Comments on: Buenos Aires & Real Estate Development, a Dream City

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:44:23 +0000

Great comment, Gregory! It has become so very frustrating to walk around Buenos Aires & see all the demolition.

By: Gregory

Gregory — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:38:01 +0000

Unfotunately there are some other examples in other cities where demolitions of old buildings took place in favor of characterless apartment buildings all of them looking more or less alike.

The result: Those cities lost all kind of architectural appeal. One example is Athens, which despite it never had the same architectural level of other cities in Europe, North America or Argentina it was beautiful. Today, thanks to the “effort” of people who call themselves “architects” Athens is considered architecturally the ugliest and most chaotic city of Europe, due to the lack of conscience during the last decades. These “architects” are nothing more than speculators looking for a cheap and easy opportunity in order to swell their pockets instead of their knowledge in architecture, people who instead of brain have a shoe in their cerebral cavity. Athens has nothing more than a few ancient buildings and a tiny small quarter in the city center, the rest is a sea of ugly 6-10 stories apartment buildings, btw it is also the city with less greenery in Europe.

Please, PLEASE don’t let them do the same with Buenos Aires, since it’s still one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Stop the destruction now!

Do you think in the future visitors will come to BA just to see cheap characterless apartment buildings instead of current palaces which sprawl all around the city from the River to Moreno and from the southernmost neighborhoods to Tigre.

This destruction not only cause the uglification of the city, moreover, it increases pollution due to the lack of ventilation caused by blocking buildings all around the victimized area. Thus neighborhoods like Caballito and Villa Crespo have more hazardous particles per m3 than Boedo, Mataderos, Belgrano R, and less densely populated areas. Hey but don’t worry most of the “architects” who cause this destruction live in better off less densely populated areas where pollution is lower.

What they are selling us can be compared to what fast food companies are selling us, compared to good nutritious food or a culinary delicious dish prepared by a good chef.

So, guys stop destroying this beautiful city.

By: Simone

Simone — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:27:46 +0000

Jeff,
I was in BsAs in 2005 during my Honeymoon (following the path of my fathers emigrated in early ’900), I fell in love with the city and therefore I can understand your feelings about demolitions of old buildings.
Trust me, the real estate bubble will pop soon or later in Argentina too, and speculations will end.
Cheers for your blog, I feel a little envy for the chance you have to live there.

Simone

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:54:40 +0000

That’s a good question. The newly elected city govt is definitely pro-business, so I don’t really have high hopes over the next few years. Perhaps one factor is that there is still an abundance of older buildings in BsAs, so many people may feel that losing a building here and there doesn’t hurt anything. But over time that indiscriminate demolition adds up to a lot of buildings. Also, a lot of people may simply not just be noticing it. There is, thankfully, a local group – basta de demoler – that is fighting for the preservation of historic buildings.

By: MH

MH — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:31:27 +0000

Thanks for the informative post. I lived in Shanghai, China for about a year and saw the same furious development boom where they tore down all the old colonial buildings and built ugly skyscrapers.

However, the Shanghai government is slowly waking up to the importance of preservation of historical buildings in order to preserve the character and charm (whatever is left of it) of the city.

Doesn’t the Buenos Aires government see the same need to preserve the city and its heritage?