¿Urban voids? Buenos Aires ? Hamburg. Report of the international workshop in Buenos Aires

BRECKNER INGRID; GERSCOVICH ALICIA; LEHNER JUDITH; PAPE TIMITHY; ZAPATA, M.C.

Buenos Aires

Workshop; Workshop internacional de investigación sobre transformaciones urbanas: ?¿Urban Voids? Buenos Aires-Hamburg?; 2017

HafenCity Universität Hamburg HCU & Centro de Estudios del Hábitat y la Vivienda FADU -UBA

There is no doubt that societies all over the world are confronted with a growing concentration of people in urban areas. Different scientists use the term ?reurbanisation? for movements from rural or suburban areas to cities (Panebianco & Kiehl 2003; Brake & Herfert 2012). In Latin America, in particular in Argentina, immigrants from neighbouring countries searching for easier everyday life conditions produced additional growth of already large cities, especially in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires.In this case, the term ?re-urbanización? refers to building construction processes and consolidating informal settlements in new neighbourhoods within the city. Scenarios of prospective developments in the 21st century expect approximately 70% of the world?s population to live in cities. Reasons for this are ecological damage, human exploitation and political irresponsibility in the agrarian territories, leading people to seek easier income opportunities elsewhere. Global developments in the ?Urban Age? are under continuous observation by scientists collaborating at the ?LSE Cities? international centre of theLondon School of Economics and Political Science, supported by Deutsche Bank (LSE Cities 2017). This centre ?explores how people and cities interact in a rapidly urbanising world, focussing on how the design of cities impacts society, culture and the environment. Through research, conferences, educational programmes and public lectures, the centre aims to shape new thinking and practice regarding how to make cities fairer and more sustainable for the next generation of urban dwellers.? (ibid. p. 2) Such large-scale activities with a global perspective need to be complemented by continuous collaborative work of interdisciplinary groups focussing on multilateral exchange with regard to scientific approaches, methodologies and intervention opportunities in the transformation of specific urban areas.The workshop ¿Urban Voids? ? gratefully funded by the German Science Association(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ? DFG) ? was initiated with this kind of scientific cooperation between two universities in Hamburg and Buenos Aires. The main objective is to explore urban areas in each city considered as ?voids? from the different perspectives of the actors involved, such as civil society, governments or the real estate sector, leading to different interest-related activities aimed at filling them, mostly without regard for the long term effects of such infills on the surrounding urban context and the resulting public costs. In March 2017 seven participants from each country, with expertise in architecture, urban planning, geography, law, sociology, economy and ethnography, supported by two experts from Sao Paulo, Brazil and Milan, Italy, explored two different types of urban voidsin Buenos Aires and started to develop concepts concerning how to better intervene inthe ongoing urban transformations, as well as new perspectives, scientific questions andmethodologies related to the transdisciplinary and transcultural aspects of the project.These initial experiences of an interdisciplinary professional cooperation are documentedand reflected in this report. Of greatest importance was the hands-on experiencein a real physical, social, political and economic urban context, where we struggled for intercultural understanding, innovative scientific methodologies and their relevance in the practical field of urban transformation. It was obvious to everybody that professional routines in Europe cannot simply be transferred to Latin America and vice versa. Academic participants from both countries recognised that it is essential to have the chance to work together for a certain time on concrete urban areas, but this needs to be practisedin a mutual manner. As long as scholars from Buenos Aires have no chance to see,feel and understand the societal and local contexts of their European colleagues, there will remain risks of misunderstandings and predominance instead of innovative cooperation at eye level. Therefore we hope very much to find the necessary funding very soon, to continue with a workshop in Hamburg in order to develop joint research projects and long-term cooperation with ultilateral perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches.Our thanks go to those who made this first workshop in Buenos Aires possible: local experts and government officials in the city of Buenos Aires; legislators, residents and representatives from the neighbourhoods, professionals committed to inclusive development and social actors involved in the processes of production and transformation of the city.