MArch II Thesis Lucas Licari by Julian Varas

CORNELL UNIVERSITY - COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, ART, AND PLANNING Master of Architecture ll Program Graduate Thesis

NORMATIVE EMPTINESS Public space and urban informality in Buenos Aires

LUCAS LICARI

SPECIAL COMMITTEE Arthur Ovaska Julian Varas Dana Cupkova Myers Jeffrey Chusid

To Jime, my parents, and brothers.

INTRODUCTION

10.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY - COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, ART, AND PLANNING Master of Architecture ll Program Graduate Thesis

May 2008

Urban informality in South America

CONTENTS

18.

A conversation with Jorge Mario Jauregui

82.

Strategies of intervention

22.

Villas miseria. The 50’s context in Argentina

86.

Palette of vegetation proposed

24.

Villa 31, Buenos Aires, Argentina

89.

Characterization of “public” vacant areas

26.

Historical process of transformation

91.

Rules of intervention

34.

Current condition

98.

Site 01

46.

Expansive potential

106.

Site 02

50.

Estimated scenario

114.

Site 03

56.

Transversal sections

64.

Established system of open spaces

69. 78.

Photographic research

RESEARCH

“Public” vacant areas

INTERVENTION

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shanty towns are mass and conflictive conglomerations that are also generators of new spatial responses to the issue of habitat which emerge directly out of the societies that have generated them. Self-organizing structures, then, which one might regard with an unprejudiced eye receptive to new stimuli.â&#x20AC;? Charles Correa

INTRODUCTION

10 INTRODUCTION

URBAN INFORMALITY IN SOUTH AMERICA

During the early 20th century, the initial process of industrialization present in different countries of South America produced the progressive growth of urban informality in the metropolitan areas. It was a direct consequence of their lack of planning, resources, and infrastructures with which to affront the massive migrations of people arriving principally from both rural and poor zones. In Argentina, “Villa Miseria” is the term employed to define this urban condition that emerged mainly in context of the large cities of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Rosario.

Historically, the discipline of architecture has approached this problematic from a strict top-down perspective, failing many times in giving the response it is asking for. Standardized models for “standard” families, static typologies with no adaptability options, and “imposed” closed-ended architectures, are among the solutions that paradoxically have been employed to deal with the dynamic and often unpredictable reality of informal settlements. Eventually, those “solutions” would turn into new and even worse problems. (develop why) (Images of Chile, full spread) To which extent architects can operate on such a mutable urban phenomenon demands a conceptual shift towards the approach to the problematic. It is necessary to acknowledge the discipline’s own limitations, and more important, to understanding the degree of flexibility and “incompleteness” that should be embedded in any project dealing with the urban poor. In these terms, central to the present work is the concept of “incomplete architecture”, one conceived as a moment within an open and dynamic process, one that contemplates time within its repertoire; an architecture that is not imposed to the users (as traditionally is) as a finished product but as a platform for future adaptations, for future transformations; a flexible framework within which a community can shape its own identity.

01. Villa 31 slum, Buenos Aires, Argentina 02. Lo Espejo shantytown, Santiago, Chile 03-04. Rocinha favela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

INTRODUCTION 11

12 INTRODUCTION

In these terms, the thesis seeks to address a different alternative, to explore on a critical, delicate zone that is rarely managed intelligently when dealing with urban informality: the connection between the architect’s architecture and the one produced later, when possible, by its users. (could go as a support of an image showing precisely this) Aligned with this statement, the leading questions for the project become:

How to deal with these constantly changing urban conditions, with architectures that must be “incomplete” in their conception? How to formulate a flexible platform for completion, for future adaptations, yet preserving the agglomeration’s self-assemblage intrinsic condition? How to detect “moments” within the inherent physical structure of an informal settlement where to deploy opportunistic and systematic interventions that would act as protectors of an existent condition and moderators of its own growth?

INTRODUCTION 13

14 INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION 15

Given the obsolescence of project strategies conceived from the “built”, it is necessary to look for new ways of dealing with urban informality. The present is an approach from the “empty”. It is not a project imagined around the organization of built form, but an inquiry on the potentials that are latent in the “informal emptiness”; an exploration of opportunities for the generation of new typologies of public space, catalyst for the gradual improvement of slums, the strengthening of their community’s identity, and their ultimate social integration with the “formal” city. The site that has been chosen for this purpose is the informal settlement known as “Villa 31”, located in the core of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This “Villa Miseria” has a population of about 25.000 occupying what today is one of its most expensive areas, near downtown, the port, and the main bus and train stations. Since its emergence in the early 40’s, Villa 31 has been an informal settlement in a constant state of mutation that for the last 25 years has been particularly characterized by an accelerated process of expansion and densification. Although the thesis operates within its site-specific conditions, it is aimed at contributing to the discipline of architecture new strategies of intervention that could be extrapolated to similar realities.

Informal emptiness. 01-02-03-04. Rio das Pedras favela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 05. Villa 31 slum, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

RESEARCH

18 RESEARCH

A conversation with JORGE MARIO JAUREGUI Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2007.

Precedent. A permanent source of inspiration and continuous consultation was the conceptual framework and work developed during the last fifteen years by architect Jorge Mario Jauregui in more than twenty Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, counterparts of Argentinean “villas miseria”. As reflected in his oeuvre, work intensification on the public space can be much more fruitful than punctual investments such as housing solutions since it activates “private” transformations by the residents, having the potential of solving infrastructural, leisure, social, and aesthetics absences in these communities.

In one of my visits to his office in Rio, as part of the Summer Travel Research fellowship I was awarded in July 2007, I had the chance of interviewing Jorge Mario Jauregui. During our conversation, he talked about the ideas behind the work he has done within the Favela-Bairro program and the proposal he has developed for the general urbanization and socio-spatial integration of Villa 31 in Buenos Aires.

Lucas Licari: Which are the similarities, if you find some, between the favelas on which you have been working in Rio and Villa 31 in Buenos Aires? Jorge Mario Jauregui: All the slums in Latin America share the fact that are areas in which the State rarely intervene. They are self-built ones with a similar structure of contrast with the normal city, the formal city. In terms of their materiality there are some differences and particularities. In Argentina, they use more tin sheets, here they use more wood. There are also various and clearly identifiable stages in the construction of the house of a favela. In its initial moments, it is extremely precarious, built with any kind of material like cardboard, wood, and lona. After a time, that condition starts going through a process of consolidation until its last stage in which the presence of bricks and concrete structures indicate that what was initially a less permanent situation is becoming a definite one. There is another difference that is related to a matter of scale. In some countries of Latin America such as Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, the dimension of the informal problem is relatively small, of around 3, 10 and 15% of the population. Here in Rio we are talking of a 30%, in Caracas 60%, and Lima 70% of informality, which transforms the formal city in an anecdote. The situation becomes completely the opposite.

