TITLE:
Planning the Intermediate City, or How to Do Better with Little: The Case of the City of Nueve de Julio, Argentina
AUTHORS:
Jean Claude Bolay
KEYWORDS:
Intermediate City, Ordinary City, Medium Sized City, Urban Growth, Urban Planning, Urban Poverty, Cooperative of Services, Nueve de Julio, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.6 No.3,
September
11,
2018
ABSTRACT:
With 92% of its population living in urban areas, Argentina is one of the most
urbanized countries on the planet. Like in many South Countries, the populations
of the small and medium-sized cities, which serve as intermediate centers
between the countryside and the urban network, are growing steadily.
Such cities in Argentina offer services and infrastructures to both urban and
rural populations, as well as a residential alternative to the Greater Buenos
Aires metropolitan area. These cities, however, are facing specific problems
that require appropriate responses. In this respect, Nueve de Julio is emblematic
of the challenges facing these intermediate cities. As one of the hundred
cities created in the 19th century by the Argentinian government, Nueve de
Julio is today a city whose population is increasing, and territory is expanding,
but that lacks any foresight to anticipate the next 20 or 30 years. Our
purpose is to analyze the reasons of this stagnation, explain the serious development
problems the city confronts, with disparities in the organization of
its territory and 20% of population living in poverty, and foresee an open
system of urban planning, capable to guide the urban authorities and its
partners in the identification of priorities and investments in favor of all the
inhabitants. The government seems helpless in dealing with this. Political activism
prevails over planning and varies from one election to the next depending
on the party in power. Means are lacking, both financially and in
terms of technical skills. Establishing an open system of urban planning is
imperative. Based on the collaboration of citizen, the goals of the planning
should include social, economic and spatial integration, efforts to include the
city’s poor and more rational, less costly development of the suburban periphery.
This will enable Nueve de Julio to better play its role as an intermediate
city for the entire urban and regional population with regard to business, administration, education and health services.