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Cauchitos: Public Space 
and Landscape ManualUrban and Landscape design




2023 - 
Location: Ibagué, ColombiaTeam Master Plan:Design: Luisa Brando Estudio + Octava Urbana (Andrés Pacheco, Juanita Escobar Rossi)
Urban Drafting: Julián Quiroz

Consultants:
Mobility -  Fabián Tafur
Urban Design - Rafael Obregón
Environmental -  Yamie Lastra
Legal -  Juan Carlos Conde
Strategy - Francisco  and Juan Camilo González

Urban Design (2020 version): Contexto Urbano + Civilteknia (Paula Gómez)
Team Public Space & Landscape Manual:
Luisa Brando Estudio 
Andrés Hernandez (2Latitudes)
Paula Restrepo (Civilteknia)
Jean Paul Bernier






State:
Client:
 Urbinco





The 160ha Master Plan in Ibagué faces many design challenges due to its size and the time it will take for it to get built. Multiple developers are currently working on different areas of the Master Plan, and there is a risk of falling into the already known language of urban and architecture design, and losing sight of an opportunity of creating a strong and larger piece for the city of Ibague. In order to strengthen the identity of Cauchitos and not fall into the common way of building with the developers' terms  
we decided to create a Manual or Guidelines of the Master Plan based on Public Space and Landscape Design. Cauchitos understood the opportunity to differentiate the site with a holistic view of the plan based on pedestrian circuits and multiple use systems along the public realm. These guidelines of public space, mobility and landscape design provide the ground in which each developer adheres their own design to. 





The Cauchitos Project responds to a pressing urban challenge in Ibagué, Colombia: despite its rich cultural and natural heritage, the city has some of the lowest levels of quality public space and urban green area in the region. While the World Health Organization recommends around 15 m² of green space per person for healthy cities, Ibagué currently averages roughly 2m² per inhabitant, placing it well below global benchmarks and highlighting a deficit of accessible, high-quality public space for residents.Our aim with Cauchitos is to change this by strengthening public life, environmental identity, and community well-being through a new model of public space, landscape design, and pedestrian connectivity. Rather than allowing fragmented development and car-oriented growth to define the future of the city, the project proposes holistic design principles that prioritize people, nature, and interconnected public realms, creating a more vibrant, healthy, and equitable urban core for Ibagué’s inhabitants.










The public space strategy for Cauchitos is structured around three interconnected systems.

First, the project is organized by two continuous circular rings of major parks and large public spaces, which surround the site and form walkable loops that structure movement, and public life.
Second, along the outer ring, public facilities and equipamientosare strategically located to ensure direct access to green public space, creating a mutually beneficial relationship between civic programs and the landscape. 
Finally, four natural water bodies cross the site and are preserved as green corridors, with public space designed around them to strengthen ecological continuity and pedestrian experience.






The public space system follows an XL–L–M–S hierarchy, allowing the project to operate across multiple urban scales. 


At the metropolitan level, the proposal includes one extra-large park with an approximate 700-meter radius of influence, serving a broader urban area.
At the neighborhood scale, seven large parks are distributed across the site, each serving an estimated three-block radius. 
Medium-scale public spaces are located at key intersections and are designed in paired configurations, creating connected nodes with a radius of influence of approximately one block.
Finally, small-scale interventions occur along streets and mobility corridors, ensuring continuity, safety, and active public space at the pedestrian level.





As part of the project, we produced a Public Space and Landscape Design Manual that establishes a common framework for the development of Cauchitos. The manual outlines design criteria for vegetation, public-space typologies, street sections, materials, and pedestrian systems, ensuring that environmental performance, social life, and spatial continuity are prioritized over fragmented, developer-driven solutions.


  
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