Urban green spaces in Buenos Aires and Christchurch

FAGGI A. IGNATIEVA M.

Proceedings of ICE: Municipal Engineer

Thomas Telford

Lugar: London; Año: 2009

1751-7699

Abstract: Even though New Zealand and Argentina are situated in different geographical regions, are of dissimilar size and have different histories of development, their urban open green spaces share some similarities. Both countries have prototypes of design styles and planting choices from Europe. Most green spaces in Argentina have developed from French, Spanish and Italian prototypes, while New Zealand adopted mostly English models. We use two case studies, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Christchurch in New Zealand to analyse and compare philosophical and design trends in the development of local green spaces in the 19th and 20th centuries. We critically evaluate current globalisation flows in landscape design, particularly the influences of Western landscape consumerism that have resulted in the acceptance of particular urban green area elements such as public parks with vast lawns and scattered trees, and special "tropical paradise" landscapes of hotels and shopping malls. We discuss the growing opposition to this globalisation process in urban green spaces, for example, reassessment of native plant communities and looking for new landscape designs that address local identities. This new paradigm developed through environmental movements (towards using nature prototypes for some urban green areas) during the 1970´s then crystallised in the late 1990´s.