- Planning the Matanza - Riachuelo Basin: Urban Strategies and a New Environmental and Urbanization Pattern for a Liveable City    1781 kb by    Mignaqui, Iliana & Szajnberg, Daniela | ilianamignaqui@yahoo.com.ar    Short Outline The MRB Plan proposes a new development and environmental matrix for one of the most polluted basin of Latin America. It includes a selective conversion of land use, relocation of hazardous industries and urbanization of informal settlements. Abstract The Matanza - Riachuelo Basin (MRB), one of the most polluted in Latin America, has an area of 2,240 square kilometers, a width of 35 kilometers and a length of 75 kilometers. More than 10,000 companies largely responsible of pollution, are located in this area, which includes 14 metropolitan municipalities and the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. With 6 million inhabitants, 35% lack of safe water and 13% living in slums, in conditions of social and environmental vulnerability. Environmental emergency declared by the National Congress in 2006, after a lawsuit filed by residents of the MRB, shows the lack of urban planning policies and regional and competition rules, as a result of institutional and policy fragmentation in this area. In 2008 an inter-jurisdictional authority (ACUMAR) was created in order to repair the environmental damage, improve the quality of life and restore the landscape. This paper presents progresses in a territorial reorganization and environmental plan proposed by a team of planners and specialists at the University of Buenos Aires, in the framework of a technical advisory to the company responsible for providing water and sanitation services (AySA) and the new Basin Authority (ACUMAR). The main aim has been to promote a new stage of development to reduce environmental risks, turning the MRB into a more liveable area. The new development and environmental matrix proposed, includes urban strategies such as selective conversion of land use, relocation of hazardous industries, urbanization and/or relocation of informal settlements, valuation of industrial heritage, a new transport network (GLS) and creating new green spaces. Keywords Matanza Riachuelo basin plan, environmental matrix, land use Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2011: LIVEABLE CITIES: URBANISING WORLD, Meeting the Challenge   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper