Southern Concepción || Santa Clara Mitigation Park in Talcahuano will close its design phase at the end of the year

The creation of a mitigation park in the Santa Clara sector of Talcahuano has been a commitment that municipal administrations have carried over since the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, a tragedy that left 10 people dead in the area.

This year the initiative was relaunched: in January the municipality signed a collaboration agreement with the Cosmos Foundation to develop the design stage, an entity that has had a presence in the region since 2022 based on a pilot project of the Rocuant Andalién wetlands system.
Thus, in August and October, in conjunction with said organization, two participatory workshops have been carried out with the community, which continues to highlight the protection that this territory must have in the face of new emergencies, but which has also emphasized the protection of the ecosystem and the generation of sports and recreational spaces.
It is estimated that the final proposal will be delivered to the municipality by the end of the year to define the source of financing and – in the most optimistic scenario – to begin works in 2027. The total area to be intervened corresponds to 88,792 square meters.

Retrial

The director of the Municipal Planning Secretariat (Secplan) of Talcahuano, Héctor Silva, explained that the objective is ‘to finish the year with a refined proposal from the foundation, which will have some initial estimates of amounts, and that is the one we would have to take to make the complete formulation of the project, see which fund to apply to, we hope that all that will happen next year to ideally think about some type of construction towards the year 2027’.
In her projection, the official clarified that the model must be financially sustainable over time. “We are not limiting ourselves to a single source of funding; there is always the possibility of regional government funding, but there is also the issue of maintenance, because we are talking about several hectares. We do not rule out the possibility of private sector participation,” she stated.

Regarding this, Felipe Correa, project director of the Cosmos Foundation, explained that ‘the commitment we are working on in the region is to advance a technical design of architecture and specialties that can generate a portfolio to apply for funding for this project. We support the municipalities in the search for resources for its execution, and once that stage is over, we are committed to leaving a management model for the administration of these territories once they are built.’

Requirements

“Several important things emerged from the community meetings held in late August and October. The first is the strong connection the communities have with the concept of Santa Clara Park in the face of future natural impacts and its relationship with the Rocuant wetland. Part of the community also requested a memorial space to remember the victims of the tsunami, and this design does take that into account,” the project director noted.

Beyond this mitigating function, the aim is to revitalize the ecological value of the area -restoring the space to accommodate migratory and endemic birds-, along with its cultural and productive identity.

‘There are organizations like Requiem, which is made up of young people from the community, and they’ve proposed an amphitheater-type space where they can carry out their activities. And everything related to the most productive area, the fishing cove, how that can give an identity to the heritage of Talcahuano, which has deep roots in the fishing industry, and enhance the cove with other uses such as gardens, craft fairs, and viewpoints to contemplate the wetlands,’ Correa described.

The municipal director of Secplan, meanwhile, also pointed to security as one of the key components of the project. “This goes hand in hand with several other elements; this land has generated a lot of incivility, it lends itself to crime, illegal dumping, because it’s vacant. We believe it’s one of the areas to improve along the waterfront, which Talcahuano has been gradually recovering in recent years,” he emphasized.

The municipality has asked the foundation to consider creating sports facilities, such as multi-purpose courts, ‘which are things that people have always hoped would be there, and which were also in the original proposal,’ he mentioned.

Prior to the delivery of the final proposal, a third workshop is expected to take place, this time at the Santa Clara neighborhood headquarters – the first two sessions were held at the Sports Palace – ‘taking the project to the field and having a work day that is as open and engaging as possible, in order to finish receiving all the observations’, said the project director of the Cosmos Foundation, adding that the session should take place at the end of November or the beginning of December.