The research target was to value Sechium edule as a nutrition alternative for displaced families living in Popayan's marginal urban settlements, aiming to contribute to the traditional knowledge recuperation associated it's use and management, to identify the sociocultural significance as an alternative to mantain the links with the country, to evaluate the productivity and management possibilities in urban marginal areas. The process was carried out by means of 'participative investigation' where actors participated on recreative dynamics, sensibilization and socialization workshops, knowledge generating and exchanging tours which also served for exchanging seeds, permitting to obtain information and empowerment with the process. Three communities of Popayan were defined as study areas, four settlements were selected and 116 interviews made. The settlements were visited monthly for informal dialogues with the participating families. The plant's management possibilities were studied and it's cultivation under an urban cultivation scheme in association with other orchard species incentivated. The adptation of the system under the settlement's condition was asessed as a an alimentary alternative for these population. The consumption of sub-utilized species and the ecotype's conservation were encouraged.