LARGE URBAN PROJECTS AND SOCIAL ACTORS FORCES SUPPORTING AND OPPOSING THE PRODUCTION PROCESS OF THE RETIRO PROJECT, BUENOS AIRES 1991-2001 LARGE URBAN PROJECTS AND SOCIAL ACTORS FORCES SUPPORTING AND OPPOSING THE PRODUCTION PROCESS OF THE RETIRO PROJECT, BUENOS AIRES 1991-2001 Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. J.T. Fokkema, voorzitter van het College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 12 september 2006 om 12:30 uur door Beatriz Elena CUENYA architect, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán urbanist, Instituto Torcuato di Tella, Buenos Aires geboren te Tucumán, Argentina. Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: Prof. dr. P. Drewe Samenstelling promotiecommissie: Rector Magnificus Voorzitter Prof. dr. P. Drewe Technische Universiteit Delft, promotor Dr. E.D. Hulsbergen Technische Universiteit Delft, toegevoegd promotor Prof. dr. O. Verkoren Utrecht Universiteit Prof. dr. P. J. Boelhouwer Technische Universiteit Delft Prof. dipl.ing. H.J. Rosemann Technische Universiteit Delft Dr. R. Burgess Oxford Brookes University The first year of this research was elaborated within the frame of the Ibis research program attached to the Alpha Program of the European Union, coordinated by the Faculty of Architecture of Delft University of Technology. This publication is produced within the frame of the research programme of the Delft Centre for Sustainable Urban Areas and financed by the Chair of Spatial Planning of the Faculty of Architecture of Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Lay-out: Jonna Klumpenaar, Ana María Fernández-Maldonado, Marieke Rombout Cover: Jonna Klumpenaar Large urban projects and social actors in Retiro Foreword This research was elaborated within the framework of the Ibis research program affiliated with the Alpha Program of the European Union, coordinated by the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, which gathers researchers together from different countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. This academic space has been an extraordinary resource to motivate me to undertake a doctoral thesis at this moment of my life, in which work commitments make it very difficult to focus exclusively only on one subject. It has also allowed me to present annually at international conferences organized by the Ibis Network advances in the research, as well as to publish them in the book series of the network. I chose the Retiro Project as a case to study with the initial idea that the clearest trends under the broad theme of Globalization, Urban Form and Governance could be observed there. More explicitly, the Retiro Project showed relevant issues related to the production of new urban conditions for international businesses, confronted with the resistance of residents of irregular settlements, as with Villa 31, that are inserted in strategic zones of Latin American cities. To research this new situation was extremely valuable for me because since the early 1980s my line of research at CEUR/ CONICET has been centered on the study of housing problems for low-income sectors and the policies of the state on this matter. From that perspective, my original questions concerned two research issues: the first one, about the struggles of Villa 31 to resist the Retiro Project; the second, about the conflicts and contradictions between the public plans for the area, some of them promoting its regeneration (with new uses) and some others proposing the sale of land plots to the residents and supporting urban and social improvements. Nevertheless, from the reconstruction of the case, whose history was practically unknown, it became evident that the Retiro Project showed a great diversity of social actors (by far exceeding the dichotomy state - Villa 31) and of multiple interests in conflict for apparently diverse reasons. It became clear that Retiro was an extremely complex case in which global factors and local processes came together in one locality. The great challenge for me was to find a rational among the multiple social forces in conflict; to understand why certain stakeholders supported and why others were opposed to the realization of the project; as well as to explain how all this resulted in the production process of the project itself. The real challenge was to find an approach - instead of being exclusively sociologically oriented by means of studying the stakeholders and their logic, or being exclusively oriented towards planning with the analysis of the decision making process – which would become more pertinent to my background as an architect and an urban researcher. This thesis was oriented to try to understand the interaction between the production of new built-up spaces and social forces, visualizing the extraordinary land value increase which these large projects promote, as