02 Similarities in South American slums. 01. Villa 31, Buenos Aires, Argentina. View of an internal street. 02. Rio das Pedras favela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. View of an internal street.

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LL: Is it possible to integrate Villa 31 with the adjacent city, considering that it is isolated by the presence of the highway, the railways, and the port of the city?

02 Jorge Mario Jauregui. Project for the general urbanization of Villa 31 01. “Socio-spatial structuration plan”. The project proposes the general urbanization of Villa 31 relocating the area known as Villa 31 “Bis” in the land currently owned by YPF (private company). There is an incorporation of new public spaces, urban furniture, services infrastructure, treatment of accesses, paving of roads, plazas, and residual spaces as well as new connections with the already existent road system. 02. A direct connection between the bus station and a new market of services is generated incorporating a large entry esplanade and a sports center in the area occupied today by Villa 31 Bis.

JMJ: There is a dilemma in what you are saying. The word is not to “integrate”, nothing can be integrated, and it is not about integrating, it is about “articulating”. Integration is a word that transmits the idea that difference could be melted, almost eliminated. In these terms, the rich and the poor, the included and the excluded, could be integrated. No. That cannot be done. What can be done is to try to articulate the differences, to look for points of connection, not of dilution. The differences have to remain as such, but allowing the evolution of those who are in conditions of inferiority, of fragility, of vulnerability. We have to create new connection points, new attractors of urbanity which have to have a very special characteristic, which is what I am interested in now. Those spaces are spaces where, through the celebration of work it is generated a new place, a place that does not exist either in the favela or in the formal city. Just in the limit between both, as a point of articulation of the differences, where the offer of services, skilled labor services, it could be reinvented the idea of the Agora, which for me is still the model of an ideal public space, where work, thought, amusement, leisure, etc, coexist in the same place and allow different appropriations along the different hours of the day and the days of the week. It is about to keep the differences and respect them, and through that respect, to look for new ways of reinventing what already exists. LL: Is it possible to provide with a solution to the housing problematic of Villa 31? JMJ: Yes. It is not only possible but absolutely necessary. And I think that in those terms what needs to be done is more investment in intelligence first, and then in physical resources to think the not-thought, to think in which kind of configuration of the boundary between the public and the private through the habitation building we should propose to generate public space and urbanity in areas that lack them. From my point of view, what is completely wrong in the whole Latin America, including Brazil is to build “little houses”. “Little houses” are the disaster, the death of the cities. That periphery that extends until the infinitum following the North American style where life is nonsense and boring could lead to either madness or suicide. All of them are equal; repetitively, implacably equal, lacking any stimuli of difference. That is exactly what should not be done.

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LL: So what is what should be done? JMJ: To think the habitation unit as the bearer of an urban DNA. That is the point. In these terms, it means that the habitation object, grouped, has to on the one hand define an urban façade as the limit between the public and the private as a boundary, as an interface. And on the other hand, it has to allow that in its inside the program could be altered according to the users necessities. We know that among poor people the conditions of the different families change constantly. Their lives have to find support and stimuli in order to evolve. We need objects able to evolve over time and adapt to the changes within minimum costs; having from the very beginning a very clear urban responsibility in the configuration of the public-private interface. The possible interventions by the users towards the city, towards the “other side” of that interface should not affect the configuration of the public dimension of social life. LL: A critical aspect in any kind of project dealing with the urban poor is the one of the users’ participation. Which should be the residents’ role in the process of generation and development of the project?

JMJ: That matter of the residents’ role should be demystified. When I worked in Argentina during the seventies I used to think that the residents’ participation was a fundamental issue. We had to do the project with the inhabitants. Then we had big meetings, and we sat together with the people. We just put the papers on the table and started to draw. It was like if our hands did exactly what people wanted. Later, I learned that it should not be like that. Psycho analysis states that the interpretation of the demand is one of the fundamental stages in the project elaboration, and that it does not mean to respond directly to the demand. It means to process it, and not simply to give it an innocent, immediate, naïve response. The intersection between the residents’ individual or collective unconscious and the architect’s one has to produce a new object, a new connection, a new state of that demand that goes far beyond what is being asked. It is to think what is not though through the dialogue between the architect and the individual or collective client. From that interaction something new would emerge, something that did not exist either in the architect or in the group previously. One has to learn to listen from the psychoanalysis of Freud and Lacan in order to not to have either an innocent, and authoritarian response or a populist one that implies to do exactly what is being asked. The principal social function of an architect is the didactic one of showing the other what he had the right to desire and did not know. The architect himself should transform his own expectations in that process. This is the mechanism that one has to be able to implement in each project. Difficult thing, but if it was not difficult it would not be compelling.

03 Jorge Mario Jauregui. Project for the general urbanization of Villa 31 01-02-03. The habitation unit, bearer of the urban DNA that Jauregui proposes in his project for Villa 31.

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LL: Considering other approaches to the urban informality in South America, do you have a personal opinion regarding the housing projects that are being developed today in Chile, and more precisely by the Elemental Team?

JMJ: Yes. I know a few, and I think that the intention is correct. However, I consider that on the one hand there is an excessive “design” and on the other and “elemental” interpretation of the demand. Just like their name, Elemental, but in a negative sense. Also, there are interpretations that have nothing to do with local conditions. The projects are an immediate response that tries to configure a popular environment with aesthetic quality. The fact that concerns me the most is the way some units that are able to evolve over time apparently allow the users’ participation. In these projects this is the weakest aspect. The initial configuration of the urban façade proposed is totally degraded by the following intervention by the users. It is a pastiche. Some elements are added over something that if did not have them would be much better, to say it clearly. So, that type of participation is not good. Why? Because it was not thought that the architect’s responsibility is to configure the dimension of the public space for once and forever. In the work of Elemental there are efforts that are not well synthesized yet. The effort in the design is good and always valid, but it is not well connected with the users’ intervention. There is a gap there that is unresolved, that obviously, needs to be thought.

03 Elemental Team. Quinta Monroy project in Iquique, Chile. 01. Initial configuration as proposed by the architects. 02-03. According to Jauregui’s opinion, that initial configuration is totally degraded by the residents’ later intervention.

