“Los Jardines del Valle: Complejo de Paradigmas”.

Abstract

Up to late XIXth century, Caracas confined its development to the foundation grid, almost exclusively with large attached houses and central patio. This grid breaks up toward 1896 with “El Paraiso”, private urban development to the south that propitiates the dettached houses with gardens. Later, in XXth century, this expansion is directed to the notheast, to the foot of the mountain “El Ávila”, with new developments of dettached houses named quintas. Meantime, from 1928, the venezuelan government implemented programs of labourers housing, promoting traditional models inside the central district. However, the low cost development “Los Jardines del Valle” to the south, near the colonial town “El Valle”, promoted small plots, without giving up the kidness of landscaped neighborhood at northeast, becoming this way an exceptional development for the time. Except for som remarkable developments around 1940, it was in 1960 when was made one of the most important processes in urban renewal programs in Venezuela and may be in Latin America. Large expropiations were implementd and also new high rise housing developments, influenced by the modern movement, were implanted at the new urban planned axis “El Valle”, including renewal actions on the old “Los Jardines”. Meantime, poor shanty towns grew in the city and “Los Jardines” were affected too. “Los Jardines” represents this way a diverse urban paradigms laboratory. Wich are the results and perspectives of this historical process and the people view of that? This is the research that we propose to explore.