Painting, cleaning, planting: the citizen initiative that aims to change Montevideo neighborhood by neighborhood

The idea began as a daily annoyance. Imanol De los Reyes lives in downtown Montevideo and, like so many others, he grew tired of going out and finding trash, broken sidewalks, vandalized signs, and deteriorated spaces. “It's constant. There are things that are clearly not well cared for,” he says. And he thought, “Why don't we start a volunteer group to clean up all these things without waiting for the authorities to come and do it?” An advanced architecture student, he recognizes that this sensitivity is linked to his education, but also to a shared feeling: the city needs improvement. De los Reyes was a regular follower of the Instagram account Ciudad Gótica, which documents urban problems in Montevideo. “There is so much to improve that I thought: why not organize ourselves as citizens and do something concrete, instead of always waiting for the authorities to respond?” Thus was born Montevideo más limpia (A Cleaner Montevideo), a non-partisan citizen initiative that in just two weeks managed to bring together dozens of volunteers and open a channel of dialogue with the city government. The first meeting was held in a room at the Spanish Cultural Center and brought together some 28 people, most of whom were strangers to each other, who had been invited through social media. “I wanted it to be a concrete meeting, because the spirit of the group is to do visible things, not just talk,” he explains to Domingo. He was surprised by the diversity: young people, averaging around 30 years old, with a common desire to build a more livable city. The inaugural action was almost spontaneous. Upon leaving the meeting, a small group decided to clean a billboard that had been completely covered in graffiti. "We tried with our fingers and the paint came off. We bought a product and in 15 minutes it was clean.“ The gesture was symbolic, but revealing. ”When you participate in improving the city, you take better care of it. It's not just about paying taxes: it's also about getting involved." Today, the group has more than 250 members on WhatsApp and more than 1,400 followers on Instagram. Yesterday, they held another clean-up and beautification day on the Sarandí pedestrian street. With institutional support in place and many hands willing to work, Montevideo más limpia is seeking something simple yet ambitious: to make the city feel like a shared space again. Although Montevideo más limpia (@montevideomáslinda) is just taking its first steps, the group already has a clear idea of where it wants to go. The initiative aims to address small but persistent urban problems: cleaning vandalized surfaces, restoring signs and facades, improving deteriorated sidewalks, and caring for vegetation in public spaces. These are simple, low-cost actions, but they have a visible impact on everyday life. Its creator, Imanol De los Reyes, often cites examples from other cities, especially in northern Europe, where residents organize themselves to paint, clean, or plant without waiting for a response from the government. “It's okay to complain if you pay taxes, but it's also good to feel part of the city,” he sums up. The logic is that when the care of public spaces passes into the hands of those who use them, another bond is created: people protect more what they have helped to improve. In this spirit, Montevideo más limpia seeks to function as an open network of citizens willing to get involved, without rigid hierarchies or partisan slogans. It is not just a matter of solving specific problems, but of establishing a different way of living in the city, one that is more participatory, collaborative, and attentive to the everyday details that make a neighborhood—and an entire city—more livable, while also reinforcing the idea that public space is a shared responsibility.