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VILLAS MISERIA The 50’s context in Argentina

Even though the “villas miseria” phenomenon existed in Buenos Aires since the early 30’s, it started gaining significance by the end of the 50’s decade. These informal settlements start with the initial illegal occupation of fiscal lands, usually without violence, by an original small number of families to which progressively are added others in a generally quiet and peaceful process. The taken lands, fiscal or privately owned, are located either in the vicinity of downtown or the periphery, and lack of the most basic services (water, electricity, sewage systems, etc). The new dwellers usually construct their units with any kind of waste materials. The great majority of the population is migrants from the interior of the country as well as from neighboring nations (Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru). In first place, they are expelled from rural zones due to the agrarian stagnation, and the system of ownership and exploitation of those areas. Furthermore, the difficulties that the popular sector has in order to have access to a steady labor and productive condition that would generate a proper income according to the exigencies of a capitalist housing market, lead this group to inhabit in what is known as “villa miseria”. The “villas miseria” represent a strategy of economic survival of those less favored social groups, as they remove from their extremely restricted budgets the expenses related to the necessity of having a “roof” under which to inhabit1. The industrialization process of the decade of 1950 marked the apogee of “villas miseria” and their demographic growth. It is said that in that moment between 300.000 and 600.000 people lived in the villas miseria located within the Buenos Aires metropolitan area2. During this period, Buenos Aires was apparently situated in the paradigm of an “inclusive city”; and in that context, the phenomenon was associated with a hope of social ascent.

1 Ernesto Pastrana. “Historia de una villa miseria de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. (1948-1973)”, June 1980 2 Ratier, Hugo. “Villeros y villa miseria”

RESEARCH 23

By the mid 50’s to live in one was considered to be a possibility of inclusion, as a transition to a better situation that was certainly going to happen in a near future. This hopeful feeling was also encouraged from the national government lead by Juan Domingo Peron (1946-1955). During Peron’s government, it was produced in an exceptionally short period of time the construction of 500.000 houses to dignify the lives of the poor. The “villa” was a transitory condition. Its residents, due to the government’s action, were in conditions of inhabiting popular houses and apartments. The politic instrumentality implemented to confront the affluence of the internal migration waves was intriguing, and most of the times qualified as a highly “political and demagogic maneuver”. By many, the dramatic expansion of “villas miseria” during those years was a “Peron’s invention”1. “In times of Peron, you were given a property, a house, all made of material (bricks), in the colonial style. Nice houses, with their front yard and bathroom, as it is supposed to be2” However, during the early 60’s, the penetration into Argentina of monopolist foreign capitals encouraged by the new president Arturo Frondizi (1958-1962) led to the bankruptcy of a considerable number of factories, the reversal of industrial development in the main cities, and a dramatic increase of unemployment rates. From this moment on, specifically in the context of Argentina, the once hopeful and transitory condition of “villas miseria” became a hopeless and permanent one.

Image in this spread. Villa miseria “Bañado de Flores” in its early development. Buenos Aires. Early 1950’s

1 “La Prensa” newspaper. August 18th, 1970. Comment on the origins of villas miseria in Argentina. 2 A “villa miseria” resident’s opinion. Extracted from Jelin, Elizabeth, and Vila, Pablo. “Podria ser yo”: Los sectores populares urbanos en imagen y palabra”

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VILLA 31, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

The area that today is known as Villa 31 was amalgamated towards the mid 40’s in the neighborhood of Retiro, occupying what today is Buenos Aires’ most expensive extension of land1. In the area, the government built houses for foreign immigrants (Italians) that arrived in the city escaping from the European post war, creating this way the “Inmigrantes” (Immigrants) neighborhood that became the first nucleus from which the settlement would expand later.

3 2

During the early 50’s, people arriving from the Northern provinces of Argentina, impoverished rural regions, and neighboring countries such as Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru started occupying the surrounding area.

VILLA 31. Urban Context 1- City of Buenos Aires main harbor. 2- Main bus station 3- Main train station 4- Buenos Aires downtown 5- 9 de Julio avenue. Gateway to the city’s downtown. 6- Villa 31

1 1 Today, 1 square meter in the area occupied by Villa 31 could be valued in U$S 6.000, while the 15.25 hectares that the settlement covers is priced in U$S 500 millions. Source: www.anred.org, March 16, 2006.

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26 RESEARCH

HISTORICAL PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION 1964

In the 60’s starts the collapse of the industrial development in Argentina. Many small and medium size factories are closed what diminishes significantly the possibilities of finding steady industrial-related jobs. In the 33 “villas miseria” that exist in Buenos Aires at the time, this crisis can be clearly perceived. The total population in these informal settlements increases three times in this decade while the total population of the city remains the same. By 1970 in the “villas” of Buenos Aires the amount of inhabitants reached 109.0001.

1964

14.7 hectars 8.250 residents 501 people per hectare

1 Ernesto Pastrana. “Historia de una villa miseria de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. (1948-1973)”, June 1980

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HISTORICAL PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION 1977

Near the end of the 70’s, and previously to its almost complete eradication by the military dictatorship, Villa 31 covered an area parallel to the railways of approximately 32 hectares (200-300 meters wide). It had a population of 25.852 people distributed in 5.742 small houses, reaching its maximum historical development with an average density of 808 persons per hectare and 4.5 inhabitants per house1. After the 1979 expulsion campaign carried out against its residents and until 1983, less than 200 people (between 34 and 45 houses) were allowed to remain in the area. With the return of democracy in 1983, Villa 31 was quickly re-inhabited. An average of 200 families a day moved in during the first years, both expelled former residents and newcomers2. In 1996 1.000 families were eradicated from V31 due to the construction of the Illia highway. Less than 5.000 people remained in the settlement; nevertheless, the population continued increasing its number during the late 90’s, reaching 9442 inhabitants in 1998 and 13.290 in 2001, as the census revealed3.

1977 Maximum historical development 32 hectars 28.852 residents 808 people per hectare

1 Source: M.C.B.A. Direccion de Estadistica y Censos. “La poblacion residente en las villas de Buenos Aires…transformaciones en el periodo 1961-1991”. Lic. Vistoria Mazzeo. 2 “Villa Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Seventy years of urban struggle for the right to housing, land and liberty”. www.habitants.org 3 www.lanacion.com , February 25, 2007

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HISTORICAL PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION 2008

Today Villa 31 has reduced its extension and increased its population. It covers 15.25 hectares that are structured in six different areas or neighborhoods: Inmigrantes, Guemes, YPF, Comunicaciones, Autopista and 31Bis. According to the 2003 census 2.860 families, 11440 residents, live in the more consolidated sector of Villa 31. They have basic services such as water, electricity, sewage, and community infrastructure that they build by themselves. The 2004 census surveyed 1.780 families, or nearly 7.120 residents in the area denominated Villa 31Bis, which has been populated during the last 10 years and has serious shortages of services1. Villa 31 is reaching its historical greatest number of population (25.852 in 1978) but in the half the area it occupied at that moment. It has doubled its density. If one considers the amount of time in which this condition was achieved, it becomes an even more problematic condition.

