Sustainable Practices as Generators of Identity

Rama IV is a community which has more than fifty years of history. After decades of fights against
eviction, they finally became a formal part of the city, fourteen years ago. They are the first
community which implemented the Land Sharing project, as a result, they passed from being an
informal isolated settlement to be a formal high rise building.
Living in high rise buildings is a common tendency in the growing of the cities, a tendency that
permits people to share a dense and heterogeneous space, in areas which (in their majority) have
problems of traffic, noise, pollution, lack of green areas, etc. Dwellers have to deal with this variety
of conditions, which determine their quality of life, in terms of social and personal relationships, and
also their connection with the build and natural environment.
The aim of this project is to provide a strong identity of the Rama IV community in terms of its
relation with the city, highlighting its presence as an example of development and sustainability
through participatory process. Furthermore, to reinforce the relationship between the building
dwellers and the place, thus generating identity, ownership and commitment with the community
and their natural environment. A variety of interventions at different scales, will empower
integration of the different groups of the community, thus potentiate their capabilities and skills. A
process of change that could be replicate not only in other land sharing projects, but also, in any
area where communities are (or will be) the main factor of change.