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Urban
Renaissance In Latin America
by Alejandra del Palacio
Santiago - Some 20 cities in
Latin America have launched high-level urban
projects in the past year and some other 20 cities
have worked out plans to change urban residents'
life in the coming years.
Changes are noticeable in cities like Bogota
(Colombia), Quito (Ecuador), Rio do Janeiro
(Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico), Guatemala City
(Guatemala), Lima (Peru), Montevideo (Uruguay) and
Santiago (Chile).
The transformations are not only being carried out
in capital cities but also in cities like Guayaquil,
Sao Paulo, Merida, Proto Alegre, Curitiva, Medellin,
Cuenca, Guadalajara, Monterey, Cartagena or
Veracruz.
Most of the construction projects were funded by the
Inter American Development Bank (IDB), which is used
for new public transportation networks, recovering
of the historical places and improvement of
districts.
The wave of change has arrived in the biggest
cities, but it will not stop there. For example
there are some 300 municipalities financially
capable of launching projects of this kind in
Brazil.
These urban improvements began 15 years ago in three
cities with the aid from the IBD -- Curitiba and Rio
do Janeiro in Brazil, and Quito in Ecuador.
Curitiba, capital city of Brazilian state of Parana,
launched its Integrated Network of Transportation (RIT)
at the end of the 1970s, which brought it with
instant fame, making it the only Latin American city
with fast public transportation systems.
The IDB provided the project with a loan of 120
million U.S. dollars.
Rio do Janeiro launched in 1995 the program Favela-Barrio
(Shanty-District), which was the first one to
improve the poor districts of the city.
The IDB funded this project with 180 million
dollars. With this project streets were opened,
basic services extended, and new parks built.
Schools, day care centers and social centers against
domestic violence or drug-alcohol addictions were
also set up.
Ecuador had an ambitious plan to rehabilitate the
historical center of Quito to make it again the
heart of the city. The IDB provided a fund of 41
million dollars for this project in 1994. The
success of the project had since changed the meaning
of restoration and preservation of the urban
heritage.
The preservation projects of the historical
patrimony had long sought private donations to
repair the emblematic buildings and turn them into
museums until the 1990s when Quito Mayor, Rodrigo
Paz proposed a change: to see the patrimonial
buildings as daily protagonists of the urban life.
Years later Mexico City followed Quito's example.
Cities like Montevideo, Guatemala, Cartagena,
Veracruz, Monterrey, Valparaiso and Cuenca have also
adopted the integral approach Quito had used.
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