2008

14.8 hectars 18.560 residents 1081 people per hectare

1 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Villa Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Seventy years of urban struggle for the right to housing, land and libertyâ&#x20AC;?. www.habitants.org

RESEARCH 31

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HISTORICAL PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION Image comparison

1995

2004

RESEARCH 33

1995

2004

34 RESEARCH

CURRENT CONDITION

If one can build a room on top of the other? Yes. If you have money you can. If one needs an authorization? Which authorization you are talking about? (Interview to a resident of the Guemes area. www.lanacion.com, February 25, 2007)

It took around 30 years to reach its historical maximum population. After its almost complete disappearance, it took only around 20 years to recover the same number and double its density values. Today, Villa 31 is growing at an apparently unstoppable and out-of-control rate that could lead to its collapse in a matter of years. The improvised and accelerated growth of the settlement implies a serious worsening of the already precarious services infrastructures. In all the internal neighborhoods of Villa 31 there are problems with the pressure and quality of the water. Even though in great part it is provided by the public water service network, in many cases it is distributed by cistern trucks. Sewage and drainage systems usually collapse, in particular when they where built by the residents themselves without any prevision of growth of the settlement. The same occurs with the electricity service that suffers frequent block outs. Moreover, the new constructions, where there is no room for an internal patio or a terrace, imply the absence of ventilation and sun light.

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Factors for current physical development Area owned by private company Repsol YPF Area owned by the National Government

Local factors of attraction A- Buenos Aires main bus station B- Buenos Aires main train station C- Villa 31 main informal market plaza Pubic transportation lines Availability of basic services infrastructures

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CAUSES OF CURRENT DEVELOPMENT

Certain conditions that are beyond the lack of social policies and housing programs are accelerating a current process of progressive growth and degradation. MARGINALITYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GROWTH Marginality growth. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth is also based on the progressive increase of poverty, unemployment and marginality not only in Argentina, but also in neighboring countries such as Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru, from where a great portion of the population comes looking for better opportunities in Buenos Aires. Currently, the residents of Villa 31 are immigrants from those countries, people born in the settlement, and people from the interior of Argentina, mainly coming from the Northern provinces.

CURRENT CONDITION Occupation at ground level: 144.747m2 (14.47ha) Population: 25.000 1.727 persons per hectare 1 person per 9m2 Average area per unit: 36m2 Average inhabitants per unit: 4

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SECOND FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 97.238 m2 Area to be occupied by dwellings: 85.066 m2

FOURTH FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 12.902 m2 Area to be occupied by dwellings: 169.402 m2

THIRD FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 19.737 m2 Area to be occupied by dwellings: 162.567 m2

FIFTH FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 3.567 m2 Area to be occupied by dwellings: 178.737 m2

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RESIDENTS INTERNAL ORGANIZATION Villa 31 is the most community organized “villa miseria” of the city of Buenos Aires. The internal social organizations in the settlement constitute a key element in the possibilities of improvements of the terrain and the provision of services and communal infrastructure. They structured the population in order to be able to develop the collective works and put pressure on the official institutions. The national governments never made improvements by their own initiative. In addition, the more provision of basic services progressively consolidates the existence of Villa 31 and systematically attracts a great amount of newcomers1.

1 Ernesto Pastrana. “Historia de una villa miseria de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. (1948-1973)”, June 1980

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LACK OF SPACE The condition that the settle ment shows nowadays is the typical of the most demanded neighborhoods of the city: given the lack of space, the houses start expanding vertically, but in this case totally aside the requirements that the city of Buenos Aires edification code establishes since it does not have any jurisdiction over the area. Today more and more constructions are growing in height with any kind of control. Many are reaching the five stories, with different families per room in the most unacceptable conditions for human health. This situation is leading to the progressive deterioration of the already precarious infrastructures1. Considering the rate at which Villa 31 is expanding, it could be anticipated that in a near future there will be no more space available at the ground level, being the only possibility to expand vertically. The density would be critically increased affecting seriously the environmental and sustainable conditions of the settlement.

1 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Subalquileres en las villas: un Nuevo fenomeno que crece en los asentamientos precariousâ&#x20AC;?. www.clarin.com, March 27, 2007

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LOCALIZATION Buenos Aires is the city where the Argentine industrial development was concentrated since its early emergence as well as the population of the country which was remarkably augmented by the migration waves arriving from the interior provinces and neighboring nations. The site occupied by Villa 31 has a strategic value signified by its localization. It is right next to main train and bus stations, the domestic airport of the city of Buenos Aires, and the most important harbor in the country. Also, it is located only fifteen blocks away from the city’s financial, commercial, and political center. Moreover, this privileged position in terms of the relation home-place of work-leisure makes that all those who have no other option than to live in a “villa miseria”, chose, whenever possible, to live in this particular one.

CITY OF BUENOS AIRES

VILLA 31

ARGENTINA CITY OF BUENOS AIRES

PROVINCE OF BUENOS AIRES

PERU BOLIVIA

PROVINCE OF BUENOS AIRES

PARAGUAY

ARGENTINA

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INFORMAL REAL ESTATE MARKET Since the 90’s until today the population of the community has been duplicated, and it has also increased the tendency to rent within the settlement, producing the emergence of a model that ten years ago did not exist. In Villa 31 there are residents that rent up to ten rooms, with shared bathrooms and almost no ventilation1. This phenomenon can be understood as a result of the lack of lands to occupy within the city’s fabric and the proximity to work sources that the settlement offers. In addition, for new groups to take over other lands has the high risk of police repression and a consequent quick eradication. In these terms, the “permanent” condition of Villa 31 is a very attracting one for those coming to the metropolitan area as well as for the “developers” in the zone that are taking advantage of it. Under these new circumstances it is clearly notable the progressive worsening of the situation. More and more people are populating each square meter sharing the most basic and precarious living conditions. LAND OWNERSHIP Amongst the many reasons that led to this present situation, the property over the lands on which Villa 31 is located is a vital one. They belong mainly to the General Administration of Ports and the National Organism of Administration of Goods (two National government entities), Repsol YPF (private company), and an almost insignificant portion to the city of Buenos Aires. The private company owns 8.5ha from which only 1.5hs have been taken by the residents of the “YPF” neighborhood2. On the one hand, since the city does not have any jurisdiction over the zone, it argues that it can neither give it a solution nor control it; to do so, the Nation would have to either sale or concede the ownership over the land to the city of Buenos Aires. On the other hand, the national government has many times promised projects aimed to the general urbanization of Villa 31 yet it has always postponed them. Within these terms, Villa 31 is an out-of-control island within the city.

1 “Subalquileres en las villas: un Nuevo fenomeno que crece en los asentamientos precarious”. www.clarin.com, March 27, 2007 2 www.barriodelretiro.com.ar , May 16, 2005

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The out-of-control self-constructed growth of Villa 31 and the density levels reached in a near future could certainly lead to the collapse of its already precarious infrastructures and sustainable living conditions. Conversely to what usually happens in projects dealing with similar conditions in South America1, it is acknowledged by the present thesis that the urban informality phenomenon is one that can not be totally controlled by the discipline of architecture. There is a significant degree of freedom that needs to be left to the residents. To negotiate is a requirement.

