Observation and imagination enable Ana Vargas to transform informal settlements together with their inhabitants. In this episode, she talks with Catherine De Wolf about her methods and designing together with children to co-create the playgrounds of their dreams using recovered materials.

Ana Vargas is the founder and executive director of Trazando Espacios, a civic association for transforming community spaces in Venezuela. She collaborated with the CEA Lab in Insieme, a project that tracked and traced the histories of reclaimed bricks used for a structure at the 2025 Venice Biennale. The bricks, salvaged from demolition sites, highlighted the potential of creative reuse and participatory co-design. 

Episode credits:

Interview by Catherine De Wolf. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich