2023-06-23 13:10:00
Different neighborhood collectives in the city of Buenos Aires presented legislative projects and organized themselves around a particular claim: enough of the construction of buildings that modify the identity, life and health of the residents. Specifically, they state that the Urban Code (CUr) Sanctioned in 2018 and modified in 2021, it proclaimed that growth that is affecting its daily life. From the city, the Secretary of Urban Development states that the change in some neighborhoods has been happening for 20 years and not when the new regulations began to apply. He also says that the problems in the services that the neighbors denounce should be taken to the corresponding companies, such as AYSA. The dilemma is far from resolved.
The last Buenos Aires summer will be sadly remembered for the number of high temperature records that were recorded in March, some of them above 38 degrees. The desperation to escape the heat led to the collapse of a large part of the electrical systems, which led to protests against the Edesur company due to the uninterrupted service cuts. These two situations, both of which occurred months ago, could worsen according to the residents of Buenos Aires who denounce the exponential growth of buildings in places where low houses predominate.
This outlet communicated with people from Villa del Parque, Palermo, Chacarita and Villa Ortúzar to know in detail why they question the CUR that the legislature approved five years ago. On the other hand, the official in charge of the Buenos Aires urban development area responds to the concerns and calls on the residents to present data for discussion.
Neighbors of Palermo against the CUr.
Álvaro García Resta: “I am not denying the discussion, but on the other side there are no arguments”
The Secretary of Urban Development of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires spoke with this medium and refuted the arguments of the residents. “There is a growth in construction activity, but that is not because of the Urban Code. Every year where there is a crisis and the peso loses value, people take refuge in bricks. Our grandparents did. Anyone who has a surplus of pesos, which unfortunately is not all, shelters the value of money in a work. Culturally it is like that here ”, he says about the growth of buildings in the neighborhoods.
For the official, the problem exists but he doubts the simultaneity of the claim. “None of the discussions are supported by data,” he remarks. García Resta. He also alleges that the change of identity demanded by the neighbors is a “perception” and against that cannot be debated. “Yes, we can argue that this was not changed by the urban code, which is from 2018, and the transformation of Palermo, Chacarita and all these neighborhoods has been going on for 20 years. One cannot say that Palermo is changing since 2018, ”she says.
Gigi is a neighbor of Villa Ortúzar and points out that one of the characteristics of the neighborhood is the small-town atmosphere, where “you go out on the sidewalk and chat with people.” However, she anticipates that the request presented by the commune in the Legislature could founder all year. “They won’t discuss our project until after the elections, those are the rumors,” she clarifies.
Álvaro García Resta with Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.
Then mark similar stories where the protagonists are two green spaces in the neighborhood. “In front of our beloved square “25 de Agosto” they had walled up an old factory that occupied three lots. They are going to build almost 10 floors in the square, in the heart of the neighborhood that is the square”, he explains. The other case is Plaza Malaver. “The building was to be built insideGigie says. That news was known in 2021 when an attempt was made to build a seven-story, 24-meter-high tower that was finally not carried out. The residents assure that the Buenos Aires government promised to include the land in the square, but the promise has not yet been fulfilled.
On the other hand, Gigi says that there are problems with the water pressure, claims that the electrical service is deficient (last summer in the neighborhood the uninterrupted cuts were felt) and also adds: “It was filled with rats, with works or demolitions there are rats. One comes out of the bathroom grate and it happened to me”. Finally, she says that there are about 50 buildings in a 40-block neighborhood.
For Álvaro García Resta, the operational problem of light and water has another perspective: “The poor quality of the services is the fault of the services. No city in the world stops growing due to investment in infrastructure. If people don’t have water pressure, it’s AYSA’s fault, ”she replies.
Construction announced in Chacarita.
Another of the neighborhood groups that is against how the CUr is applied is Palermo Resiste, who assure that in the Buenos Aires Legislature there are already “neighborhood defense” projects presented by Villa Devoto, Villa del Parque, Villa Ortúzar, Chacarita and of course , Palermo. “In parallel, in San Telmo, Las Cañitas and Palermo, the Justice was able to declare illegal construction permits for buildings in violation,” they add, and count the approval of three laws in Bajo Belgrano, Lomas de Núñez and Barrio Parque General as having been won. Belgrano.
A member of the space, Gabriela Urman, said in a radio interview on June 1 that they came to relieve 180 new developments, 60 demolished houses and 150 that they know are for sale. He also denounced an “exponential growth” of buildings in a few months. “We are not against the transformations, but planning and the participation of the neighbors,” he told María O’Donnell in From here to More by Urbana Play. The woman also spoke of “overflowing services” and claimed that if more neighbors are added to this, the situation would be worse and worse.
Martín Rodríguez Rivas shares arguments similar to those of Gigi, from Villa Ortúzar. The neighbor from Palermo says that the constructions modify the DNA of the neighborhood and also that they aim to demolish houses that are patrimonial. He also says that Palermo is becoming a place where more and more people come. In dialogue with PROFILE, he added that they met with the radical legislator Manuela Thourte.