1 Most of the projects dealing with this conditions operate trying to solve a situation when it is already too late, and without anticipating (and commonly promoting it) the future growth and deterioration of the area being intervened. In these terms, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;solutionsâ&#x20AC;? become an even worse problem than the one attempted to be solved.

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As point of departure for the development of the project two temporal realities are considered. One is real, existent: the present condition. The other is speculative: an estimated projection of growth within ten years. The first requires to be fixed; the second, anticipated. In these terms, there will not be a “finished” project in traditional terms, but a flexible, incomplete urban platform capable of improving and regulating Villa 31’s process of expansion, an architecture that celebrates the right to the city of those less favored social groups.

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EXPANSIVE POTENTIAL

In order to start framing a response to the leading questions, which would become the thesis project, the next step was to analyze the expansive potentials inherent in the settlement, both in vertical and horizontal dimensions. The goal was to understand the primary conditions at work in present in order to develop a potential future scenario in Villa 31, to which the project would seek to anticipate.

OBSTACLES FOR HORIZONTAL EXPANSION In the surrounding urban context of Villa 31 there are obstacle elements of a different condition that would block the expansion possibilities of the settlement in certain areas, determining a physical boundary for the potential maximum development at the ground level.

Diagrams on the left: 01. Streets, highway, and columns 02. Neighboring buildings 03. Walls and railway tracks 04. Consolidated open spaces

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48 RESEARCH

EXPANSIVE POTENTIAL

EXTREME SCENARIO OF GROWTH Maximum occupation at ground level: 187.304m2 (18.7ha) Population: 103.930 5.560 persons per hectare 1 person per 9m2 Average area per unit: 36m2 Average inhabitants per unit: 4

RESEARCH 49

PATTERNS OF VERTICAL GROWTH

1. DELIMITATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL PLOT There is a general consensus on the dimensions of the plots at the moment of delimiting them for the first time, fact that gives them certain homogeneity. They generally vary from 4 to 6 meters wide and from 8 to 12 meters long, and are also intimately related to the constructive system to be employed in the future expansion. The original shacks are usually units of around 10m2. It is the most primitive form of self-construction, utilizing from wooden elements, tin and corrugated metal sheets, to cardboard pieces. They present two important “advantages”: they can be assembled and re-assembled in a day, and they are transportable.

They are usually placed at the front side of the plot, and the future development is towards its interior.

2. HORIZONTAL EXPANSION To the initial shack is added a new room. Most of the times in this first stage of expansion it is built a concrete structure (columns at this point) in order to allow for a future vertical development.

12.0

A 6.0

Domestic activities WC

Unit A

Unit B

3. HORIZONTAL EXPANSION Construction of concrete beams and slabs. From this stage on the unit is already prepared for the future vertical growth. 4. HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL EXPANSION Internal subdivision of the plot. The plots are now occupied by 2 different units each that respond to the family’s nucleous growth or the arrival of relatives. 5. HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL EXPANSION Full occupation of the plot.

ACTIVITIES

Domestic activities WC

Unit A

Unit B

SECTION A-A

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

ACTIVITIES

FAMILY GROWTH - FAMILY’S RECRUITMENT - CONSTRUCTIVE CONDITIONS - DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES

3. A

From now on, the unit expands in “modules” of approximately 3x3m that are determined by the improvised structural system. The basic material components are an independent concrete structure and a brick wall infill.

Unit B

Unit A

SECTION A-A

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SMALL FAMILY GROUP

Domestic activities Unit A

Unit A

Unit B

SECTION A-A

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

ACTIVITIES

FAMILY GROWTH - FAMILY’S RECRUITMENT - CONSTRUCTIVE CONDITIONS - DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES

4. A

Domestic activities Unit A1

Unit A

Unit B

Unit A1

Unit B1

Unit A

Unit B

Unit B1

SECTION A-A

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Non-domestic activities

ACTIVITIES

Informal rent

FAMILY GROWTH - FAMILY’S RECRUITMENT - CONSTRUCTIVE CONDITIONS - NON DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES - INFORMAL RENT - FAMILY’S INCOME INCREASE

5. A

Domestic activities Unit A1

Unit A

Unit B

Unit B1

Unit A1

Unit A

Unit B

Unit B1

SECTION A-A

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Non-domestic activities

ACTIVITIES

Informal rent

FAMILY GROWTH - FAMILY’S RECRUITMENT - CONSTRUCTIVE CONDITIONS - NON DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES - INFORMAL RENT - FAMILY’S INCOME INCREASE - INFRASTRUCTURES

6. A

6. VERTICAL EXPANSION

Domestic activities Unit A1

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Unit A

Unit B

Unit B1

Unit A1

SECTION A-A

Unit A

Unit B

Unit B1

Non-domestic activities

ACTIVITIES

Informal rent

FAMILY GROWTH - FAMILY’S RECRUITMENT - CONSTRUCTIVE CONDITIONS - NON DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES - INFORMAL RENT - FAMILY’S INCOME INCREASE - INFRASTRUCTURES

50 RESEARCH

ESTIMATED SCENARIO

“Scenario planning derives from the observation that, given the impossibility of knowing precisely how the future will play out, a good decision or strategy to adopt is the one that plays out well across several possible futures. To find that “robust” strategy, scenarios are created in plural, such that each scenario diverges markedly from the others.” Lawrence Wilkinson, “How to build scenarios” (Wired Magazine 2.11)

The history of Villa 31 happens in a country, Argentina, where the political and economical instability is the dominant characteristic, especially after the overthrow of President Juan Domingo Peron in 19551. When approaching the urban informality problem the consideration of varied potential scenarios must be essential component of the project. Particularly in Argentina, not looking responsibly at the fluctuating social, economical, and political reality of the country has motivated many times the failure of strategies employed at the moment of dealing with the urban poor. For instance, collective low-income housing projects initiated and then suspended have generated unconcluded “solutions” that became new problems, worsening the slums’ previous conditions.

VILLA 31 HISTORICAL PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION Data collection

1964 14.7 hectars 8.250 residents 501 people per hectare

1977

Maximum historical development

32 hectars 28.852 residents 808 people per hectare

2008

1 Ernesto Pastrana. “Historia de una villa miseria de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. (1948-1973)”, June 1980

14.8 hectars 18.560 residents 1081 people per hectare

RESEARCH 51

VILLA 31 ESTIMATED SCENARIO Data projection

2018 18.7 hectars 42.000 residents 2.245 people per hectare

52 RESEARCH

Villa 31 has grown a 173% since 2001. 8.500 new residents are arriving in the settlement every 5 years. Taking into account the rate at which Villa 31 is currently growing, it can be estimated that within the next five years there will be no more open space available for development at the ground level. The only option would be to occupy the vertical dimension.

