“I believe one essential task mayors should tackle is to envision how they would want their cities to be in the future, and develop a plan to achieve it. In Buenos Aires we focus on creating an integrated city, where every citizen has the same opportunities and responsibilities. Joining the Champion Mayors Initiative will help us pursue our vision: that of a city that grows and develops in the most inclusive way possible”.
– Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta was born in Buenos Aires, in 1965. He is married and has three daughters. He is the Mayor of the city since december 9, 2015. Prior to that, he served for 8 years as Chief of Cabinet of Mayor Mauricio Macri, former President of Argentina. Horacio Rodríguez Larreta holds a BA in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires and a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard University.
The city of Buenos Aires, as many other big cities around the world, features several informal human settlements that have grown dramatically in the past decades due to the lack of planning and coordination. The biggest settlement, formerly known as “Villa 31”, harboured about 10,000 families. The city government is now actively addressing this issue in order to provide an integrated neighbourhood that will allow both the Barrio 31 inhabitants and the rest of the citizens to enjoy a portion of the city that was underprivileged. The iniative promotes making the space suitable for mixed land use, currently one of the most endorsed policies within the urban planning and regeneration of the city. The project is championing inclusive growth by providing a scheme that brings the rest of the population to Barrio 31 to enjoy and share public spaces, government buildings and the new headquarters of the IDB in Argentina. Little business are also encouraged to open in Barrio 31 with more than 900 shops to be opened along with the new education hub that is intended to bring 2,000 new jobs to the neighborhood along with relocating the Ministry of Education to the area. This transformation is seeking to level the playing field while making the area enjoyable and economically viable. To guarantee economic sustainability the plan comprises unveiling the Center for the Development of Entrepreneurship and Labor, or CEDEL in Spanish, which will bring improvements to established clusters of shops and stores such as the “Feria y Paseo Comercial”. In addition, the highway that passes above the neighborhood is going to be moved aside in order to make an aerial park and greenway that will increase the green area per capita, making the neighbourhood very enjoyable for strolling and many kinds of outdoors activities.
More info about Barrio 31
At the city of Buenos Aires we consider our education policy to be the most decisive in achieving a prosperous future. An estimated 65% of children entering primary school today will end up working in jobs that don’t yet exist. More than ever, it is essential to foster the talent and the new abilities of students. Buenos Aires City has a clear educational vision, which seeks to enable all children to learn the skills that will allow them to develop their potential in the future. As part of this vision, 100% of Buenos Aires City classrooms are connected to the internet and all students and teachers today learn and teach with digital devices. The City also promotes personalized and collaborative learning, the environment in which professionals of the future will work. With this horizon, Buenos Aires City Mayor, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, made several Government Commitments so that 100% of the children aged 5 receive digital education, and 10,000 programmers per year receive training. The Government also offers free programs which teach key skills that will demand the jobs of the future, related to programming and robotics, among other skills annually.