"City and river: urban plans in the Argentina of the first half of the twentieth century"

FEDELE, JAVIER

Sao Paulo

Congreso; 15th International Planning History Society Conference; 2012

International Planning History Society

Many times, the relationship between a city and the territory to which it belongs is to be found in the relationship between the urban structure and some element of the natural geography. Rivers, lakes, seafronts, are pieces which participate in a city network of spaces, and their roles and meanings are dependent on that articulation with the territory.During the first half of the 20th century, water courses and/or their coastlines would be incorporated by city planners into their interventions in a slow but progressive process which became increasingly systematic. The inclusion of these special units as substantial elements of urban plans went through different stages, and it went from a project particular to that specific place to structural piece of the plan, marching to the beat of the consolidation of city planning as a practice having a scientific statute and seeking technical and social consensus.In this paper, we examine such process, and we analyze differences of opinion amongst scholars regarding professional scope and responsibilities, strategies for action, and aesthetical discussions contained in urban plans of those times for Argentinian towns on the largest navigable course of the Paraná and the Río de la Plata rivers basin.