First of all, the men that play Ecua-volley enjoy betting and drinking, and therefore it is common to hear shouts and insults during their time playing, as well as fights. This also doesn’t permit other people who are not willing to bet to play (there is only two courts, and usually both are being used). Youth skateboarders at night also often drink, smoke, and use illegal drugs.

 Besides, the Eastern part of the park is the one that is mostly used, but the whole western side of the park is almost always empty, even though it has a lot of nice footpaths and seats. I believe that one of the main reasons why most of this side of the park is usually not used is because it is not lighted well enough at night. It also appears to be that its current design doesn’t seem so amusing for residents and tourists. 

Also, there are some bicycle parking racks throughout the park, but there is two problems with these parking racks: First, they are designed poorly; the space between them is too close and they also are too high and damage your bike. Secondly, there is too few; you always see bikes being parked against lamp posts and trees because there is no more space in the bike racks. 

There is also no sign that shows the name of the park (San Francisco).

Something that would make this area better is drinking and fighting restrictions. Guards could be posted along the park (even if it's only in the evening and night while men are playing Ecua-volley and youngsters skateboard, given that the park is very safe for the most part) that could help control fights and shouts from the men that play Ecua-volley, for the purpose of there being a better ambience in the park.

 Another important matter that I have had in mind ever since I began living here is that Galapagos has a simply astounding flora and fauna that only exists here, and there is so many information that most tourists and residents don’t know of. Taking in account the truth that this area is one of the most visited on a daily basis by both of these groups, I believe this area could be even better if it would take advantage of all of its footpaths to place signs full of information about the flora and fauna found in the park, which (even though it may seem as a very small percentage) is a lot of information. The park counts with many native (and only native) trees, as well as a grand variety of birds and other animals that live both in these trees and in the mangrove that grows in the shores of the ocean in the southern edge of the park. The main dock could include a path meant for users that would like to enjoy the view of the ocean and animal sightseeing only, and the dock itself could include signs full of information about the fauna found right beneath it, in the ocean. These signs could be written in Spanish, and include English translations. The western side of the park could also include more seats that could be placed along the footpaths, and these seats could have this type of design (image below), which is seen in other places around town and I believe work well for both lighting, shading and beauty purposes. 

Concerning the bicycle parking rack problems,  this design (image below) could be applied instead of the current one, and it could also be placed in other strategic places across the park for there to be more parking space.

The food & art fairs that take place in the park are also quite irregular. It would be good for these fairs to happen every Friday evening and night, every 15 days.

There is also a lot of very talented local artists who work with recycled materials. They could be employed to design and make the park’s sign with its official name: Parque San Francisco. The sign could also include a translation of the work “parque” for the English word “park”.

In summary, these are  7 alterations that I believe could help improve this area:

• Drinking, drug consumption, noise, and fighting regulations could be set, and post guards in the evening and night for the purpose of enforcing the law during Ecua-volley matches and skateboarding sessions.
• Signs full of information about the flora and fauna found in the park along the mostly unused footpaths in the western side of the park could be placed to encourage visitors to walk through them and learn. The signs could be in Spanish, along with English translations. 
• The main dock could be divided into 3 passageways: One for passengers leaving, another one for passengers arriving, and a final one for users who simply want to walk along the dock and enjoy the scenery. This third passageway could be full of signs placed along the way full of information about the fauna visible underneath the dock, in the ocean.
• More seats along the mostly unused footpaths could be placed, with a special design that works well for lighting. These seats could be placed strategically along the park's border to the sea, to offer users a relaxed view to the ocean, the mangrove, and the sunrise.
• Food & Art fairs could take place on Fridays (when most people go to the park) every 15 days instead of irregular dates.
• Local artists could be employed who work with recycled materials to design and create the park’s official sign, which would read its official name: Parque San Francisco. The sign could also include a translation of the word “parque” for the English word “park”.
• Current bicycle parking racks could be replaced for another more convenient and less damaging design, as more bicycle parking racks in convenient places along the park.

This is a drawing of what the area re-designed would look like:

Scale: 1cm:15m

This is a digital design of the redesigned area:

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/fRFrwhGTk2j-magnificent-esboo-uusam/editv2

A small problem I encountered along the process of making this AP was learning how to use Tinkercad to digitally recreate the area I redesigned. I had some trouble figuring out at first, bu slowly started getting the catch of it. I finished my digital design, and on the next day when I go back online I realized that it had never saved! It all got lost. I had to repeat it, but I did it much better the second time (and I made sure to save it and take a screenshot!).