The metropolitan area of Rosario (Argentina) is home to about 1 200 000 inhabitants mainly to be found in the City of Rosario itself and in 16 other adjacent localities. It is comprised of a number of ports spread over 60 km along the Parana river. This port system is the terminal hub for a wide network of road and rail infrastructures. In fact, Rosario is considered as the port through which the major share of the agro-industrial production of the country is commercialised (about 70% of exportations of grain and derived products and nearly 30% of the goods.)

The construction of the commercial port started in 1904 following the call for tenders and the 40 year concession to a French consortium. It was returned to the State in 1942. In the middle of the Seventies, the economic policy of the military junta in power caused a vertiginous decline and loss of competitiveness of the port of Rosario. To the north of the metropolitan area a large quantity of private ports were built. As early as 1967 and 1968, decrees on a municipal, and then provincial level announced the necessity to dismantle the port infrastructures situated in the North area and, against this, to consolidate the port installations and activities situated in the area south of the city. These orientations were confirmed and defined through the Development Project for the Port of Rosario in 1970. Following the process of port privatisation undertaken by the Argentinian State in 1989 and 1990, the authorities of the Province of Santa Fé recuperated the port of Rosario and founded ENAPRO (Ente Administrador Puerto Rosario) the statutes of which were finally defined in 1994.

A general cargo port, it is the only polyvalent port in the region. Its strategic position, its accessibility and the growth of its traffics over the last few years confirm the importance of this port system and of Rosario, both on national and international levels.

Democracy and urban policy, the city rediscovers its river

One of the most significant characteristics of the City of Rosario is the presence of port and rail infrastructures over 11 km of the 16.7 km riverbank area. With the return of democracy in 1983, Rosario now possesses the instruments to constantly enlarge, both in quantity and quality, the process of the recuperation of public areas. This undertaking was comforted by the citizens and the institutions through a consultative process for the definition of a new urban plan for the city that was completed in 1999 by the drawing up of the basic document, the "Proyecto Ciudad Rió".

Gradually, as these strategies and projects multiplied and confronted the city – river relationship, it has become necessary to progressively adjust the types of approach and management tools. It is with this logic that the Programme for the development of the riverbank zone within the Secretariat of Planning was created in 2003 (Programa para el desarrollo de la Costa).

Three areas have been defined in the Programme for the development of the riverbank zone :

• The North Riverbank : "the recreational bank"
• The Central Riverbank : "the public bank"
• The South Riverbank : "the productive bank"

The North Riverbank: "the recreational bank":

Characteristics	a sector that includes the public beaches, Clubs whose activities are connected with the river, and private nautical installations
Objectives	to guarantee a coordination between public and private areas in order to provide the city with an infrastructure enabling a wide use of the river.
Projects	The Cabacera Regional Park Aerovias Argentinas. Cable car line. Theme Park "Caminante" Promenade "La Florida" Promenade New public spaces Presentation to the National sub-Secretariat for Ports and navigable waterways

The Central Riverbank:" the public bank":

Characteristics	corresponds to the Public Parks sector and includes complementary activities.
Objectives	to guarantee the continuity of public utilisation of the area, by incorporating activities that complete, without undermining it, the continuity of the layout of the Parks.
Projects	2nd phase of the Urban Renovation Centre Scalabrini Ortiz-Puerto Norte Access to the Contemporary Art Museum. Rehabilitation of the metallic structure over the river Jewish Community Centenary woods in Rosario 2nd stage of the Parque de España - Sector of the Fishing Clubs Entre Ríos a España Peñaflor Complex Reconfiguration of the Parque de España Park and of the Parque de España Sur CEC Sector – Youth Centre Flag Park ("Parque a la Bandera") Falklands War Memorial Project for a connection between the River Station and the present Free Zone of Bolivia

Parque España © Municipalidad de Rosario	Parque a la Bandera - Parc au drapeau © Municipalidad de Rosario

The South Riverbank: "the productive bank"

Characteristics	it includes specific port activities and their complementary activities.
Objectives	To guarantee its operational functions by determining new accesses and work that will optimise the functioning of the port; To reduce its environmental impact by drawing up an environmental programme for the city – port interface.
Projects	CUR – University City Agreement between the Municipality and ENAPRO

The South Riverbank: "the Productive bank" and the city – port interface

This site has gradually become the privileged productive area for port activities. Nevertheless, whilst millions of investments have been made, a certain number of decisions, such as the construction in the Seventies and Eighties of a large quantity of housing blocks on land near to the port, have practically reduced to nothing the possibility of using these spaces adjacent to the port area for possible future expansion of the port and of avoiding potential conflicts stemming from its operations. This error was brought to attention with the gradual return to growth of the port and saw the inhabitants concerned clamouring for means of protection from port pollution. This ended with a compromise and a consensus between the inhabitants, the Municipality and the port authorities.

Following the creation of the Development programme for the riverbank zone and at the same time as the new management of ENAPRO was being set up, a Municipality – ENAPRO Convention was signed bearing on a series of points of mutual interest in order to reach a harmonious relationship between the City and its port.

Nevertheless, in the last few years the municipality has thus determined various strategies and ad hoc projects in the sectors situated in the immediate environment of the port area. All these initiatives, that are in various degrees of completion, have certainly taken the port of Rosario into account as one of the elements of reference but without however directly implicating the Port Authorities in them. Moreover, neither are the new necessities and actual projects of the port being taken into account. A recent decree of the Municipal Council (2004) aiming at drawing up an integral plan for the Riverbank area of Rosario and explicitly excluding the port sector is, from this point of view, alarming.

The "Parque de La Tablada" and urban agriculture: projects on the interface as an instrument for urban improvement, for social integration and preserving the competitiveness of the port

Created in 1997, the Parque de La Tablada is situated in the immediate proximity of the port. On a surface of 55 hectares, ¾ of which are green areas usable for the urban programme for public spaces. The initial absence of an urban project enabling a wider integration of the port with the city, and the current deterioration of the sector have led to a framework of priority actions being defined to fulfil the following objectives :

• To maintain traffic condition and the safety of access, to widen the circulation area and improve access to the port;
• To create a "green belt" designed as an environmental buffer zone between the port and the residential areas;
• To transform the circulation corridor into a new territory comprising natural and simple architectural elements visually comforting its vocation as a park, and gradually discouraging deteriorations and intrusions;
• To endure continuity with all the existing public parks

The forward programme for the Parque de La Tablada plans for 39 hectares for the park and plantations of trees and 7 hectares for the development of urban agriculture that will federate existing initiatives in community gardens and other social, productive and educational programmes. The garden Park presents in fact a major opportunity to give added value to the image of the landscape, to establish mechanisms for popular participation, and to solve social problems by favouring integration.

Conclusion

Indubitably, and together with the existence of a clear and determined urban policy, the first cessions of port territory to the city (the future "Parque de España" in 1985 and the "Parque Nacional a la Bandera" in 1992), and the neo-liberal policies of the Nineties that notably led to the dismantling of port and rail infrastructures, will have enabled the city to get over the disappearance of these infrastructures to which it owed its development, and to transform this traumatism into an extraordinary opportunity.

However a more integrated vision has to be sought for by asking for the participation of all the public and private stakeholders, and the intermediary institutions.

Source: Arq. Rubén Palumbo, Director, Programa para el Desarrollo de la Costa – Secretaría de Planeamiento - Municipalidad de Rosario - October 2004