A project for public space in a global city. From blueprints to implementation: Puerto Madero (Buenos Aires), a Case Study

This paper seeks to contribute to interdisciplinary reflection on about different forms of appropriation of urban space, generated from contemporary urban interventions. It also intends to interrogate the specific role of the Puerto Madero urban project in the growth and the social and spatial fragmentation of the city of Buenos Aires. Providing empirical data collected through an ethnographic approach about the use of the public spaces of Puerto Madero, designed to underline the multiple relationships, practices and representations that come into play between several stakeholders with varying interests emphasizing, and the dynamics brought about by the disconnection between Puerto Madero and the rest of the city. This process of urban transformation was designed to configure a specific type of mobility as well as to provide a welcoming and prestigious image designed mostly to attract capital, investments and tourism. The urban intervention that triggered this process has drawn on arguments associated with a portuary identity, using the landscape inherited from the old port.