That Far West: paradoxes of (im)mobility in the city of Santa Fe

Abstract The uneven and fragmented growth of the western edge of the city of Santa Fe, in Argentina, can be analysed in terms of the mobility and immobility experienced there. A paradox materialized in the design of the belt highway as a space destined to high speeds and, at the same time, as a limit and a barrier to socio-spatial exchange. With the aim of reviewing the epistemological foundations of urban policies (that led to omissions and technocratic resolutions), this paper tries to recover the historicity of the ideation and planning process through different documents and urban plans made to the city, analyzing the ways the west bank was conceived in relation to the Salado river.