Colorful interventions in Port-au-Prince

Three years after the earthquake, Haiti still hosts numerous Habitat interventions.  One of the most recent is coloring the slums up in Petionville.

Taking from favela painting and other initiatives in the world, the Haitian government is looking to rebrand the city and display the same warmth as does the presidency.  It seems obvious that the objectives are:

• Replace the negative reputation of the gray, built mountains full of people with lively paints.
• Generate a sort of city pride.

While it only addresses aesthetics, it is also a step into bringing back the happiness of a once magic town.  It does not solve problems like building resistance, not even aiming to reduce poverty or criminality, but it can complement the many other programs run by government agencies, NGOs and international organizations.  For the authorities it is an easy choice: it is cheap, there is no eviction, and homeowners are involved.

If this is just another visibility investment prior a political election, we don’t know.  There are so many challenges related to urban infrastructure in the whole metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, but one cannot ignore the need to embellish it too.

The sense of surviving is still there, but most citizens –the working class that was vastly affected in 2010– need to see more than just lived ruins, they need to identify their culture when they move around –more than compass music, creole and voodoo.

For the long-term, we hope that, altogether, this can bring cohesion –some sort of a spirit.  This can only improve lives, even if it is petit à petit.

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While doing some research i found this list: 10 Vibrant, Colorful Cities of the World