Autonomous Decentralized Government of Loja
The Pitch
Loja wove more than 600 hectares of parks, forests, urban farms and riverbanks into a single connected green network, turning fragmented green spaces into a citywide system that improved climate resilience, public health, mobility and access to nature.
The Problem
Loja’s green areas — including parks, rivers and hillsides — were abundant but fragmented, degraded and disconnected from the city, limiting ecological function as well as people’s mobility and access to public space.
The Process
- Formed the multistakeholder Technical Planning Committee to unify the municipality, technical partners and funding partners around one ecological framework, ending years of fragmented green initiatives
- Published the Plan del Sistema Verde Urbano de Loja (in English, “Loja’s Urban Green System Plan”) in 2020 with a 20-year horizon, using the 3-30-300 rule: three visible trees, 30% canopy cover and 300 meters to access a green space
- Structured the network hierarchically across natural, interface and urban scales
- Defined eight ecological corridors along the Zamora, Malacatos and Jipiro rivers, and more than 20 ravines, turning individual parks into a connected, continuous system
- Restored over 15 kilometers of riverbanks, reforested hillsides and planted street trees
- Integrated 180+ existing green spaces into a connected, citywide system
- Upgraded or created 32 kilometers of walking paths and active mobility corridors
- Made the Green System part of binding municipal instruments, including Loja’s Development and Land Use Plan (PDOT), Urban and Rural Land Use and Management (PUGS) and Green Mobility Plan
- Launched participatory planning mechanisms, formally bringing residents, schools and community groups into co-design and park stewardship
- Integrated the plan into the PDOT and PUGS to pair green investments with inclusive housing policy, addressing the risk that land-value increases generated by the network could displace nearby residents
The Impact
- Pushed Loja's green space per capita to 19.4 square meters per inhabitant, above the World Health Organization minimum — across three district parks, 17 plazas, 87 neighborhood parks and 76 communal green spaces
- Brought 214,000 residents into walkable reach of quality green spaces, with 60.33% of children and older adults now living within 300 meters of at least one green area
- Generated an estimated 300,000 indirect beneficiaries through measurably better air quality, reduced urban heat and restored river ecosystems
- Realigned three major municipal planning instruments — the Green Mobility Plan, PDOT and PUGS — around the Green System, converting a parks initiative into the spatial backbone of the city's land-use and mobility policy
- Attracted external investment — including from the German Society for International Cooperations’ (GIZ's) Climate and Innovation for Resilient Economies and Societies (CIRES) program and Brazil’s Green Mobility and Innovation (MOVER) program
- Activated public spaces economically, with rehabilitated parks now hosting recurring events, including ciclopaseos (in English, “bike rides”), concerts and sports leagues, that generate income for local vendors and businesses
- Became a documented national benchmark, with intermediate cities, including Cuenca, Ambato and Riobamba, studying Loja's participatory, corridor-based model for their own green infrastructure planning
