Phase Two: Rachel's Summary

The visit to Lota, made us fully understand the natural beauty and potential that this town has to becoming a prosperous place. While we noticed many positive aspects, that pictures and research could have never fully explained, we also noticed many elements of Lota that must be improved if they wish to full recover from both their mine closing, and the recent earthquake.

While in Lota, I was placed on team economy. Team economy was to look for possible new economic activity for the town. We were specifically asked to focus on Lota’s potential for tourism. Three main areas were identified: the mine, the market, and the fisheries.

The market was of great interest to me. The people of the market were extremely warm and welcoming. They wanted more then anything to genuinely help us as much as they could, in finding the information that we were seeking. After extensive documentation, and interviews we arrived at the conclusion that the infrastructure of the market did not match the spirit of the people within the market. This is where my design opportunity lay. The goal of my design is to give a higher quality of life for those working, and shopping within the market.

Currently the market streets are lined with piles of trash. This trash is not only unhealthy, and encourages the spread of illnesses on the market, but it is a big deterrent for tourists to come to the market. The trash is both unsightly and extremely smelly. At the moment the waste is left on the streets until a worker with a wheel-barrow comes to collect it where it eventually ends up in a dump.

I believe that composting is a realistic long-term goal that would solve many of Lota’s market problems. Composting is a sustainable practice than can create new jobs, and effectively turn the waste in to a new product the market could sell, instead of remaining a burden.

My three concepts are designed with the long-term goal of composting in mind. It is also designed with the short-term goal of hiding the waste’s and unsightliness and smell from the consumers in the market area. The first concept is a bin that the vendors can directly place their waste in to, and remain until the waste collectors, collect the waste. The second concept is designed to replace the piles of waste in the streets. It is friendly enough for tourists to use, and functional and large enough for the vendors to use. The third concept also replaces the large piles left in the streets. It is an onsite worm composter. This eliminates the need for transportation, and implements the idea of composting right away.