Innovation

The innovation of Pueblo Chapelco lies in the fact that from the beginning, it is a planned, eco-efficient, participatory and sustainable urbanization. It is a place to live according to its slogan: SMART, SLOW and SUSTAINABLE.

SMART: The neighborhood provides its own internal transportation which is connected to the local public transportation service, providing mobility solutions to people who do not have access to a vehicle of their own, children and/or elderly people. The common areas of Pueblo Chapelco have been planned for a more sustainable life: there is an orchard and a farm. Thanks to an integrated and sustainable participatory planning and management, the habitants of Pueblo Chapelco enjoy its own production of organic and natural foods provided by local markets.

SLOW: Pueblo Chapelco has an open circulation design with kilometers of pedestrian paths of public access with viewpoints, which can only be circulated by pedestrians or bicycles. The circulation design pays special attention to the protection of local biodiversity.

SUSTAINABLE: Basic electric services are provided trough renewable energy. Electricity is generated with solar panels during summer and from a small hydroelectric turbine in the Pichi Chacay River, during the winter time. In regards to heating, and in response to the problem of the lack of gas in the area, the best proposed solution is through District Heating distribution, a system of centralized boilers that works with biomass, preferably with raw material from pruning and forest residues from the municipality. As to waste management, there is a system of classification and differentiated separation collection of residues. The practice of composting reduces the generation of waste and the transit of waste services collectors trucks. Reducing waste also reduces greenhouse emissions. It is estimated that each ton of organic waste reduced it saves around 40 tons of CO2 equivalent emitted to the atmosphere.

This community development is committed with SDG 11 that promotes cities and human settlements to be inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. All of these aspects are taken into account in this real estate development.

Inspiration

Pueblo Chapelco is a development that arises from the impulse given by a young couple, the Curutchet family, living since 1999 in San Martín de los Andes, Neuquen, Argentina (a part of Patagonia Argentina area). They wanted to achieve a "lifestyle in harmony with nature but not disconnected from the world. But this ideal was not easy to accomplish alone, because achieving that infrastructure will be very expensive and impossible to do for only one family, so we thought that the best way to achieve it, was to join efforts with a community of people that will be interested in changing their way of life into a more sustainable one. Our vision was 'uniting the idyllic with the possible'... and so Pueblo Chapelco was born."

Overall impact

According to the developers, "the spirit of the project is not to be a classical real estate development selling land for people to build their houses, it is also a project that encourages people to be part of a sustainable community, living in contact with nature in a modern, responsible and conscious way, it is a change of life style."

In an area of 76 hectares, crossed by the stream Pichi Chacay, only 24 hectares are to be use for urbanization such as private homes and commercial centers, offices and grocery stores. The rest of the area is defined to be used for common spaces, including: gardens, farming, recreation, ecotrails, native forest and grasslands conservation. The neighborhood is an open community with public roads, as well as, exclusive roads for owners only.

Business benefit

Pueblo Chapelco is a self-sustaining project since the employees earn commission with the sale of the land lots, but commissions are shared with all the team. This is a collaborative way of generating revenues in a more equitable manner.

Regarding the sale of the land lots, clients have two options for purchasing the lots: the first is through cash payment, obtaining a significant discount on the nominal value of the lot; most of the collected funds are destined to the purchase of the land. The second method is through an 8 years installment plan, making an advance payment of the total amount, and the remaining balance in annual installments with an interest below market price. To facilitate the acquisition, the monthly payments are not fixed, the buyer has to cover an annual cost and makes monthly payments according to their budget possibility at each time.

The execution of the infrastructure works is carried out in stages financed by the buyers' payments.

The other beauty of the project is that the living expenses will be very low in comparison with other real estate developments, since energy will be almost for free, the same with waste treatment and transport cost, and other recurrent costs for services.

Social and environmental benefit

In the integral design of Pueblo Chapelco, life quality, social life and the opportunity to be an exemplary thriving community runs throughout the project.

However, in order to enjoy nature, Pueblo Chapelco´s priority is protecting the environment and making an efficient and conscious use of natural resources. Considering that the main source of global CO2 emissions is electricity and heating (31%), in Pueblo Chapelco the access to these services is achieved in an efficient way and with an intelligent use of waste management, lowering energy costs with the use of technology. As a result, it is possible to reduce the negative environmental impact per capita, ensuring access to affordable, safe and sustainable energy.

By including a safe and accessible public transportation service and pedestrian trails in the mobility design of Pueblo Chapelco, it is possible to reduce the carbon footprint associated with transportation, the second largest source of global CO2 emissions (15%), and compensate the emissions with the forests reservoir mantained in the project.

In Pueblo Chapelco, private homes must comply with a building code which categorizes homes according to their energy efficiency. The improvement in the quality and materials of the houses, implies a more responsible energy consumption, which will be reflected in a cost reduction on the water, electricity and heating invoice.

Pueblo Chapelco "is a way of life, is a conscious model way of living that respects natural resources, especially biodiversity. We think that this is the only sustainable way to achieve the well-being of the residents and the quality of life for all its habitants, people and biodiversity."

Videos

Interview

Lucila Curutchet, Sales and Marketing Responsible