Among the people goes a lucky woman. She shares the luck of living in a World Cultural Heritage city: Camagüey, the place of her old affections and the project of the new ones.

She is an urban planner. Marisabel Torrens Amador is a specialist of the Master Plan of the Office of the Historian of Camagüey city. “I am very pleased with my work because it is aimed at exalting the values ​​of the city. I am a woman who has been very lucky as a professional; I belong to a very special group with a high commitment and sense of belonging to the city.

“Life has given me excellent learning opportunities and I enjoy every task that comes my way. I put all my efforts so that future architects see in urban planning an exciting possibility of creation”, she affirms from her experience in teaching.

But in the act of educating the example also goes as a practice. Marisabel can teach from the passion of her words and actions that are reflected in a better city to live in.

“The urban planners who work in the conservation of heritage do it really with a lot of love, dedication and high professionalism to achieve not only that Camagüey be an attractive and recognized city in the world.

“Being recognized as a World Heritage Site makes any city in the world visible and positions itself, but this is a condition that can also be lost if there is no proper management of the city’s development. This declaration, therefore, requires not only the will power of governments and institutions -which is fundamental-, but also that of its citizens to maintain a condition that is undoubtedly a challenge”, explains the architect.

Urban planners have a great responsibility in the management of local heritage and the harmonious development of the city based on priorities that combine a series of disciplines and specialties.

Marisabel Torrens, Fulgencio Arambula Public Master Prize winner in 2019, also highlights the joint work with the population. “There is no valid, effective or sustainable design process if it is not carried out based on the needs and aspirations of the resident population, the subject of development  and bearer and guarantor of heritage values, which above all recognizes that this heritage is a vital resource for local economic development”.

The also Life and Work Award granted by the Camagüey branch of the National Union of Architects and Construction Engineers of Cuba is, without a doubt, a lover of a city that finds in urban planning, a science of challenges.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García