RESEARCH 53

54 RESEARCH

After identifying the primary â&#x20AC;&#x153;driving forcesâ&#x20AC;? at work in the present, from social dynamics, economic, political, technological, and infrastructural issues, to informal rules that are established by local residents, it was developed an estimation of which the general condition of Villa 31 would be in a near future. The aim is to be able to shape a strategy of intervention that would play out well across two temporal conditions, the present (real) and the future (hypothetical) one, which for the purpose of the project, has been restricted to the period of time covering the next ten years.This estimation was developed in two parallel directions. The first was referred only to the data gathered in the previous analysis and its projection until 2018. The second consisted on the visualization of the distribution of that projected information within the boundaries of the site in order to understand which the impact would be.

ESTIMATED SCENARIO (2018) Occupation at ground level: 187.304m2 (18.7 ha) Population: 42.000 2.245 persons per hectare 1 person per 9m2 Average area per unit: 36m2 Average inhabitants per unit: 4

RESEARCH 55

SECOND FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 85.066 m2 New residents: 9.450

FOURTH FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 3.060 m2 New residents: 340

THIRD FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 22.743 m2 New residents: 2.527

FIFTH FLOOR Area occupied by dwelings: 1.746 m2 New residents: 194

56 RESEARCH

TRANSVERSAL SECTIONS

Through a series of transversal sections at different situations in terms of levels of consolidation, open areas, and boundary conditions it is sought to detect, comparing both the present and estimated circumstances, where the critical moments on the expansive way of Villa 31 occur. Particular attention was placed on the impact produced on the empty areas at ground level. These moments would constitute opportunities for a systematized deployment of fragmented site operations.

RESEARCH 57

CRITICAL MOMENTS

01- FULL OCCUPATION OF THE “BLOCKS”. New constructions consume the vacant open areas, both “public” and private, within the boundaries of the different informal blocks. Internal patios and corridors are occupied, producing the progressive worsening of the already precarious living conditions. The internal dwellings are seriously affected, and generally rented to outsiders; under the most extreme conditions of insalubrities and overcrowding. Serious risks of collapse are constant in many constructions since they are not technically prepared to receive new storey. 02- OCCUPATION OF LARGE SCALE VACANT AREAS Within Villa 31 boundaries there are still large vacant areas lacking of any kind of service infrastructures. Historically, most of them were never inhabited. However, the nowadays accelerated growth of the settlement and the great amounts of newcomers arriving at the place is generating a slow but progressive occupation of these empty areas under the most precarious living conditions. 03- EXPANSION TOWARDS WALLS AND HIGHWAY The necessity of expansions and space for newcomers also fosters the occupation of areas in direct contact with obstacle elements. The progressive expansion towards both the walls that surround the settlement at the north, west, and south edges and the highway in the center affects seriously the living conditions in the dwellings as they get closer to them.

COLOR REFERENCE

Current Condition Estimated scenario Extreme scenario Occupation of “private” vacant areas Occupation of “public” vacant areas

04- SERIOUS COMPRESSION OF OPEN SPACES In general, the vacant areas, both “public” and private, will be progressively consumed and lost by the necessity of expansions and space for newcomers. This fact implies a serious worsening process of the overall environmental and living conditions in Villa 31. Formation of passages badly illuminated, configuring the perfect environment for the appearance and development of certain activities that need the presence of “shadows” to operate. The majority of streets, corridors, and internal passages lack pavement, and so, become real swamps when it rains and during several days after they stopped. 05- NO “CONSUMPTION” OF CERTAIN OPEN SPACES A fact that is remarkable is the presence of open areas that are consumed, compressed, while others are not. So the next step was to analyze specifically this last group of open areas in Villa 31.

58 RESEARCH

COLOR REFERENCE 03

Current Condition Estimated scenario Extreme scenario Occupation of “private” vacant areas Occupation of “public” vacant areas

RESEARCH 59

05 06

60 RESEARCH

COLOR REFERENCE

Current Condition Estimated scenario Extreme scenario Occupation of “private” vacant areas Occupation of “public” vacant areas

RESEARCH 61

09 10

62 RESEARCH

COLOR REFERENCE

Current Condition Estimated scenario Extreme scenario Occupation of “private” vacant areas Occupation of “public” vacant areas

RESEARCH 63

13 14

64 RESEARCH

Open areas in villa 31 ESTABLISHED SYSTEM OF OPEN SPACES

Generally, along with the natural process of consolidation of informal settlements, the open areas are progressively consumed and lost by the necessity of expansions and space for newcomers. However, it can be observed that within Villa 31’s apparently intricate physical organization there is an already established system of open areas, the “plazas” of the settlement that were, are, and will not be “consumed” since they respond to specific practices performed by the local residents. Once defined during the earlier stages of development, commonly as informal soccer fields, the internal fabric would consolidate around them. No dwelling would attempt to invade these spaces that have been historically defined by the constant repetition of collective activities such as informal markets and community processions. Paradoxically, among all the obstacle conditions for horizontal expansion in Villa 31, these open spaces conform the most impermeable one, and its most valuable property. They are also strictly related to the social organization of the different groups that populate the settlement. Informal squares, streets, and passages shape the physical matrix of social relationships among the residents.

Image in this spread In the image on the right, taken in 1995, two informal soccer filelds are already defined in the very early stage of development in this area of Villa 31. Later, they would become the main open spaces, the “plazas” of the internal neighborhoods that established them.

RESEARCH 65

66 RESEARCH

RESEARCH 67

INTERNAL NEIGHBORHOODS AND ESTABLISHED SYSTEM OF PLAZAS Villa 31 Inmigrantes Guemes Autopista YPF Comunicaciones Villa 31Bis Caacupe Barrio Chino Barrio Nuevo

68 RESEARCH

RESEARCH 69

FOTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Established system of open spaces

70 RESEARCH

RESEARCH 71

72 RESEARCH

RESEARCH 73

74 RESEARCH

RESEARCH 75

76 RESEARCH

RESEARCH 77

78 RESEARCH

Open areas in Villa 31 “PUBLIC” VACANT AREAS

Considering the existence of an already established internal system of open spaces, the “plazas” of Villa 31, the intervention proposed is a series of fragmented, low-tech landscape insertions on the “public” vacant areas, which become the “site” for the thesis project. They are primarily conceived as twofold operations that protect a current condition in those less favored areas and set up a platform for their future horizontal expansion. This normative landscape approach seeks also to extend to the local social realm, working specifically on two of the most significant needs among Villa 31 less consolidated neighborhoods, water supply and green areas.

