Empoderamiento Comunitario y Acción Colectiva: El Rol Transformador de las Organizaciones Barriales en la Construcción de Equidad y Sostenibilidad

Introduction: Community participation in the neighborhoods of Cuenca represents a fundamental axis for the transformation of these spaces into fairer and more sustainable communities. Factors such as the socio-environmental crisis, the need for integrative community approaches, urban expansion, and inequality directly influence this process, determining both its opportunities and its challenges. In this context, the Salesian Polytechnic University, Cuenca campus, has developed a systematic study based on the recovery of a database from 2019, in which 243 confirmed neighborhoods were identified; of these, 150 were part of the field study sample, with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 5%. Based on this information, this article aims to analyze the role of collective action and community empowerment in the transformation of neighborhoods, with a view to strengthening their social cohesion and self-management capacity. In this regard, it is relevant to analyze this topic, especially when in the context of Cuenca, neighborhood disorganization is configured as one of the central issues that hinder equitable and sustainable development. Likewise, socio-environmental conflicts represent a significant problem for the economic system as they disrupt political order, justice, and the social context (Rodríguez Fernández et al., 2019). Similarly, the potential need for integrative approaches towards the neighborhood community is highlighted to achieve sustainable, equitable transformations that promote participation. In this respect, community inclusion provides better and greater possibilities of success in planning, developing, and executing necessary, innovative, and sustainable projects (Bronfman and Gleizer, 1994). Based on this, it is identified that the latent problem in the organization of neighborhoods in the city of Cuenca is urban expansion and inequality.