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Faced with the urbanization process, the association between economic actors who carry out real estate businesses in different areas of the city and actors of political power produces a great urban metamorphosis. The territory is fragmented, sold in parts, and occupied, associating the production of urban space with the logic of surplus value. In particular, the metropolitan waterfronts were the object of these logics, and for their habitability and commercialization, they required different modifications, mainly from political logic. The objective of the article is to understand the strategies adopted by the municipal State of the districts of Avellaneda and Quilmes (southern of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires) in the production of the River Plate waterfront. Mainly, those projects and strategic plans that involve territorial rearrangements, modifications to urban regulations, and that condition the area through infrastructure works to facilitate access, under the motto of modernization and revitalization, will be reviewed. The methodology used consists of the analysis of specific bibliography and regulations on the territorial planning of the parties (strategic plans and projects). Newspaper articles are also collected, and semistructured interviews are carried out with officials from each municipal administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper reflects on the problem of waterfronts in relation to the processes of urban revitalization. The methodology applied aims at looking for general and specific literature in order to compare different perspectives of study, taking into account the following: the changes that have taken place as well as the impacts on space dynamics; the social and economic problems observed and the forms of articulation mainly between urban policies and agents participating on these spaces. Generally speaking, at the moment of their study, waterfronts present complexities due to strong differences in their natural conditions and, also, because of the actions proposed to be carried out on them. Large interventions, in general, have copied an intervention model, whose features are exclusive use associated to the creation of new spaces of consumption. Urban policy assumes a role of utmost importance given that it should be flexible but at the same time it should establish regulations and instruments that allow market regulation, ensuring that interventions are not only based on the cost-benefit relation, economically speaking, but also on the social condition of public spaces as inseparable part of the urban experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Diversas ciudades han transformado sus antiguas zonas portuarias convirtiéndolas en renovados frentes de agua. A partir de cuatro casos seleccionados (Baltimore, Sidney, Barcelona y Buenos Aires), el artículo subraya la estandarización del diseño y de los programas ejecutados en importantes renovaciones de waterfronts. Se propone una analogía con la cadena norteamericana de café Starbucks, con la cadena de restoranes de fast food McDonald’s y con los parques de entretención Disney. De escalas diferentes, los emprendimientos mencionados se caracterizan por presentarse desligados de los lugares físicos donde se localizan y por construir una nueva experiencia. Se sostiene que en la mayoría de los casos escogidos, el frente de agua renovado es ajeno a su medio y parece tener más que ver con un centro comercial que con un nuevo espacio público en la ciudad. Sin embargo, con el tiempo, gran parte de los ejemplos han fundado una nueva categoría de espacio público, se han convertido en hitos dentro de las ciudades y responden a la necesidad del ciudadano de tener nuevos lugares de recreación y encuentroCountless cities throughout the world have renewed their old port areas turning them into new waterfronts. Starting from four selected cases (Baltimore, Sidney, Barcelona and Buenos Aires), this article underlines the fact that many of the new waterfronts have been renewed with standardized forms and programs. There is an analogy between Starbuck’s coffeshops, McDonald’s fastfood restaurants and Disney theme parks. In different scales the last three cases have the common characteristic of building a new experience, places unlinked to their physical environment. The majority of the chosen study cases are new waterfronts that appear to be strangers to their surroundings. These new places appear to have more in common with a shopping mall than with a public space by the water’s edge. However, as time has gone by, these locations have founded a new category of public spaces, they answer to the demand of citizens for new recreational venues and meeting spots and have become landmarks in their cities more...

A medida que las colectividades humanas han organizado el territorio marí­timo, en ese diálogo entre las personas y el medio se han constituido asentamientos poblacionales del litoral. Dicha ocupación de puertos y rí­as en el Paí­s Vasco ha dejado traslucir elementos monumentales, artí­sticos y de cultura material con una fuerza estética que permanece como parte sustancial de su presencia. Lo cual se traduce en la "˜estética del icono' que desarrolla una experiencia de gran expresividad, respondiendo a demandas de iconicidad y simbolismo. more...

In recent decades, many port cities have become actively involved in regaining their waterfronts. This article critically analyzes the contemporary study of coastal changes so that it might contribute to the debate on intervention policies of these spaces. It uses primarily qualitative methodology that draws on a critical - interpretive analysis of case studies. Findings show that those city-water front sites engaged in a public planning process that spans multiple levels of government will have better protected waterfronts Local communities and civic groups play a vital role in ensuring these transformations. Different interests, -- even when they are contradictory --, can be integrated into the planning process in order to safeguard local identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...