TAHUAMPA EDGE(less): The Iquitos Waterfront as a strip and continuity

The conditions in which Amazonian cities, especially Iquitos, come into contact with the natural elements surrounding them are poor and in many cases nonexistent. The "edges", boundaries between two different zones (Lynch, 1960), in these cases are very marked, and usually generate barriers between two sectors of society: one that is articulated to the more urban dynamics, and another, linked more to the temporalities of the rivers, that is, to natural dynamics. In a way, it is possible to argue that an urban element, especially those conceived as public spaces such as the Waterfront, only widens social gaps in a city, even preventing the articulation of the inhabitants with the rivers and other possible ecosystems present in that context. The definition, therefore, of what is now known as Waterfront, is nothing more than a very "western" conception imposed on the territorial characteristics of the Amazon, as it does not consider in its design or extension the complexity of each of the rivers in the region, specifically the variability of the environment due to the annual change in the level of these, that is, the recurrent seasons of low-water and high-water. However, the interest in the research project does not arise solely as the search for a solution at the urban level, but also intends to involve landscape concepts to the complexity of a specific public space design. As mentioned earlier, the problem in the sector is not only the poor articulation between two sectors of society, divided by a Waterfront, but also the poor contact that both sectors maintain with the different possible aquatic ecosystems in the Amazon, many of these lost and nonexistent due to the horizontal expansion of the city. Thus, the project starts from both urban, territorial and natural variables, for the conception of an ideal public space for the Amazon. This is where the concept of "tahuampa" stands out, a natural space defined between the water of the rivers and the canopy of the trees, used as a reference in each sector and space of the project. In this way, the main objective of the research project is to reincorporate the natural dynamics of as many aquatic ecosystems as possible, into the urban dynamics of the city, through the articulation of the Amazonian edges, specifically the Waterfront. In addition, parallel objectives to the main one will be: a) to understand the conception of existing edges in Amazonian cities such as Iquitos, their failures, and their relationship with other urban elements; b) to relocate the existing housing in vulnerable areas into new housing clusters that generate neighborhoods in constant relation with water dynamics and resulting ecosystems, and that allow the necessary permeability that the new Waterfront requires for its proper functioning; and c) to demonstrate that the "tahuampa" is a concept that can provide a local and territorial character to the projective exploration of new public spaces for the Amazon under a landscape and ecosystem reintegrating approach. In this way, it is expected to carry out a project that solves both the articulation and habitability in a public space specific to the Amazon, that presents spaces for concentration of activities, contemplation of ecosystems and urban and territorial connection, as well as demonstrating a paradigm shift in the concept of edge, which becomes understood as a strip and continuity, no longer a line and a limit between two differentiated sectors. The project is designed to be applied in different similar Amazonian contexts, where the urgency of natural spaces is imminent and solutions are sought for their edges.