De-metropolizing the Territory

Memory montage as a Strategy for Recovering the Identities of the North Industrial Corridor of Rosario

Abstract

The metropolitan condition is produced through the coexistence of two phenomena: on the one hand, the idea of territory understood as continuous space, and on the other hand, the economic, social, and cultural interdependence as its operational base. In the territory we are studying, the so called “cordon industrial norte”, (north industrial corridor) of the Metropolitan Rosario Area, the metropolitan condition lacks the guiding lines capable of synthesizing, assuming and capitalizing on the imbalances of its central core and its tentacles. While several plans have tried to grasp this territory within a cohesive future, always articulated from its center, this article proposes to highlight the inherent fragmentation of the metropolitan body from the vindication of its memory as a vehicle to re-build its territory from its identity. Opposed to the logic of the metropolitan project, which aims to homogenize territory and consequently, to erase the identity of its constituent parts, this article proposes a “de-metropolization” of space through the recovery and assessment of the patrimony of each one of those parts, suggesting the tool of the cultural landscapes as an instrument for action.