Territorial & Urban Context



Every project begins with a way of seeing. Before proposing a masterplan, we sought to understand the territorial systems that have shaped Ibagué over time. Situated at the foot of the Central Andes, the city has grown across a vast alluvial fan formed by water descending from the Nevado del Tolima and dispersing through a network of streams before reaching the Magdalena River basin. This hydrological structure has determined the topography, soils and ecological systems of the territory, yet it has rarely guided the way the city has expanded.

The territorial diagnosis revealed a disconnect between urban growth and the landscape that sustains it. Streams have largely been confined to protected setbacks, while roads and development have become the primary organizers of the city. Caminos de Agua begins by recovering this forgotten geography, understanding the watershed not as a constraint but as the foundation for a different model of urban expansion.