Catalogo de Investigaciones 2018-2019

CATÁLOGO DE INVESTIGACIONES | AÑO ACADÉMICO 2018-2019 119 Back to the Beach The city of Ponce has historically been the social, cultural, commercial and economic hub for Puerto Rico’s southern region. Its access to thriving waterfront amenities and port infrastructure made it the indisputable Pearl of the South. Through the years, though, maritime transportation and economy withered and the city’s economic and social epicenter moved to its historic urban center inland. In the past three decades, urban sprawl and a growing road and street network has once again facilitated growth outside the urban center. Today, most economic, social, cultural, residential and industrial assets have emerged with no clear planning strategies and no new hierarchical district. In such a non- specific urban weave, and with the realization that all former assets have now diminished impact on the city’s prospective growth, tourism has once again flourished as a possible entity of change and identity, and the city’s waterfront, “La Playa de Ponce”, has once again surfaced as the best bet in capturing and expanding Ponce’s commercial, economic and tourism trade. The La Guancha District presents the ideal conditions for a potentially expansive mixed-use development comprising residential, commercial, industrial, cultural and touristic layers. Its proximity to existing maritime infrastructure, the Port of the America’s, cultural and gastronomic nodes, marinas, land transportation thoroughfares, and a myriad of other amenities provide the city’s greatest potential of development and the possibility of a new epicenter of growth for the city. gabriel santiago tomei bachillerato en arquitectura mentor: arq. luis v. badillo y arq. jesús o. garcía ponce la guancha district urban sprawl epicenter mixed-use