Impulso Urbano

About

Impulso Urbano is a not-for profit organization that partners with families and communities to improve their housing and community conditions through self-help practices and voluntary work. The program is coordinated thought the Department of Architecture within the School of Architecture, Art and Design at Tecnologico de Monterrey and works collaboratively with family and community members, students and faculty to design-build housing and community projects. Impulso Urbano is a platform to explore alternative ways to use and re-use resources in our search for a better built environment in which trash becomes treasure for most projects.

Beneficiaries are selected based on five criteria including demonstrated need, legal status of land, desire to chance their condition, willingness to work with others and level of organization.  Once selected, the beneficiaries become partners in the planning, design, construction, maintenance and communication of the project. Volunteers, on the other hand, are selected base on the desire to learn-to-change, willingness to collaborate and vocation for community work.

In Impulso Urbano we are interested in establishing appropriate atmospheres for learning-teaching, for co-creation and for empowering members to see beyond the materiality of projects. We believe that architecture should be seen as medium to achieve greater things as individuals and communities rather than as end in itself. Because of that, we concentrate on the learning experience of people while developing dignify spaces for living, working, recreation or educational activities. We also believe that consciousness, education, training and action are crucial steps in the transformation of our personal, community and global challenges.

Once the projects are completed, Impulso Urbano members become ambassadors of the program to disseminate information, recruit more volunteers or engage in fundraising.