a key element in the struggle for their appropriation and distribution. Foreword 7 Throughout the research process I received the support and contribution of many people to whom I would like to express my thankfulness. First of all, I want to express my gratitude to my research promoters, Prof. Paul Drewe and Dr. Edward Hulsbergen, from the Chair Spatial Planning, for their permanent stimulus, orientation and understanding that accompanied the successive adjustments of my work and its extended progression. I also have to thank all colleagues from the Ibis network, especially Marisa Carmona, who in her role as coordinator of the network, opened the door, making my doctoral thesis possible in the amiable atmosphere of the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft, and supporting the grant of a scholarship of the European Union during the first year of my work. Along with her also I want express my gratitude to Ana Falú, who invited me to participate in this fruitful international academic space and with whom I shared academic and personal motivations throughout the elaboration of the thesis. A special gratitude goes to Dr. Ana María Fernández Maldonado who, as a member of the Chair Spatial Planning, has been a generous friend and invaluable guide and support with all the proceedings required by the TU Delft to defend the thesis and get it published. Finally, I must thank institutions and persons from Argentina that, in diverse ways, have collaborated with my project throughout its development. I must mention the Ministry of Economy and Culture of Argentina which, through its Direction of International Cooperation, granted a scholarship for two years for trips and short stays in Holland. Also I want to express my recognition to David Kullock, Gervasio Ruiz de Copegui and Silvia Pupareli, who helped me to clarify the many doubts involved with the process of production of the Retiro Project and to unveil the black box of the public administration. 8 Large urban projects and social actors in Retiro Foreword 9 Contents Foreword 7 List of figures, tables, matrixes and boxes 14 General introduction 17 Subject and problem 17 Objectives and questions for research 19 Methodology 20 a) Methodological strategy 20 b) The case study 23 c) Hypotheses of the research 24 First part. Conceptual framework 1. Production of urban space and role of social actors: 29 theoretical approaches 1.1. Introduction 29 1.2. Global transformations, rearrangement of urban hierarchies and new social actors 30 1.2.1. The thesis about a new urban system at world and regional levels 30 1.2.2. The thesis about new urban forms and intra metropolitan duality 33 1.3. Social actors and specific mechanisms of space production 34 1.3.1. Introduction 34 1.3.2. Structure and agency in land property development: the contribution 34 of U.K. studies 1.3.3. The central theses of the New Urban Policy: the contribution of U.S. 36 studies 1.4. Social actors and management of the city: contribution of Latin America studies 40 1.4.1. The typology of actors 40 1.4.2. Scenario and questions 42 1.4.3. Matrix of local social actors and urban management 42 10 Large urban projects and social actors in Retiro Second part. Methodological and analytical framework 2. Towards a conceptual framework of large urban projects 49 2.1. What are contemporary large urban projects? 49 2.1.1. Some definitions 49 2.1.2. Large urban projects under study 50 2.2. Conceptual factors and objectives of large urban projects 51 2.3. Outstanding features of large urban projects 53 2.4. Assembly, production and management of large urban projects 57 2.5. Impacts of large urban projects 64 2.6. Social actors involved in large urban projects 65 2.6.1. Benefited actors 65 2.6.2. Harmed actors 68 2.7. Measures of success or failure of large urban projects and implications for urban 70 management 2.7.1. Measures of success 70 2.7.2. Successful experiences 71 2.7.3. Measures of failure 73 3. Stakeholder analysis and social analysis to study the conflicts 75 of interests of social actors in public projects and policies 3.1. Stakeholder analysis 75 3.1.1. What is the stakeholder analysis and what is it used for? 75 3.1.2. Theoretical fundamentals of stakeholder analysis 76 3.1.3. Methodological elements: steps and tools for stakeholder analysis 80 3.2. The social analysis 86 3.2.1. The system of social analysis (SAS) 86 3.2.3. Social Analysis or analysis of social actors 87 3.2.4. Profile of actors 87 3.2.5. Actor’s Category 89 3.3. Our methodological perspective 89 3.3.1. Comprehensive understanding of the problem and assumptions 89 3.3.2. Determination of the project’s stages 93 3.3.3. Identification and classification of stakeholders 93 3.3.4. Elaboration of stakeholders’ profile 95 3.3.5. Identification and analysis of supporting and opposing forces 98 3.3.6.