“Public” vacant areas for future development

RESEARCH 79

02 01

VACANT AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT “Private” vacant areas “Public” vacant areas

INTERVENTION

82 INTERVENTION

STRATEGIES OF INTERVENTION

Specifically, water tanks and green elements (horizontal and vertical) are developed in the materialization of those insertions. The appropriation of the first, utilitarian forms is intended to enrich the design vocabulary of the second. Yet fragmented, the project seeks to be read as a unity. The new landscape insertions are conceived to take on a didactic role, having a significant impact not only in formal terms, but also in programmatic ones. New activities such as community gardening, market gardening in which natural products could be grown for community consumption and sale, educational activities, greenhouses among others are proposed to take place in such a setting, fostering new kinds of public life that might develop around these new areas. They are not only decentralized recreational settings but also infrastructural, productive, and working landscapes, catalysts for creating new public spaces that are diverse and potentially shaped by the community. The potential social impact is significant.

Images in this spread Water supply in Villa 31 is done by water tunker truck at places where there is accesibility and then by the residents themselves to theis dwelings

INTERVENTION 83

84 INTERVENTION

INTERVENTION 85

86 INTERVENTION

PALETTE OF VEGETATION PROPOSED

The first step in the development of the general proposal is to define a palette of trees to work with, that will be distributed according to the different specific conditions detected among the “public” vacant areas. In the selection of the palette of trees to be utilized the species considered are part of the city of Buenos Aires ecosystem and widely distributed among the streetscapes, squares, and parks of the “formal” city, believing that this aspect will convey a symbolic value and meaning to the residents. In addition, those that require minimum maintenance are chosen above others. The physical characteristics of the trees, dimensions and proportions, play a determinant role in their distribution since they should either encourage or discourage the occupation of specific areas.

INTERVENTION 87

Images in this spread 01. Tipuana Tipu 02. Jacaranda 03. Fresno Americano 04. Ceibo 05. Alamo Negro 06. Lapacho Rosado

88 INTERVENTION

INTERVENTION 89

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

PRIVATE VACANT AREAS

Estimated future occupation

Areas within the boundaries of the consolidated plots

Private Vacant Areas. Vacant areas within the consolidated plots that, as mentioned in previous paragraphs, will not be considered for the proposed intervention.

Estimated scenario

CHARACTERIZATION OF “PUBLIC” VACANT AREAS Rules of Intervention

Once defined the palette of vegetation to work with, the “public” vacant areas of Villa 31 are characterized in order to elaborate a set of general rules of intervention to operate on the different particularities detected. The following series of diagrams needs to be read in a progressive manner. At the beginning, see image above, these schematic sections show the three basic conditions the project departs from: “private” open areas (not considered for intervention), current condition, and estimated scenario. Then, the sections depict the different categories of “public” vacant areas and how, through the deployment of a number of rules of intervention, the future occupation of these zones would be regulated, protecting the living conditions in the constructions of the settlement.

90 INTERVENTION

1- VACANT AREAS OF NEUTRAL IMPACT IF INHABITED Vacant areas that if eventually occupied would not have a negative impact on the living conditions of both the existent dwellings and the new ones to appear. The landscape intervention in these areas seeks to keep their “vacant” condition respecting the generic agreed dimensions of the plots to be hypothetically taken over. Their occupation is left to the residents’ consensus

INTERVENTION 91

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

GREEN BOUNDARY

PLOT BOUNDARIES

DWELLINGS “MODULES”

FRESNO AMERICANO

JACARANDA

PUBLIC VACANT AREAS

Estimated future occupation

Areas of neutral impact if inhabited

1A. Small scale areas inside the boundaries of the already delimited blocks. Vacant areas that if eventually occupied would not affect ventilation and sunlight conditions of neighboring dwellings. Rule of intervention: Flat green surfaces. They would allow a potential occupation. Vertical elements: Tree species, Fresno Americano.

Estimated scenario

1B. Large scale areas outside the boundaries of the already delimited blocks. Vacant areas that could become new “blocks” and that if eventually occupied would not affect ventilation and sunlight conditions among the existing neighboring dwellings as well as the new ones. Rule of intervention: Flat green surfaces: They would allow a potential occupation. Vertical elements: Tree-Water tank that rule a hypothetical future occupation defining the limit for the potential expansion.

92 INTERVENTION

2- VACANT AREAS OF NEGATIVE IMPACT IF INHABITED Vacant areas that if eventually occupied would have a negative impact on the living conditions of both the existent dwellings and the new ones to appear. The potential future occupation in these vacant areas is completely discouraged by the landscape intervention.

INTERVENTION 93

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

GREEN BOUNDARY TIPUANA TIPU

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

GREEN BOUNDARY

PLOT BOUNDARIES

TIPUANA TIPU

PUBLIC VACANT AREAS

Estimated future occupation

Areas of negative impact if inhabited I

Estimated scenario

2A. Small scale areas inside the boundaries of the already delimited blocks. Vacant areas that if eventually occupied would affect ventilation and sunlight conditions of neighboring dwellings as well as “internal” ones. Rule of intervention: Sloped green surfaces: They would not allow a potential occupation. Vertical elements: Dense distribution of Trees-Water tanks that would discourage a hypothetical future occupation in these areas.

94 INTERVENTION

INTERVENTION 95

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

ALAMO NEGRO

PLOT BOUNDARIES

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

CEIBO

PUBLIC VACANT AREAS

Estimated future occupation

Areas of negative impact if inhabited II

2B. Areas in direct contact with obstacle conditions. Vacant areas that if eventually occupied would be seriously affected in terms of ventilation and sunlight conditions of the new dwellings. Rule of intervention: The landscape intervention in these vacant areas seeks to protect them from the obstacles’ negative presence (Aesthetic, visual, scale) and impact (Living conditions) seeking to reduce to the minimum both.

Estimated scenario

2B.1 Walls Rule of intervention: Sloped surfaces and vertical elements (trees-water tanks) that reduce the physical and visual impact of the walls Series of clear areas to be appropriated by residents’ public, community expression 2B.2 Highway Rule of intervention: Vertical elements (trees-water tanks) that reduce the physical and visual impact of the walls

96 INTERVENTION

SITE 01

SITE 02

SITE 03

INTERVENTION 97

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

GREEN BOUNDARY

BLOCK BOUNDARIES

PLOT BOUNDARIES

GREEN BOUNDARY

PLOT BOUNDARIES

TIPUANA TIPU

DWELLINGS “MODULES”

VACANT AREAS

Estimated future occupation

Private vacant areas Private vacant areas

Estimated scenario

PROJECT SITES

Public vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I Areas of negative impact if inhabited II

VACANT OPEN AREAS “Private” vacant areas “Public” vacant areas of neutral impact if inhabited “Public” vacant areas of negative impact if inhabited “Public” vacant areas of negative impact if inhabited

In order to materialize the project, different “sites” were identified on which to speculate on the deployment of the proposed landscape/infrastructural rules of intervention. The goal at this point is to test the flexibility and “openness” of the system and its capacity to rule current and future land occupations while operating in different site specificities. Acknowledging the different stages in the process of consolidation the instrumental unit of intervention is defined by the dimensions of a “standard” plot. These, are agreed by the neighbors at the initial moment of land occupation. Although very different in such terms as occupation, scale, density, and infrastructures availability all the selected sites are approached from the basis of this area unit.

