La Ciudad que Resiste
PROJECT VEREDAS
Members: Luciana Lima, Irene Bilmes, Elisa Deschamps, Constanza Eliggi, Silvia Portiansky, Leticia Busetto, Anabella Lorenzi, Eva Ignomirielo
Year of creation: 2018 – present
Location: La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Contact: [email protected]
Website: https://laciudadqueresiste.ar/wp/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/laciudadqueresiste

Description, Concept, Objectives
La Ciudad Que Resiste (The City That Resists) is a cooperative of interdisciplinary architects, artists, teachers, researchers, postgraduates, mothers, students, feminists, singers, performers, and LGTTBIQNB+ activists based in the city of La Plata.
Since 2018, we have woven together projects and experiences to propel a feminist urbanism.
We organize collective mapping workshops, urban walks, and artistic and performative interventions. We are part of the outreach program Art, Gender and Public Space (FAU.UNLP). Currently, through Project Veredas, we collaborate with five neighborhoods in the city.




Activities
-Project Veredas (ongoing):
We explore proximity and community connection through urban walks and collective mappings in five neighborhoods of La Plata: Tolosa, City Center, Mondongo, Meridiano V, and Hipódromo.
-Activating “La Placita de lxs Pibxs” – HIPÓDROMO neighborhood (2024):
A community revitalization day under the Extension Program Art, Gender and Public Space / Project Veredas, aiming to highlight and reimagine a local square with students and faculty from Architecture, Arts, and Sociology at UNLP, neighborhood cultural centers, and local residents. The event included artistic interventions, discussions, a pop-up library, and participatory design workshops.
-FEMITECA Action (2024):
Part of the project Collectively Creating the Gender Collection of the FAU Library, developed by La Ciudad Que Resiste in collaboration with the Combined Arts Workshop (FDA UNLP) and the FAU Library. Featured a performative exhibition and feminist readings.
-GADU Congress – Gender.Architecture.Design.Urbanism. Tucumán 2024:
Presentations and exhibitions:
-Critical reflections on the contemporary city and perspectives for a feminist urbanism
-Notes for gender- and diversity-sensitive design
-Project Veredas: A feminist city from the neighborhoods
-FEMITECA Action: Creating the Gender Collection at FAU Library
-The first public school from a gender and environmental sustainability perspective – LA MATANZA EES No. 85
-State and gender perspective – “Barrio para Ellas Hacen” (La Plata)
-Exhibition: The Feminist Urbanism Wave at the 1st and 2nd GADU Congress
-Feminist Design Practices Workshop for architecture students, with support from Zaida Muxí.
-Insurgencias Festival – International Urban Interventions & Public Space Experiences (2023, Brazil):
Invited to speak and exhibit Project Veredas at the 8th International Urban Intervention Festival and the 5th Latin American Placemaking Gathering. Participated in the “Care and Early Childhood” roundtable.
-Publication:
La Ciudad Que Resiste: Towards a Feminist Urbanism, published by EDULP and written by over 30 women and dissidents, with a foreword by Inés Moisset. Printed at a cooperative press. Download here.
-Feminist Cities Workshop at the 34th National Women’s and Dissidents Meeting (La Plata, 2019).
-(re!)Parar: A series of performative talks to rethink the city.
-First Collective and Performative Exhibition (2019):
Held at the Malvinas Cultural Center, included performances, walks, concerts, screenings, talks, and assemblies throughout a month.
-Jane’s Walks (2019–2020):
Co-organized with the Urbanismo Vivo collective.
-MARQ – Museum of Architecture:
Participated in ArqFest 2019 and 8M events in 2020.
-Collective Mapping Workshops:
Held at ELAC, ECART, Nosotras Movemos el Mundo (8M), and the Provincial Historical Archive, among others.
-Talks and Conferences:
Presented locally and internationally, including the Kirchner Cultural Center, GADU Congress, Cuidados Congress (Madrid), LINA platform, and various national and private universities (e.g., Arquisur 2021).
-Publications in podcasts, magazines, and books such as Un Día Una Arquitecta and Ciudad de Iguales. We write manifestos and organize public collective readings.
-Academic Work:
We teach in the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU) in courses on architecture, communication, history, theory, and installations.
-Public Infrastructure:
We work on school infrastructure projects and recently piloted a gender perspective evaluation in schools with Col·lectiu Punt 6.
-Advisory and Training Work:
For the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity (nation and province) and the Ministry of Housing of Buenos Aires Province.
-Community Radio & Podcast:
Hosted a feminist urbanism column on “Una amiga imaginaria” (Radio Futura) and are developing our own podcast.
-Invited by TransLAB URB (Brazil):
Participated in a discussion on Gender and Diversity in Urbanism in Porto Alegre, with various feminist collectives.
-Tecnópolis Workshop (8M):
As part of Nosotras Movemos el Mundo, organized by the national Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity.


Difficulties
The main challenge lies in sustaining, over so many years, a self-managed and activist project that requires the coordinated efforts of at least eight people. We carry out this work without pay, in addition to our paid jobs, which leads to exhaustion and a form of self-exploitation.


Future Challenges
One of our current focuses is Project Veredas, developed within the Extension Program of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of La Plata (FAU.UNLP), which we have coordinated since 2020.
We work in five neighborhoods through urban walks, collective mappings, and participatory design processes, in collaboration with cultural centers, neighborhood clubs, community libraries, and local radio stations, alongside students, neighbors, and artists.
Neighborhoods involved: Tolosa, Malvinas (City Center), Mondongo, Meridiano V, Hipódromo
Our current work centers on the Hipódromo neighborhood, where we are revitalizing a reclaimed plaza known as “La Placita de lxs Pibxs.”
We collaborate with:
-The Combined Arts Department (Faculty of Arts, UNLP)
-A Sociology Department team
-Centro Cultural Favero
-La Bicicletería
-The Ateneo Popular Library
-Radio Estación Sur
-Local artists such as feminist ceramicists and Femigrabadoras (feminist printmakers)
Our next step is to design and carry out the participatory and community-led transformation of this plaza in Hipódromo.
