Corredor Bio-Comechingones, an innovative regional scale agreement among smalls towns

RAME MONICA JIMENA

Congreso; EAUH - Urban renewal and resilience cities in comparative perspective; 2018

European Association for Urban History

In a remote region, Argentina, and even in a peripheral area for Argentina, the San Luis?s province, the Conlara Valley can be found. In the shadow of the Paris of America, Buenos Aires, or one of the world´s seven natural wonders, the Iguazu Falls.In 2003 six towns from the Valley, different one from the other - Villa de Merlo, Los Molles, Carpinteria, Villa Elena/Cortaderas, Villa Larca and Papagayos- created an innovative territorial network in Argentina: Inhabited but Natural and Protected Area (AHNP) called BioComechingones Corridor.Aware of the value of their natural, tangible and intangible heritage the main goal of this agreement was to protect it, but at the same time to attempt to learn how to play with it. In order to struggle with different regional imbalances identified as: Real estate pressure; Difficulties in providing basic services; Hazards to the environment and the landscape; Transculturization and risk in the loss of identity and heritages; Rural uprooting; Impossibility of adequate individual responses due to the scant structure of each municipality2.These territorial imbalances would be the result of the economic base of the region as tourist core of the Comechingones mountains and as a post-tourism affect the demographic rate grow due to the amenity migration process3. The new inhabitants come from big cities and metropolises of Argentina, such as Rosario, Cordoba and mostly Buenos Aires and bring with them their city lifestyle, which establishes a tension with the mountain lifestyle. To develop a new balance between the locals and the migrants and preserve the identity, the aboriginal heritage and even prevent the possibility of a natural disasters ? the destruction of the environmental factors which generate the unique microclimate of the area.Over the past few years a wide variety of heritagization strategies have been applied, such as the development of strategic regional plans, the recovery of the aborigen roots through the creation of a park or revitalization of the town´s historical centre and public spaces. Unfortunately, because of lack of appreciation from the central government the agreement lost it financial support to continue working. Which represented the loss of the management consulting of the Administration of National Parks, the Federation of French National Parks. However, this unfinished agreement left as good practice among the towns the need to think jointly about the issues that go through them.