Planning in BA

Part of the reason for my extended stay away from the US was to take a break from work. However, you can't be a professional planner for almost 20 years and not think about things planning, development and design related. I intentionally did not try to contact anyone in my profession down here, as I have done while visiting other places. However, I did meet a planner from Australia who has pursued work as a planner in Buenos Aires. Basically, she found out there isn't such a creature, or at least not one that functions with the kind of independent authority she is seeking.

From what I understand, Buenos Aires does have a general plan, which someone with some professional training must develop (?), but decisions regarding development location, type, etc are largely political. That's because there is not really a professional civil service in Argentina. Those who work in government are largely political appointees and they are not independent of those in power. They also may or may not stay in their positions for a long time, so their interest is largely short term and they may not be qualified for their job. The history of political favoritism in this county is legendary (i.e. there is a history of¨"ghost" employees, who are on the payroll, but rarely or never show up to work). Apparently there are not any private sector planners either. That kind of role is played by architects or developers.

The lack of a professional civil service is really interesting to me, and one I would research were I to have more time down here. Not only does this affect things like urban planning and development approval, but in my opinion it affects the ability of the city to meet its basic infrastructure needs. One of my pet peeves here is the poor condition of the sidewalks and parks. While streets seem to get repaved and repaired, sidewalks and parks are neglected. It is really frustrating to have to always look where you are walking to avoid twisting an ankle from a hole in the sidewalk or a forgotten pile of rubble. When "fixes" are made to sidewalks, work is often done in a shoddy manner, as though it is only temporary. For example, if they patch a missing sidewalk tile with concrete, they don't really smooth it out and they don't keep it barricaded sufficiently, so there are always footprints in it. I believe that professional civic employees are more likely to take a long view and have a sense of ownership than political appointees, thereby resulting in better running of government services. You could argue that political appointees might have a vested interest to be sure that consituents are happy, and carry out the vision of the elected officials. Some city officials in the US, such as Mayor Daley and Mayor Gulliani have made planning and infrastructure improvements a priority for the city. However, if it is not a priority of an elected official or officials, then political appointees are not going to care.