98 INTERVENTION

SITE 01. SCATTERED EMPTINESS

Located along the South-west edge next to the cement factory, it is the least developed area in Villa 31 yet the fastest growing one. Still in a process of horizontal development, today the units do not exceed the 2 storey height. The infrastructures of services are almost inexistent. Drinking water is provided by tank trucks only at the points where vehicle access is possible, mainly along the adjacent road to the highway. From these, the residents carry themselves the water containers to their respective houses.

Although still in the initial stage of development, main open spaces such as the neighborhood “plaza” and the principal corridors have already been delimited by the neighbors. Today there is an unstoppable process of continuous construction within the “blocks” that are defined by this structure of empty zones. Also, there are a great number of still-to-be-occupied vacant open areas which, as mentioned previously, will be eventually subdivided in a series of private “plots” while initiating the process of land occupation. Operating on a field of small scattered “public” vacant areas at the scale of individual plots, the intervention in Site 01 is aimed at ruling their occupation and protecting the area from its own growth.

INTERVENTION 99

Private vacant areas

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I Areas of negative impact if inhabited II

Site 01 Open areas mapping

100 INTERVENTION

image 02

“Cementera Avellaneda” Lands (Private company)

ESTIMATED SCENARIO

Estimated future land occupation

Railway Lands (Owned by the National Estate)

Scale 1m

10m

50m

SITE 01. Current condition and estimated scenario

INTERVENTION 101

image 02

“Cementera Avellaneda” Lands (Private company)

VACANT AREAS CONDITIONS Private vacant areas Private vacant areas Public vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I Areas of negative impact if inhabited II

TREES 01. Tipuana Tipu 02. Jacaranda 03. Fresno Americano 04. Ceibo 05. Alamo Negro

Railway Lands (Owned by the National Estate)

Scale 1m

10m

50m

SITE 01. intervention proposed

102 INTERVENTION

SECTION 01

SECTION 02

Images on the right 01 Current condition 02 Estimated scenario 03 Landscape insertions in “public” vacant areas 04 Landscape insertions regulating future development

INTERVENTION 103

104 INTERVENTION

SITE 01. Current condition

INTERVENTION 105

SITE 01. Infrastructural/landscape insertions rule the future occupation

106 INTERVENTION

SITE 02. BUFFER EMPTINESS

The zone defined as Site 02 for this thesis work is located in one of the most consolidated areas of Villa 31, the internal neighborhood known as “YPF”. The sector is predominately under a process of vertical expansion and rapid densification with numerous houses already reaching 3 and 4 storey. A key aspect in this level of development has been the availability of basic service infrastructures (electricity and water supply) through clandestine connections to nearby existing networks. In addition, Site02 is among the areas most negatively affected by the near presence of the highway.

Besides the significant noise and visual pollution, both the natural light and ventilation conditions in the existing houses are seriously diminished as most of them are expanding backwards into the highway’s wall. The intervention in Site02 operates in its few available “public” vacant areas. The deployment of fragmented landscape insertions is aimed at regulating their future potential occupation while creating a spatial buffer that will alleviate the threatening proximity of the highway in this particular zone.

INTERVENTION 107

Private vacant areas

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I Areas of negative impact if inhabited II

Site 02 Open areas mapping

108 INTERVENTION

REPSOL YPF Land (Private company)

image 02

image 01

ESTIMATED SCENARIO

Estimated future land occupation

Scale 1m

10m

50m

SITE 02. Current condition and estimated scenario

INTERVENTION 109

REPSOL YPF Land (Private company)

image 02

image 01

TREES 01. Tipuana Tipu 02. Jacaranda 03. Fresno Americano 04. Ceibo 05. Alamo Negro

Scale 1m

10m

50m

SITE 02. intervention proposed

110 INTERVENTION

SECTION 01

SECTION 02

Images on the right 01 Current condition 02 Estimated scenario 03 Landscape insertions in “public” vacant areas 04 Landscape insertions regulating future development

INTERVENTION 111

112 INTERVENTION

SITE 02. Current condition

INTERVENTION 113

SITE 02. Buffer emptiness protects the area from the physical proximity of the highway

114 INTERVENTION

SITE 03. NEW NEIGHBORHOOD

Site 03 represents the worst condition in regards to the availability of infrastructures (services provision), yet it is one of the best areas in terms of its location within the slum. Occupying the southern east edge, it is next to the large open space that defines the main access to Villa 31, and close bus terminal. Its geographic condition gives the site a great potential. In terms of scale, Site03 is the largest “public” vacant area in Villa 31, having the potential of becoming its new neighborhood in a near future, as evidenced by the estimated scenario.

Today, this land is already being occupied by new comers under the most unacceptable living conditions. Unlike the previous selected sites in which the interventions had to deal with an existing built fabric, Site03 is a unique situation within Villa 31. It represents the opportunity to operate on an almost “tabula rasa” condition ruling the future occupation at the scale of an entire new neighborhood.

INTERVENTION 115

Private vacant areas

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I

Private vacant areas Areas of neutral impact if inhabited Areas of negative impact if inhabited I Areas of negative impact if inhabited II

Site 03 Open areas mapping

116 INTERVENTION

image 02

Railway Lands (Owned by the National Estate)

ESTIMATED SCENARIO

Estimated future land occupation

Scale 1m

10m

50m

SITE 03. Current condition and estimated scenario

INTERVENTION 117

image 02

Railway Lands (Owned by the National Estate)

TREES 01. Tipuana Tipu 02. Jacaranda 03. Fresno Americano 04. Ceibo 05. Alamo Negro

Scale 1m

10m

50m

SITE 03. intervention proposed

118 INTERVENTION

SECTION 01

SECTION 03

SECTION 02

Images on the right 01 Current condition 02 Estimated scenario 03 Landscape insertions in “public” vacant areas 04 Landscape insertions regulating future development

INTERVENTION 119

120 INTERVENTION

SITE 03. Current condition

INTERVENTION 121

SITE 03. Buffer emptiness protects the area from the physical proximity of the highway

122 INTERVENTION

Foreground, the formal city and its formal emptiness. Plaza of the United Nations, a large green area in the traditional neighborhood of Recoleta, Buenos Aires. Background, the Port of Buenos Aires. Center of the image, the informal city, Villa 31.

INTERVENTION 123

124 INTERVENTION

Formal and informal cities are integrated through the deployment of fragmented landscape insertions throughout the large extension of the second.

INTERVENTION 125

MAY 09, 2008. FINAL REVIEW PRESENTATION

END