The city of Paraná is the capital of the Entre Ríos province in Argentina with a population of 248,000 (2010 census). It is located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River in the Rio de la Plata basin and covers an area of 137 km². Paraná has grown and developed mostly without regard to the natural matrix in which it sits, characterized by a rippling topography and a vast network of streams that surround and cross the city.

Water from rainfall and springs are the main sources feeding the city’s streams. However, sewage and industrial wastewater also reach the streams through illegal pipes. Other forms of environmental deterioration directly affecting the residents of the city include deforestation, floods, soil erosion as well as dumping and burning of solid waste.

Concerned about the environmental status of the streams, some residents came together to discuss possible solutions, leading to the establishment of the first Water Basin Committee (Comite de Cuenca) for the La Santiagueña stream, and then a second one for the El Colorado stream. Following that, the city government adopted a specific ordinance for the creation of committees for each of the city’s streams. Through the Committees, the City has been able to re-examine its own geography and start revitalizing the streams, that have been historically treated as stormwater drains rather than biological corridors. This has proved to be beneficial not only in terms of environment quality and public health but also for the management of flood and soil erosion risks.

The committees were initially established through a city ordinance for citizen councils, which provided a structure for residents to come together in an organized way, but it did not consider the territorial dimension or the natural landscape, i.e. define the committee’s fields of activity and responsibility for a specific body of water. This initial ordinance was then replaced* to cater for the specific requirements and processes of the committees, safeguarding their continuity and the City’s commitment to recognize them as planning mechanisms for each of the city’s water basins.

As meetings progressed, methodologies were generated for the first two Basin Committee areas. In conjunction with residents, key issues were identified along with possible ways for mitigation. The committees were divided into technical and citizen coordination to address resident demands, public policies and to provide a structure for site management. The tools used for implementation included the dissemination of environmental information through different platforms, the use of social media to communicate with citizens, and the design of legal instruments to protect natural landscapes and the environment. On the technical side, quality analyses of water and soil and GIS Data constituted an important component for planning. A map of the city displaying the different water basins was created to raise awareness and educate the public. Copies were distributed and displayed in schools, libraries and other public spaces. This fostered the recognition of the natural geography of the city and promoted public engagement with the committees’ activities for the different basins.

To guarantee sustainability of the project, joint meetings between both branches of the committees - citizens and technical coordination - were held. Agreement between both helps to sustain longerterm collaboration aimed at the recovery of the streams as biological corridors and cleaning and integration of the streams into the built physical environment. The community’s participation continues to guarantee the application of good practice in all processes.

*Ordenanza Nº 9668 - Cuencas Hidrograficas Urbanas – Comité De Cuencas 

As the establishment of the Water Basin Committees came from an organic process of engagement among civil society organizations, followed by a council ordinance, the funds came directly from the local government’s annual budget (in particular human resources in the planning and environmental departments) and from citizens and partners who invested, and continue to invest, their time and resources into the project.

These resources include academic work such as the master thesis developed by one of the city officers involved in the process (“Cuencas Hidrográficas Urbanas – Paisajes del Agua. Lineamientos  para la integración de la ecología del paisaje natural en la planificación y gestión urbana participativas”, by Arq. María Eugenia Cichero, supervised by Mg. Arq. Joaquín Peralta, for the Master in Landscape Architecture at the Universidad   Católica   de   Córdoba), and a design proposal for a linear park along the Santigueña stream (“Parque Lineal La Santigueña, Paraná, Entre Ríos” graduation project, by Dalmiro Aureliano Cabrera, Rodrigo Julián Caino y Tobías Campos, at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Universidad Nacional del Litoral) that is currently in development.

Funds raised by the committees for the implementation or construction/ renovation of specific infrastructure comes predominately from the city government’s annual budget (for parks, infrastructure, etc.). However, a recent national plan for urban regeneration, which includes a “hydric landscape” component, has provided further funding opportunities. For example, the Parque Gazzano has been allocated financial resources from a habitability program of the Ministry of Interior, Public Works, and Housing, with support from UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services).

The project was able to achieve visible results for the city, the environment, and the communities around the water basins. Among the outcomes, is an overall acknowledgement of the relationship between different natural systems, a changed mindset regarding the use of land and a recognition of the streams as biological corridors rather than mere pluvial drains. Due to the project’s participatory design, driven by citizen demand and academic input, river basins became a key area of analysis, planning and urban management.

Additional key elements of the project’s success include the establishment of the first Water Basin Committee in the region through municipal ordinance. This demonstrates how communication can improve between civil society and local government. Moreover, training and education for operational and service personnel on environmental issues and the sustainable management of natural resources has prompted organizations and civil society to provide key data, knowledge and resources to support the city’s efforts.

In addition, the project initiated the updating of urban regulations governing land use and environmental factors. This includes the integration of the environment as a public good worthy of protection and citizen participation as the foundation of all processes. The agreed aim is to achieve a socially just, economically and environmentally sustainable city while acknowledging the natural landscape and establishing sustainable paradigms in urban development.

Most recent results include public access to information on the water basins; managing a budget to implement outdoor linear parks and environmental sanitation; concluding agreements with universities and NGOs to promote environmental education; implementing programs to sort waste in the basins; increasing community interest and participation in environmental issues, and growing community knowledge of their surrounding basin.

As the committees were established through a city ordinance on citizen councils, it did not consider the natural landscape. In fact, the initial vision and strategies were based on traditional urbanism and codes from Buenos Aires which did not apply to the context of Paraná. The city had an archived GIS (“Carta Geológica Ambiental de la Ciudad de Paraná”) and a Geological study from 1995 which had mapped the water and soil for zoning purposes, both of which were reviewed in the city’s effort to familiarize itself with its complex terrain. These challenges were addressed during 2014-2017 and started to be resolved as the new Ordinance was implemented considering the specific needs and processes of the committees. The Ordinance now safeguards the continuity of the spaces and the commitment of the City to recognize them as planning mechanisms.

In terms of governance, vulnerable sections of the population required immediate action and solutions to their problems. These did not align with the timeline of medium and long-term solutions for the management of environmental problems proposed by the city. Hence the initial resistance to the new vision from the community and stakeholders. The community pressured the government to perform hydraulic studies to properly assess existing natural resources. As of 2020, a new cabinet has been elected in the Municipality of Paraná and has created specific administrative roles for the water basins and urban design and planning, which will ensure better continuity of the project. A Secretariat of community participation and management has also been created, to further foster citizen participation.

Four key lessons were identified by the project’s outcomes which include the potential and benefits of horizontal structures and teamwork, dialogue and mediation as tools to obtain  agreement, the importance of mainstreaming and coordinating actions between different municipalities, and addressing concerns of  the vulnerable sections of the population. Further developments addressed questions around continuity of processes and how to ensure that the paradigm linking human beings to the urban environment is recognized in the public agenda and by decision-makers.

In terms of transferability, the committees identified the following pre-conditions to replicate the project in other areas:

• Citizens are knowledgeable about environmental processes and the ecology of the local landscape and are committed to care for it.
• Citizens groups are given legal status.
• Flexibility within public policies to allow for community participation
• Mutual agreements that allow for the commitment of State-Citizens to coordinate actions to solve different problems.

The recommended steps to follow include identifying key groups and stakeholders to coordinate the mode of operation, analyzing case studies with a focus on their replicability (improving or adapting them to other contexts) and creating regulations or legal instruments to provide an actionable framework to reach the agreed solutions.

- UCLG Peer Learning Note #26: Climate Resilience and Urban Development