Tension in the city of Buenos Aires due to the increase in tower construction
On April 25, Palermo Resiste presented the project in the Legislature. According to the collective, it was presented to stop “the destruction of the neighborhood’s heritage and demand that the occupation of public space be regulated” and also the “indiscriminate construction, the demolition of heritage houses, the disappearance of green spaces, the excessive occupation of the public highway and the loss of the cultural identity of Palermo promoted by the new Urban Code of the City of Buenos Aires (CUr), without any control or prior environmental planning”.
Villa del Parque and Chacarita: complaints of “cementization” and search for radical support
There is another point that all the residents are in charge of clarifying and that is that beyond the fact that the claim seems the same, all the neighborhoods present particularities. Those who are part of Urban Conscience, where residents of Villa del Parque are gathered, also presented a legislative project and carried out a survey where they told 114 works under construction with almost 400 houses for sale.
From his point of view, 2022 was the year of high cementing in the neighborhood. Among the claims of the residents of Villa del Parque, Liliana remarks that The green space began to decrease, the sun began to hide and also that the addition of a greater number of constructions increases the heat in the city. If the last summer in the city of Buenos Aires is taken into account, that would result in an excess of heat. Another key that Liliana recounts is that now the residents of different neighborhoods are in contact, beyond the fact that each problem is specific.
Although the bill was signed by legislator Claudia Neira, from Unión por la Patria, and their treatment would be a tough battle for the majority that the Larretista government has, the neighbors tried to seek the endorsements of the Radical Civic Union: they met with Manuela Thourte and Marcelo Gouman from the UCR- Evolution referenced in Martín Lousteau. It is still a mystery to know what the legislators would vote considering that their political boss is carrying out proselytizing acts with the Head of Government who promoted the Urban Code.
Vera is a neighbor of Chacarita and part of the Amparo Ambiental group. She emphasizes that the growth of the constructions is exponential and details that it was done very quickly. She then talks about the problems they see in the neighborhood: “We see that in levels of services and circulation, it requires an infrastructure that we don’t see and that we don’t want either. In each block, there is basically a house in good condition for sale because the neighborhood is changing its appearance ”, she lists.
In its Instagram staff, Amparo Ambiental has a map where surveyed 254 buildings which, they say, are under construction. “The way times go, the panorama and the landscape have changed”, says Vera, aware that the project will surely not be dealt with in the Legislature this year. However, she stresses that the neighborhood union can set the pace of the claim. “The perception, what floats around and even with a feeling that the battle can be lost, is that people are willing to compromise and see what can be done,” she says.
Survey of residents of Villa del Parque on the constructions in the neighborhood.
In dialogue with PROFILE, Álvaro García Resta said that in these general presentations by the residents “nobody came and raised a problem that is fully understood.” In a few words, he says that there are no technical arguments to support the claim of the neighbors and that behind the organization there are other interests. “For me, due to a partisan political issue, they associate it with the Urban Code,” he said. He also has the feeling that someone is telling the claimants what is happening. “He is in favor because I do not see a technical issue. I don’t have water because of the Code. If I run out of water I call AYSA, not the company”, says the architect. And he closes, slipping that there are patterns of behavior: “Everyone saying the same thing, at the same time and on the same topic.”
From the Peronist opposition the look is different. “We have been asking the Executive and the Planning Commission for meetings to be able to discuss the modifications at a work table because we are all aware that the Urban Code has had a strong impact on the neighborhoods and that they are really collapsed. For now there is some isolated meeting with the neighbors but not something institutional”, says the legislator of the Frente de Todos, Claudia Neira, in dialogue with PROFILE, when asked about when the projects could be discussed.
In addition, he explains that he made his work team available so that the residents could present the legislative texts themselves and the issue did not acquire partisan overtones. “We understand that there is an urban planning problem in the city of Buenos Aires about where it is built and with what purpose”, he pointed out. He also adds that only in three neighborhoods 65% of the constructions are concentrated.
Claudia Neira, legislator for Union for the Homeland in the city of Buenos Aires.
“The market does not have any type of incentive or disincentive to build in certain places. What the Code comes to do is be a tool of this facilitating role of the state so that everything that is real estate investment, that many times end up being idle housing, multiply without limitation by the state”, he explains. From his perspective, the Buenos Aires executive referenced in García Resta does not want to work on a solution.
From all the testimonies collected, an unfathomable truth is verified: the Urban Code will remain operational. Not only because the projects are not dealt with in the Legislature in a hot electoral year, but also because the Buenos Aires government believes that it does not disadvantage the residents as they claim. Even if any of the texts that were presented were treated, it should find support from the ruling party that voted in favor of the same project in 2018. The neighbors, they warn, will continue to demand.
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