"Lightning tourism": the project for the coastal avenue and the construction of the north bank of Buenos Aires. (1910-1940)

Abstract

In this work we propose to historically analyze the material and symbolic construction of the north bank in the suburban area of ​​the city of Buenos Aires (the coastal path that goes from the vicinity of the Nuñez neighborhood to the town of Tigre) from the spaces for circulation. The investigation will take as a starting point the paved road - or at least some of its sections - that linked the Capital with El Tigre-, inaugurated by the Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, Mr. Ignacio Darío Irigoyen and Minister Etcheverry as part of the works that were carried out for the celebrations of the Centennial of the May Revolution in 1910. In this way, we are interested in accounting for the existence of a link between the city and the northern suburb that was defined during the first decades of the century XX. How did this waterfront take shape in relation to mobility practices? What type of activities characterized the localities that made it up? What kind of image was built on that territory? In the 1920s, a project arises to build a coastal avenue to join the Capital with the town of Tigre, considering the topography of the land, the link with the river and the popularity that it was acquiring as a relatively close place of relaxation and recreation. to the capital.
Although this project did not materialize in a coastal avenue, we consider it a relevant element when thinking about the image built on the riverside towns of the north of Buenos Aires. Now, in terms of connectivity, the space for the “good circulation” of automobiles was made on a trace some 20/25 blocks away from the coast that was only consolidated between the decades of 1950-1960 with the construction of the North access, branch Tiger. A branch that in terms of the project recovers that picturesque suburban image of low houses, green spaces where space for speed and walking are combined.
From the use of historical sources such as mass circulation magazines, local tourism promotion guides, maps, urbanization projects and the development of road works, we are interested in analyzing the relationship between these first projects and mobility infrastructure works for the area of the north bank and the construction of a picturesque suburban landscape.
In these terms, from a historical perspective that allows us to take a broad temporality, we argue that these incipient milestones (projects of particular routes and mobility infrastructures not necessarily developed) gained relevance in shaping the suburban image built on this space of the GBA .

Keywords: mobility, suburbs, lightning tourism, North of Buenos Aires

Thematic block: Theory and History of the city