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. The airport is on the south side of the city. It features a small passenger terminal, due to be rebuilt or upgraded, and ...

airport and the Autódromo Ciudad de Rafaela 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, twice mayor of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

and former governor of Santa Fe province. * Javier Frana, professional tennis player * Ricardo Lorenzetti, president elect of the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice * Sebastián Porto, former professional motorcycle racer * María Emilia Salerni, professional tennis player * Martín Basso, 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 So ...

, professional soccer player * Silvia Bertolaccini, 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 footballer who plays as a forward for Unión de Sunchales. Career Stracqualursi started his playing career in 2007 with Unión de Sunchales in the 3rd division ...

, 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 compe ...

* Grillo Demo, 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 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 li ...

, Italy * Sigmaringendorf, 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