Citizenship and environmental sustainability in the city: the Angachilla wetland recovery and local organization in Villa Claro de Luna, Valdivia, Chile

Abstract

Angachilla wetland recovery made by Villa Claro de Luna neighborhood association, in Valdivia, is an exercise that contributes to link environmental concerns with an exercise of citizen participation and local sovereignty. Through their organization, the community attains, on the one hand, environmental protection for a site that otherwise would remain as a wasteland; and, on the other, increases its participation in the urban processes of a midsize city. Since the rediscovery of the relation with nature, the repertoire of meanings and the elaboration of a new different kind of territory appreciation have grown, providing basis for the expansion of everyday life dynamics into a natural scenery, while allowing nature to become part of the city.

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