Ciudad Vagón is a replicable initiative from University of Santiago students that transforms unused urban spaces into vibrant, functional areas.
As the winner of the Estación Futuro challenge, the proposal emerged from an open innovation call. This initiative was a collaboration between the Innovation Center (CI) of the Faculty of Engineering (FING) and Metro de Santiago (the commissioning entity), operating within the Sinapsis Usach platform, part of the Directorate of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Dinem).
“These challenges show exactly what we aim for with Sinapsis: connecting our university’s talent with real, high-impact problems. It’s a concrete way for us to drive public innovation from within the university,” stated Leonidas Ibarra, Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Usach.
Usach Sinapsis
Sinapsis is the University of Santiago’s open innovation platform for sustainable development. Launched in 2023 by Dinem, it connects real-world challenges from public and private sectors with multidisciplinary university teams. Through thematic calls, mentoring, technical training, and validation sessions, Sinapsis fosters the development of sustainable solutions with future potential.
For Estación Futuro, Metro de Santiago presented the challenge to Sinapsis, emphasizing sustainability, inclusion, and urban experience. The Innovation Center of the Faculty of Engineering handled the execution and technical support.
Lorena Victoria Durán, head of the Innovation Center, explained, “We understand the city as a meeting place. Ciudad Vagón perfectly exemplifies a scalable, adaptable solution from our university community that responds to a real urban need. We prioritize connecting our students directly with the entities they’ll serve. Our role, then, was to build that bridge, offer business model mentoring, and provide technical support for this project, which undoubtedly brings great value to society.”
Specifically, the Estación Futuro challenge sought proposals from the Usach university community that would improve the urban experience near public transportation, prioritizing sustainability, inclusion, and urban impact.
Ciudad Vagón
Ciudad Vagón, or “Wagon City,” was conceived by Catalina Zamora, Nicolás Páez, Martina Aguilar, and Alelí Galaz. Their proposal involves transforming vacant lots using reusable modular infrastructure (like containers), integrating green spaces, markets, workshops, and cultural areas.
Thanks to the support from the challenge, the team planned a technical pilot implementation in the municipality of Independencia. This pilot will simulate the design and operation of Ciudad Vagón in a real environment near a metro station. “This project was born from a critical observation of urban space and is sustained by community participation,” the team explained. “We want forgotten places to be transformed into living spaces that are useful for people.”
The Estación Futuro challenge featured an open call for students, academics, graduates, and civil servants. Selected teams participated in training sessions, boot camps, specialized mentoring, and prototyping stages, culminating in a Demo Day before a specialized jury. Ciudad Vagón emerged as the highest-rated project in this rigorous process.
“The key is providing these ideas with the structure and resources they need to be implemented. And that’s exactly what we accomplished with this process,” added Diego San Martín, coordinator of the innovation area at Dinem.
Currently, the Ciudad Vagón team is working on projecting their model to other underutilized urban spaces, with a vision that integrates sustainability, community, and participatory design.