Zona Empalme
The Zona Empalme is the largest of the 11 CPC zones in the city of Cordoba (Argentina) . It covers the southeast of the city and has 210,154 inhabitants (2001 census). The name comes from the Barrio Empalme district , in which the district center ( Centro de Participación Comunal or CPC ) is located.
geography
The area extends between the Río Suquía in the north, the Zona Mercado de la Ciudad , which includes the center of Córdoba in the north-west, the Zona Villa El Libertador in the west and the city limits of Córdoba in the south and east. Apart from the Río Suquía, there are no significant watercourses, but to the east of the area south of the river there are some artificial lakes created from flooded quarries.
Cityscape and architecture
The area today has a very heterogeneous cityscape, was originally heavily sprawled and only grew together into a continuous urban area in the last decades of the 20th century.
The San Vicente district in the northwest and its immediate surroundings are particularly densely built up . Some large housing estates such as Barrio SEP are located in the south near the Avenida de Circunvalación ring road . In the rest of the area, low, loose buildings dominate. To the southeast is a large industrial area in the Ferreyra district .
The socio-economic situation is very different: in addition to upper-class districts such as Barrio Maipú and areas characterized by the middle class such as San Vicente , Crisol , Empalme and San Carlos, there are numerous poorer areas to be found. On the one hand, these are large social housing areas such as Barrio SEP , Barrio Ampliación Cerveceros and the newer Barrio Ciudad de mis Sueños , on the other hand there are also some medium-sized informal settlements , including Villa La Maternidad , Villa El Gran Chaparral and Villa Los Artesanos .
history
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The oldest district is San Vicente in the northwest on the Río Suquía, which was subdivided for residential purposes in 1870 by Agustín Garzón . The area initially had the character of a holiday complex with a few farms, and from 1897 the area was first industrialized. In the period between 1928 and 1940, development began in large parts of the rest of the Zona Empalme, the most important of which are Ferreyra in the southeast, Primero de Mayo in the east and Crisol in the central area. After the Materfer Railway Factory was founded in 1958, numerous companies settled in the southeast of the area near Barrio Ferreyra . As a result, the population of the surrounding city districts rose sharply and the first large housing estates emerged.
The Ituzaingó district in the east of the area on Ruta Nacional 9 hit the headlines in 2012 because of a pesticide scandal that caused damage to the health of the population due to the spraying of insect and weed killers in the vicinity of a residential area and those responsible were sentenced to suspended sentences . The ruling is seen as groundbreaking for Argentina and Latin America, as it was the first time that disregard of regulations on the use of pesticides was criminally convicted.
economy
The Zona Empalme is one of the most industrialized areas of Cordoba. Traditionally, the center of industry was in San Vicente, but over the years it has migrated to peripheral areas, particularly the area around the Ferreyra district .
In the Ferreyra industrial area there is a Fiat automobile production facility, which was inaugurated in 1995. The Materfer railway company , which until 2000 also depended on Fiat, is also based here. Numerous other companies, especially from the automotive and metalworking sectors as well as from the food industry, are based in this industrial area.
The centers of the retail trade are the districts of San Vicente , Empalme , José Ignacio Díaz and Crisol ; continue on Avenida O'Higgins , the main road south. There are three shopping centers on Avenida Sabattini , Avenida O'Higgins and in the west of the San Vicente district.
Culture and sights
Cultural centers
The largest cultural center is the Centro Cultural San Vicente operated by the city of Córdoba in the district of the same name, which is located in a market building built in 1885. The independent cultural center Dadá and an independent theater are in the immediate vicinity.
Gastronomy and night life
Several larger restaurants are located on Avenida Sabattini . Nightlife institutions are not particularly common in the area, but there are a few night bars and a larger event venue, the Monumental Sargento Cabral in San Vicente, which hosts cuarteto events.
Buildings
The most striking building is the Arco de Córdoba triumphal arch, built in 1943 , which stands in the Empalme district and was built according to plans by Fernando Cabanillas. The arch in the style of eclecticism is one of the landmarks of the city of Cordoba and is supposed to symbolize a city gate .
There are numerous old buildings in the San Vicente district. The Colegio José Bedoya school was completed in 1914. Another important school building is the Colegio Santa Margarita de Cortona from 1879.
An important ensemble is the Barrio Kronfuss social housing district in the west of San Vicente, which was built in the Central European style by Juan Kronfuss in 1921. However, it is at risk from decay and recent renovations, and several renovation initiatives have been abandoned since the 1990s.
Churches of importance are the Iglesia San Antonio de Padua with neo-Gothic features and the Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepción in neo-colonial style, both also in the San Vicente district.
The Villa Chalet San Felipe , built between 1906 and 1910 in the José Ignacio Díaz district , is now used as a sub-center of CPC Empalme (a branch of the city government).
In today's Parque del Este there was a so-called Secret Detention, Torture and Extermination Center ( Centro Clandestino de Detención, Tortura y Exterminio , abbreviated from 1975 to 1978 during the presidency of María Estela Martínez de Perón and the military dictatorship of the "Proceso de Reorganización Nacional" ) CCDTyE). It is accessible as a memorial and is signposted with information boards.
Parks and green spaces
There are numerous plazas with monuments in the area. The Plaza Mariano Moreno and Plaza Lavalle in San Vicente are noteworthy.
The largest park is the Parque del Este , also called Campo de la Ribera , on both banks of the Río Suquía, which is, however, run down and has hardly any infrastructure. A slum area is located on part of its area. Green areas are still located on the existing and former railway lines, the largest of which is the Paseo del Ferrocarril .
Between the districts of Maldonado , Renacimiento and Los Josefinos , the Cementerio San Vicente, the largest cemetery in Cordoba, is located in the middle of a green hilly landscape.
Infrastructure
The Avenida de Circunvalación , a ring road, crosses the area from northeast to southwest and delimits the central area of Córdoba from the periphery. The most important arterial road is Avenida Sabattini ( Ruta Nacional 9 ), which connects Córdoba with Rosario and Buenos Aires and runs across the area in a northwest-southeast direction. Other important streets are Avenida Costanera Intendente Mestre , which follows the course of the Río Suquía, Avenida O'Higgins and Avenida 11 de Septiembre in a north-south direction and Avenida General Savio in the southeast in an east-west direction.
The Buenos Aires-Córdoba railway runs through the area from northwest to southeast. In addition to goods traffic, there is a long-distance train to Buenos Aires and a local train to Villa María . The only train station currently in operation is in Barrio Ferreyra . Another railway line, only served by freight traffic, branches off to the west in Barrio Empalme, its current end point is Malagueño .
Individual evidence
- ↑ El Barrio San Vicente en Córdoba , Café de las Ciudades
- ↑ Die Poisonspritzer von Córdoba , taz.de, August 22, 2012
- ↑ Efrain Bischoff: Se inauguró el Arco de Cordoba, "portada monumental" de entrada a la ciudad, sobre el camino viniendo desde Buenos Aires ( Memento of 29 December 2012 at the Web archive archive.today ) (historical text of 1943).
- ^ Arco de Córdoba , La Voz del Interior.
- ↑ La historia se derrumba en barrio Kronfuss , La Voz del Interior, January 27, 2008
- ↑ Kronfuss, un barrio que se siente puenteado otra vez , Día a Día, May 25, 2012
- ^ Chalet San Felipe ( Memento of October 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), website of the City of Cordoba
- ↑ Campo La Ribera es el tercer espacio para la memoria , Día a Día, November 30, 2010
Web links
- CPC Empalme website ( memento of October 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the City of Cordoba