Neighborhood organization does not stop. Villa Ortúzar, Bajo Belgrano, Barrio River, Núñez, Colegiales, Chacarita, Villa Urquiza, Palermo, Villa Devoto. The list grows as the impact of the changes that were introduced by law in the Urban Code, in 2018, reaches the neighborhoods. The most substantial of them is the one that enabled a greater constructive volume, which is causing a brutal densification. The disappearance of single-family homes is the tip of the iceberg of this change that impacts the urban layout of these neighborhoods.
To have a dimension of what it means in numbers, neighbors organize themselves by surveying their own neighborhoods. For example, in Villa del Parque, in the polygon bounded by Joaquín V. González, Alvarez Jonte, Francisco Beiró and Avenida San Martín streets, the collective "Conciencia Urbana Comuna 11" counted more than 300 properties for sale and 118 works under construction. These numbers are up to February, when they did the work and geolocated all the addresses on a Google maps.
In Palermo the situation is similar: the neighbors organized through "Palermo resists" have identified 180 new building projects, 80 demolished homes to build in height and more than 130 houses for sale (all this only in the area comprised by what is known as Palermo Viejo).
The magnitude of the numbers is replicated, to a greater or lesser extent, in the rest of the neighborhoods. This explains why many neighborhood and neighborhood organizations are going to the Legislature to transform their demands into laws. Basically, adapt the regulations so that their neighborhoods do not end up degrading.
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Palermo Viejo:
relieved by the neighbors
An overview of the changes that the neighborhood is going through.
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Source: Clarín Archive Infographic: Clarín
"Palermo resists" presented its bill on April 25. Focused on the following axes: "stop the indiscriminate construction, the demolition of heritage houses, the disappearance of green spaces, the excessive occupation of public space and the loss of the cultural identity of the neighborhood".
With the project they seek to promote a technical analysis of a polygon delimited by Córdoba Avenue, Godoy Cruz, Guatemala, Coronel Díaz and Mario Bravo, to Paraguay. They propose to adjust and limit regulatory criteria, and seek to suspend urban planning certificates of land uses.
Urban planning certificates are an issue in themselves. It happens that real estate developers request this certificate from the City, whether or not they have the final project (they can request it with a preliminary project), whether or not they have the investments; This takes a back seat because it is clear that both the project and the money are not an impediment. The important thing is the certificate, since it allows them to have "stepped on the norm": that is, if the changes requested by the neighbors are approved, the developers have already secured their permission with the Code that was voted in 2018.
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Villa del Parque:
relieved by the neighbors of the neighborhood
Works under construction and properties (land, premises and homes) for sale.
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Source: Data collected by neighbors Infographic: Clarín
Although for this type of ventures the cost of the certificate was practically derisory (less than $ 49,000), since a few weeks ago this procedure, along with 80 others, is free; thanks to a bill presented by the head of government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, already in full campaign as a presidential candidate.
Palermo also has its particularities, linked to the enormous concentration of bars, restaurants and nightclubs, and what this implies for neighborhood coexistence; Not only because of the noise and movement of people and vehicles, but also because of the use of public space – tables on the sidewalks and decks occupying the streets – and the collection of waste that, due to the volume, always ends up being insufficient.
Villa del Parque
As said, Villa del Parque goes through the same concerns. In the Instagram account of the neighborhood collective (@concienciaurbanac11), they give an account of the daily situations they go through. Among other things, such as living in the block of Melincué at 3200, where four works are carried out at the same time. Drills are the daily soundtrack.
Real estate project in Villa de Parque. One of the blocks relieved by the neighbors. Photo: Luciano Thieberger
The neighborhood project was presented in the Legislature in March and seeks, among other things: to limit the occupation of building land, preserving the lungs of the block and increasing environmental capacity; increase the cataloguing of properties with architectural or cultural value; incorporate mechanisms for consultation and neighborhood participation; and restricting commercial expansions in public space.
Other important issues: that the flushing occurs only in the commercial corridors and in front of the Aristóbulo del Valle square (not in all the interior streets of the neighborhood, as it happens now). And also restrict the Wine District to Beiró and San Martín avenues.
So far, the organized neighbors of Bajo Belgrano, Lomas de Núñez and River managed to approve modifications to the Urban Code of 2018. In addition to the neighborhoods mentioned in this note, Villa del Parque and Palermo, there are others that presented their projects, such as Chacarita.
Sale and future work in the heart of Palermo. The neighbors of the neighborhood put together a map of potential places where it will be built in height. Photo: Luciano Thieberger
Illustrious not to forget, Palermo
Palermo
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A shared publication of Ilustro not to forget (@ilustroparanoolvidar)
Opposition legislator Claudia Neira (Frente de Todos) took several of the bills that came to the Legislature from neighborhood organizations. To comply with the formal steps required to introduce a bill, he also made his team of advisers available.
Neira told Clarín that it is logical that this neighborhood organization is taking place: "They are going out to defend the identities of their neighborhoods. Since the enactment of the new code, all planning was lost. Excessive construction was generated, concentrated in very few neighborhoods. The Urban Environmental Plan, which, among many other things, orders the preservation of neighborhood identities, has been totally violated."
The legislator understands that this process of construction without planning generates a saturation of uses that is seen in the daily and that ends up altering the coexistence in the neighborhoods: "It happens in the gastronomic poles, for example, where the parking lot collapses and the neighbors run out of spaces to leave their own vehicles. Or the construction of towers, which generate problems of electricity and water supply to the rest of the neighborhood." That is why he sees positively that the bills look at what happens in each neighborhood, with its singularities.
One of the works on Nogoya Street, in Villa del Parque, which was relieved by the neighbors of the neighborhood. Photo: Luciano Thieberger
Villa del Parque
Illustrious not to forget, Villa del Parque
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A shared publication of Ilustro not to forget (@ilustroparanoolvidar)
Neighborhood protests
Both in Villa del Parque and in Palermo, neighbors go out to the street to carry out activities that make visible what is happening, but also that serve to internalize what is happening and how the changes affect their neighborhoods.
For example, this Sunday a recital was organized to "say goodbye" to the houses in demolition. The call aimed to call for reflection on "unbridled construction" and how Palermo Viejo is affected by this situation. In addition, he will make new calls for the next weekend. All activities are published on the neighborhood Instagram @palermo.resiste.
While the residents of Villa del Parque made an informative talk on Saturday about the new Code (by lawyer Jonatan Baldiviezo, of the Observatory of the Right to the City). In addition, they continue to collect signatures on the Change.org platform, under the petition "Stop demolishing Villa del Parque".
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See also