DOCUMENTARY/ MÉXICO / 2022 / 7:41 MIN

DIRECTION: Jose Bermejo Plascencia

Nowadays, cities have been plunged into problems after a chaotic urbanization process where nature has been relegated and sometimes ignored in the name of 'progress'. Producing almost 80% of global emissions, cities become not only the origin but also the first line of defense against the effects of climate change. Thus, spaces of resistance and sustainable development become indispensable. The Agroecological Park of Zapopan (El Paz) is one of many such spaces in the Metropolitan Zone of Guadalajara, being an innovative and resilient proposal that for years has been building a green space in the middle of the city. It develops cultural and social dynamics that impact daily to those who integrate this project and those who visit it. With this in mind, we embark on a journey that follows PAZ on a daily basis, where its members, from the community and ecological culture, carry out sustainable practices that impact the environment. With the support of the collective that integrates it, it intends to generate a safe space where the community can reconnect with nature, to learn and coexist with it through various activities and thus be able to reproduce habits of cultural ecology that can benefit the entire community in different areas of their daily lives. At the same time, these spaces provide opportunities, creating a harmonious relationship with nature, giving the citizen an empathetic and healthy space, a meeting point to share knowledge and not only plant food, but also the idea of caring for the Earth. This space gives us hope within our context that although it does not eradicate climate change, it seeks to counteract it and inspire other people for more sustainable alternatives.

How does the project contribute to more supportive, socially and ecologically just ways of life and economies?

It proposes a multidisciplinary alternative where urban gardens represent a way to harvest your own food, build safe spaces and generate sustainable communities that evolve according to their needs and opportunities to generate systematic alternatives and ways of living that we are already used to.

In addition, it portrays the benefits of urban gardens as agents of change in cities and their possibility to develop social and cultural dynamics that restore human relationships with their environment, generating empathy and inspiration with space, citizens and other forms of life.

The ecological perspective provides a channel of support where empathy and resilience emerge as pillars in the community, both in a consensual manner and in the appropriation of public spaces. In this sense, virtuous cycles are created that change people, places and societies for the benefit of the fight against climate change, impacting socially, culturally, politically and psychologically.