APPLYING AN ad hoc PARTICIPATIVE METHODOLOGY TO DETECT NEEDS IN THE LANDSCAPE DESIGN PROCESS OF A BOTANICAL GARDEN IN MICHOACÁN, MEXICO

Abstract

In order to be successful in a landscape design project, it is required to know the site, and the users that are supposed to use it. Exercises requiring multi-user designs need strategies to allow the designer, to know in a better way, the needs the group. When there is a design that just considers the criteria of the designer, and no one else, the risk for the designed landscape of not being empowered and not appropriated by the social group to which that project is oriented, can be very high. Different authors have proposed the use of workshops and participatory processes to allow participants to manifest their desires and needs, and so, be an invaluable source of information for the landscape designer. This paper presents an ad hoc methodology, which was, as a source of information for the design of a botanical garden in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico. Here we present the fundamentals, applications and results of this exercise.