[originally posted to archinect.com]
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
The oldest european colonial city in the western hemisphere, Santo Domingo is now the largest city in the carribean. Under the rule of the dictator/washington stoog Trujillo, the population of SD was rather modest for most of the 20th C. Over the last 20 or so years, the population has exploded. Needless to say, there has been little planning or expansion of infrastructure to accomodate the new residents. The political situation got even more complex by the division of the city into 5 new administative districts.
On the banks of the Ozama River where the land is officially deliniated as an ecological reserve, the largest cluster of barrios and slums has emerged. The following images were taken during a boat excursion up the Ozama in January 2006 as part of our studio site visit.
river bank improvement:
Santo Domingo 2004
more images on archinect…
