South America — City Notes — Reading the City

Hippodamus in the Pampas

When Juan de Garay founded the city in 1580 he distributed land on a regular square grid roughly 130 by 130 meters.

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Buenos Aires, Argentina, South AmericaComment

Some Buildings Grow

Some buildings grow, others shrink. And it's quite interesting to follow their transformations as they track cultural (social, political) and physical transformations in the city.

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Buenos Aires, Argentina, South AmericaComment

Some Buildings Shrink

You may not believe this, but as that the Casa Rosada was growing to its present dimensions, at the opposite end of the square the Cabildo of Buenos Aires was shrinking at about the same rate.

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Buenos Aires, Argentina, South AmericaComment

Some Buildings Move

In Buenos Aires, the National Congress is at the western end of Avenida de Mayo--the central axis of the city--with the Government House at the other end.

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Buenos Aires, Argentina, South AmericaComment

As Cities Grow: Buenos Aires

Belgrano to the north and Flores to the west were still independent towns, separated from the core by a largely rural landscape and connected by road and rail.

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Buenos Aires, Argentina, South AmericaComment

Clorindo's City

When it came to the city, his brand of childishness was expressed in his refusal to accept the well known English proverb admonishing that "you can't have your cake and eat it too."

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Buenos Aires, Argentina, South AmericaComment

Comparative Urbanism

This also reinforces my "theory" that we only know one city, the one we are from, and we simply extrapolate when we try to understand all other cities.

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Turkey, Eu, Asia, South America, Boston, USA, North AmericaComment

The City at Night (Buenos Aires)

As far as I know, Horacio Coppola was the only Argentinean student at the Bauhaus.

UrbanismGabriel FeldMay 1, 2019Buenos Aires, Argentina, South AmericaComment