Physical Development Planning for Urban Areas: The Case of Rio Gallegos' Micro-Region

Abstract

1. INTRODUCTION The area of Rio Gallegos is the most important conurbation of southern continental Argentina (1). Within a radius 350 km, is the only cultural, trade and tourist centre. Despite its isolated location, in the last two decades it has a significant population growth and unprecedented urbanization process (INDEC) (2). This transformation generates benefits associated to economic growth and job creation, but due to its speed and magnitude jeopardizes an important part of the environmental, urban, economic and even legal values of this area. The spontaneous growth is a hopeless common denominator of most medium sized Argentinian conurbations (Abba, 2010). However, there are aspects that make the case of Rio Gallegos unique, perhaps only verifiable in other smaller towns in the Province of Santa Cruz. (3) Urbanization sprawls over two different jurisdictions, the municipal land, almost fully occupied, and the outer land that belongs to the provincial jurisdiction. Besides the environmental problems, this situation produces a legal and crisis due to the lack of planning and a clear public policy disarticulation between the two jurisdictions (Kingsland, 2012). Given this process of urbanization, in recent years there is a political and technical controversy regarding the administration and development of the area of Rio Gallegos (Caceres y Garcia, 2004). One of the most relevant elements of this debate is the need for new instruments of planning and, specifically, supra-local planning. As a result of this debate, some provincial governments develop--with diverse objectives and instruments--plans for the management of its areas, which in the Argentine context are called micro-regions. Micro-regions are plurimunicipales associations conceived for guiding long-term sustainable developments and promoting various complementary activities (Lemoine and Sarabia, 2001). The experience of Argentinian micro-regions begins in the framework of the National Commission for the Promotion and Development of the Patagonian Region (CONADEPA, 1997-99), in order to promote an integrated development of all the productive sectors of this region characterized by vast deserts, isolated population and dispersed settlements of various sizes. Due to its temporal coincidence, we can mention the plans drafted for the micro-regions of Central Mendoza (2006), Chubut Central Plateau (2008), Alto Parana (2008) and Coronda (2010). Effectiveness and practical results of these instruments, which were drafted quite recently, should be verified in the future. However, these are novel exercises that deserve academic attention and analysis, being particularly relevant examples of the potentiality, limitations and need for urban spatial planning. The objective of this paper is studying one of these planning exercises: The Development Plan for the Micro-region of Rio Gallegos (hereinafter DPM of Rio Gallegos) drafted in 2011-2012. The particular aim is to identify and conceptualize the instrumental innovations in development planning for areas (4). First, the framework, objectives, instruments and management of the Plan are informed. At last, some more general conclusions about the nature and the problems of supra-local planning are discussed. 2. THE CONURBATION OF RIO GALLEGOS AND ITS URBANIZATION PROCESS The territorial configuration of Argentina is the result of successive socio-economic models (mercantilist, agricultural, industrial) that reinforced the unequal growth and generated regions favoured by the abundance and concentration of activities, services, people and opportunities, and regions characterized by population dispersion, lack of social services and recurring economic crises (Lemoine and Sarabia, 2001, op. cit.). This is usually exemplified by the growth of the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, however similar processes occur in all Argentinian provinces, between their capital cities and major towns. …

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