Rafaela () is a city in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Santa Fe, Argentina, about 96 km from the provincial capital. It is the head town of the

Castellanos Department The Castellanos Department (in Spanish, ''Departamento Castellanos'') is an administrative subdivision ('' departamento'') of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located in the center-west of the province. It has about 162,000 inhabitants a ...

. It has a population of 99,150 per the . The city was established in 1881 by Guillermo Lehmann, and officially became a city in 1913. The city has grown 22.2% between 1991 and 2001, and 18.6% in the last census period (2001-2011) according to the official data of the Population Census ( INDEC). The city is almost the exact antipode of

Wuhu Wuhu () is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Anhui province, China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Hefei city to the northwest, Ma'anshan ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The city hosts

Rafaela Aerodrome Rafaela Aerodrome ( es, Aeródromo de Rafaela) is an airport serving Rafaela, a city in the Santa Fe Province of Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southe ...

airport and the

Autódromo Ciudad de Rafaela The Autódromo Ciudad de Rafaela is a motor racing circuit in Rafaela, Santa Fe, Argentina built in 1952 and paved in 1966. Owner The venue – owned by Atlético de Rafaela – hosted the ''500 Millas Argentinas'' race until 1971. The USA ...

race track.

Zoning of the city

The city is located in the western-center area of Santa Fe Province and has an area of . The design of most of the urban area of the city has a shape of a checkerboard with the main plaza (Plaza 25 de mayo) in the middle of the city and four main boulevards coming from there. The street grid of the city is composed by square blocks in most part of the neighborhoods, mainly in the historical and older part of the city. CM 20151206 125148

The city has 37 neighborhoods and the downtown area (called Microcentro in Spanish) as the map of the city shows. Catedral de Rafaela

Role of citizen participation in planning

In 2008 the municipality of Rafaela created the Department of Administration and Participation (Secretaria de Gestión y Participación, SGP) and after that the government started implementing a process of Participatory budgeting, based on the successful case of

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

. The main goal of this process is to consolidate and strengthen the importance of citizen participation in the public agenda. The government of the city has implemented the method for three consecutive years. The first one in 2009 was completed; the one for 2010 is now in the stage of implementing the public works that resulted from the participation process; and the third project is in process (SGP, Municipalidad de Rafaela, 2011).

Climate

Notable people

Hermes Binner Hermes Juan Binner (June 5, 1943 − June 26, 2020) was an Argentine physician and a politician. He was Governor of Santa Fe from 2007 to 2011.Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most po ...

and former governor of Santa Fe province. *

Javier Frana Javier Alberto Frana (born 25 December 1966) is a former tennis player from Argentina and former tennis commentator for ESPN Latin America. He won 1996 French Open Mixed Doubles title with compatriot Patricia Tarabini. Tennis career Frana tu ...

, professional tennis player *

Ricardo Lorenzetti Ricardo Luis Lorenzetti (born 19 September 1955) is an Argentine judge graduated from the National University of the Littoral, Argentina, with a long national and international career. He used to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Argentina ...

, president elect of the

Argentine Supreme Court of Justice The Supreme Court of Argentina ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Argentina), officially known as the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentine Nation ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina, CSJN), is the highest court of ...

Sebastián Porto Sebastián Porto (born September 12, 1978 as Sebastián Porco) is an Argentine professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the Brazilian Moto 1000 GP Championship aboard a BMW S1000RR. Career Early career Born in Rafael ...

, former professional motorcycle racer *

María Emilia Salerni María Emilia Salerni (born 14 May 1983), known as "Pitu Salerni", is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. On 25 February 2008, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 65. On 23 September 2002, she peaked at No. 45 in t ...

, professional tennis player *

Martín Basso Martín Basso (born July 26, 1974 in Cordoba) is an Argentine racing driver. He has race in different series, with major success in Formula Three Sudamericana and TC 2000. He also spent two seasons in the United States, driving in the Toyota A ...

, professional TC racer *

Lucas Aveldaño Lucas Elio Aveldaño (born 19 July 1985) is an Argentine footballer who plays for Spanish Segunda Federación side CE Andratx as a centre-back. Career Aveldaño began his playing career in 2005 with Atlético de Rafaela Asociación Mutual Soc ...

, professional soccer player *

Silvia Bertolaccini Silvia Bertolaccini (born 30 January 1950) is an Argentina, Argentine professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. Bertolaccini was born in Rafaela, Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. She won the Argentine and Colombian amateur championships before ...

, former LPGA professional golf player and current ESPN announcer for Latin America *

Denis Stracqualursi Denis Andrés Stracqualursi (born 20 October 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Unión de Sunchales. Career Stracqualursi started his playing career in ...

, professional soccer player currently at

Everton F.C. Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has comp ...

Grillo Demo Victor Hugo 'Grillo' Demo is an Argentine artist. Demo left Argentina in 1978 and settled in Ibiza, Spain, where he continues his work. He is known for his jasmine paintings, depicting falling jasmine. Kate Moss, Madonna and Elle Macpherson ...

, contemporary artist *

Axel Werner Axel Wilfredo Werner (born 28 February 1996) is an Argentine professional footballer as a goalkeeper for Rosario Central, on loan from Spanish club Elche CF. Club career Atlético Rafaela Born in Rafaela, Werner was an Atlético Rafaela youth g ...

, professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Málaga CF on loan from Atlético Madrid as a goalkeeper.

Twin towns – sister cities

Rafaela is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Fossano Fossano ( pms, Fossan) is a town and ''comune'' of Piedmont, northern Italy. It is the fourth largest town of the Province of Cuneo, after Cuneo, Alba and Bra. It lies on the main railway line from Turin to Cuneo and to Savona, and has a branch ...

, Italy *

Sigmaringendorf Sigmaringendorf is a small town in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. In Sigmaringendorf the small river ''Lauchert'' flows into the Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of ...

, Germany

References

External links

*
Rafaela.comCity PortalAsociación Médica del Departamento Castellanos
{{Authority control Urban planning in Argentina Populated places in Santa Fe Province Populated places established in 1881 Cities in Argentina 1881 establishments in Argentina