Cayala, the controversial “utopian city” that has become a favorite destination for the rich in Guatemala

Ciudad Cayala is a Urbanization of 21 ha Launched in 2011. It is a private residential project that is accessible to anyone who wants to visit open areas and parks.

Isabel was born in Ecuador but has lived in the United States for many years in Washington DC. She knows Guatemala City well, having lived there while her husband served as Ecuador’s ambassador to the Central American country.

He has been looking to buy a house in Kayala for a month so that he can alternate his holidays between his two adopted countries. And to be close to his son, one of them 2,000 residents in this exclusive and controversial residential area.

“At first I was afraid to sit outside when I was in Kayala, but I realized it’s a safe place, everything is nearby, people are very careful,” he says as he gently moves his left hand. He carries an emerald ring.

Over the years, Kayala City has been the target of criticism from those who believe it is nothing more than that A model of extreme inequality in GuatemalaAccording to World Bank data, 55% of the population lives below the poverty line and 71% work in the informal sector.

“It’s a place that doesn’t represent the majority of the population, but only 5% of it,” Elena Ruiz Pejarano, director of Guatemala’s Children’s Rights Observatory, tells BBC Mundo.

“In this country, most housing projects respond to the needs of a few, not the needs of the majority,” says Ruiz Bejarano.

Kayala means “heaven” in Quiche, one of the Mayan languages..

In 1913, the Leal family, one of the country’s most powerful and wealthy – owners of large estates and important private companies – acquired the land.

Construction took nearly a century to begin.

In 2003, two architects from Estudio Urbano, Pedro Pablo Godoy and María Sánchez, presented a small project to investors. “Planned City” All of which are within a 10 minute walk.

The work which started in 2010, is going on in phases and is currently under construction Five private neighborhoods.

What makes this place special is that it has Areas open to the public, Visitors can browse without needing to register or show permits, making it a major attraction for visitors to the area and tourists from abroad.

For the project director, this decision is a “Courage”.

“Private security firms referred us We will build a wall and a gate. But we don’t do that,” Pedro Pablo Godoy tells BBC Mundo.

Visitors walk daily through this neighborhood, which has dozens of shops, private clinics, restaurants and a church. too America decided to establish its embassy in Kayala.

“What we were looking for was to create community. For that, the human scale is an important factor in architecture. We wanted everything to be within a ten-minute walk,” says Godoi.

Marvi, a woman who lives in Santa Amelia minutes from Kayala, says the area has become the center of the capital’s east. “The residents of Zone 16 solve everything here,” she says, waiting for her husband to finish shopping.

However, for Ruiz Bejarano, these types of programs are only accessible to a few They do not represent a meeting point Among people from different socioeconomic realities, but vice versa.

“If there is no social coexistence with those who are different from me, there is no way to break down those social barriers,” says Guatemala’s director of Children’s Rights Watch.

And finally, The Entry into Kayala depends on private management of the neighborhood.

Last October, a group of masked demonstrators demanding the recognition of Bernardo Arevalo’s victory in the presidential election were stopped by armed guards, who prevented them from entering the venue.

“Existence [de seguridad privada] Responding for the sole purpose of preventing disruptions and damage to private property,” Kayala management said in a statement.

For critics, the settlement does nothing but highlight the social inequalities that exist in Guatemala.

“This is a space that seeks to provide protection and guarantees of rights to the marginalized sections of society. Kayala has come to make visible the inequality between the haves and have-nots,” says Ruiz Bejarano.

Others consider Ciudad de Cayalá “White Elephant”It has little to do with Guatemala.

“It’s a city that’s not realistic in terms of costs in Guatemala. The maintenance costs are very high, like the cost of electricity. It’s a White elephants are difficult to care for“, architect Carlos Mendizábal from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala tells BBC Mundo.

Kayala means A A project born out of New Urbanism, A The architectural trend emerged in the early 1980s The ancient cities of the past are the best examples for the present.

It seeks to create spaces where light-colored buildings are no more than five stories high and streets are wide and sunny, with an irregular layout, visual edges and randomness.

For some it is a novelty. For others, it’s a place that doesn’t reflect its Guatemalan architectural roots.

“Guatemala has pre-Hispanic, colonial, modernist architecture, but Not architecture reflected in Kayala” says Mendizabel.

The Kayala Master Plan was responsible for Luxembourg City planning Leon GrierOne of the best examples of neo-urbanism internationally is the designer of Poundbury in England, an experimental city commissioned by King Charles III.

More than a decade after its inauguration, The Constructions are expanding on virgin lands Looking for new owners.

But now one of the basic tenets of the scheme, which limits the height of buildings that grow towards the sky, is being abandoned.

Godoy confirms that the next phases, which include the construction of three new neighborhoods, will include buildings that exceed the initial plan’s five floors, but clarifies that They are located at “strategic points”.

This has created tension among architects, especially with Grier, who pressed on. City grew “unsustainable”.

“I believe that building skyscrapers is an immoral act,” said the architect, who idealized the pre-modern European city.

The challenge of maintaining the human scale that is the essence of the project, while at the same time expanding the offering to make the real estate business more profitable, has put its architects in an awkward position.

“This new phase pushes the limits of the original plan. But the principles of the new urbanism remain the same,” says Godoi.

The project was designed with a clear urban philosophy and also from a conservation perspective.

In a country with one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America, Presented as Kayala A “protected zone”.

The neighborhood is controlled Strict monitoring system This, at first glance, is incomprehensible. But as one spends more hours in the place, one begins to discover the threads that hold it together.

Dozens of security guards do their job, cameras on every corner and bars separating public spaces from residential areas.

“These types of constructions, which are a kind of closed colonies, do nothing but encourage people who don’t want to leave the place,” questions Ruiz Pejarano.

The truth is that in Guatemala, there is not only a rich resort for private security. You can see it in many neighborhoods Men in civilian clothes with long weapons Protects even the simplest businesses.

“All historic centers in Latin America are dangerous in some areas, and Cayala is no exception. It’s also an area that suffers from insecurity,” says Mendizabel.

When Leon Grier was accused of designing a “Ghetto for the Rich”, He defends himself that the proposal to open private spaces to the public is quite the opposite, an attempt to create connections between different social strata.

“It’s a private investment looking for a high-end customer, but anyone can enter. I especially urged the promoters that the neighborhood must open its doors to everyone, otherwise the community will explode,” Cryer told Extension magazine.

Godoi responded to the criticism by saying that this urbanization model could be designed for low-income areas.

“It’s not the intended model of the elite. This is a model that can be replicated in all forms of life. It’s a model for any social class because we all have the same needs,” he says.

In a society where, according to Oxfam data, the richest 1% have the same income as half the population, Kayala’s presence can be read as a symptom rather than the source of the problem.

“Different people have different GuatemalasGlenda, a Guatemalan publicist, says that Kayala is as authentic as the historic center of Guatemala City.

A few kilometers away on Paseo de la Sexta, the capital’s bustling pedestrian street, Cayala is quiet.

Two different realities, they co-exist in the same place and rarely touch each other.