Promoting Sustainable Urbanization as a strategy for social inclusion and environmental recovery of the Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

The Matanza Riachuelo River Basin is a territory of great complexity: it is Argentina's densest region (housing more than 8 million people) as well as one of the most environmentally degraded.

During this Side Event, the 'Territorial Strategic Plan for the Matanza Riachuelo River Basin' book will be launched. The proposal is framed in the pillars of the New Urban Agenda, and proposes a series of strategic guidelines to be agreed on and taken as a formal commitment by Mayors of all 15 jurisdictions of the Basin, in order to achieve the recovery of the river through inclusive and sustainable urbanizations, in compliance with SDG 11. The proposals are charaterised by bien respectful of human value, incentivate social mixture and reunification of the territory through the integration of the problematic neighborhoods, all through paticipatory schemes.

ACUMAR's authorities will show how progress is being made in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in this territory, through concrete projects already in course of management and design, that aim to improve housing conditions, public services and quality of life, as well as recovering the territory's natural heritage and prevent its future environmental damage.

To this end, a panel composed by the main authorities of ACUMAR as well as members of the Academia, Prof. Dr. Cynthia Goytia, University of Torcuato Di Tella and Harvard University and Dr. Alfonso Vegara, of Fundación Metropoli, will continue developing the debate, dialogue and exchange of experiences initiated in May this year, in the Urban Thinkers Campus hosted by ACUMAR, where a number of specialists, researchers and inhabitants of the Basin discussed the different aspects of the river recovery process.