Villa 31

School has officially started which means studio is beginning to get into full swing. Historically the Buenos Aires studio always designs some kind of tango museum/studio because that is the token characteristic that people think about Argentina, right? I wasn't very excited to be doing this project because it seemed really trite and I am always hoping to do something with a little more teeth and meaning. However, I got my wish because our project this semester is brand new and the site location is Villa 31, a controversial shantytown in North Buenos Aires. The project is called "School + Project." Using the idea that education is one of those basic human rights that is essential to pulling a community out of poverty, each student is designing an elementary school or a high school that incorporates a second program (recycling center, theater, park, bridge, etc.).

 

Villas (favelas in Rio, barrios in Mexico City) in Buenos Aires are community of people who have taken over and inhabit unclaimed or empty land, building their own houses and infrastructure. Many of the villas have their own economic system with markets and services. In Buenos Aires, if someone wants to rent an apartment they must have at least two references from previous landlords, no exceptions. So, for immigrants coming into the country (frequently from Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay) it is really difficult for them to find places to live, especially with a limited budget. Often they end up in one of villas because less questions are asked about their history.

Villas in Buenos Aires are not uncommon, but most of them are relegated to the southern outskirts of the city. Villa 31 (our project site) is unique, and thus controversial, because it is directly within the city and furthermore butted right up against some of the most expensive real estate in the city. As you can see from the aerial above, the villa is sandwiched between the Recoleta neighborhood on the bottom and the port on the top. Recoleta residents are the equivalent of NIMBYers and have been pressuring the city to get the villa moved.

Villa 31 has been in this location since the 40s when Italian immigrants would camp out their to be able to get up early to get the best jobs at the port. Eventually this developed into more permanent residences and the lesser fortunate native Argentinians moved in. Later the city developed the main bus and rail stations adjacent to the site. This development made transportation to the rest of the city really convenient for the residents of the villa, who typically didn't have cars and who frequently worked in different parts of the city in service jobs (construction, housework, etc) and needed to be mobile. Over the years the city has tried to eradicate the villa, most notably in the 70s when Argentina was a dictatorship, but has been largely unsuccessful. During Argentina's economic crisis in 2001, the population of the villa swelled to 30,000 people and has been growing steadily since.

Now, a professor from the University of Buenos Aires has been working with the residents to develop a master plan that can be implemented that will hopefully allow the city to incorporate the land into the city giving the residents access to the city's infrastructure and services.

 

We visited the villa as a class one evening. We had to go as a group with the professor from UBA because obviously the villa is a very dangerous place for someone not from the villa but not native to the country or even continent. So, 19 wide-eyed Americans went into the villa and I think got a serious wake-up call. I don't think I was necessarily surprised by anything because this is the kind of work that I've always wanted to do so I had some background, but the danger level made me a little nervous. I had always approached this kinds of situations with the mindset of if your open and honest about what your doing with the residents they'll be open back to, and certainly this has been my experience (in N St Louis and New Orleans), but you could clearly see the concern on our professor's faces and not speaking the language was a little unnerving. Walking in wasn't as big of a deal, we got a lot of stares, some (what I assume) snide remarks or comments. We attended a community meeting where the UBA professor was discussing the master plan with residents. By the time we were done, it had gotten dark and we had no less than eight residents escorting us out of the villa - THAT was when I got the full effect of the danger level.

Don't worry, everyone has promised to not go back without a proper plan.