History

The history of the Weitz International Center Foundation (WCI Foundation) has its origins in the municipality of San Isidro, in Buenos Aires province. In this district, a group of technical teams was led by the Undersecretary of Public Works of the Municipality, the architect Fernando Romero, and has successfully implemented the ambitious Project Integration: "Strategic Plan for social housing, public infrastructure and development of peripheral areas".

Over recent years, various components of the Integration Project were awarded and taken as a model for intervention at national and international level. In 2006, one of the infrastructures related to the plan of reorganization of traffic, known as the Tunnel 4 barriers, was highlighted with a 1 st National Prize for "Best Work of Road Engineering of the Year", and the same happened in 2009 with the Tunnel which was built at the Provincial Route N º 4. Also in 2009, UN-HABITAT, through its program of United Nations Human Settlements highlighted as "Best Practice" the initiative "Integration Project” in its component: “La Cava Neighborhood".

Taking into account this experience and the exchange of ideas of the professionals who participated in the project through different conferences, seminars and workshops related to sustainable development, in 2007 the well known Weitz Center for Development Studies – CERUR became interested in sharing their expertise with the experience of the project´s teams developed in San Isidro. The Weitz Center for Development Studies - CERUR was founded in Israel in 1963 and has over 40 years of experience in planning, training, research and consultancy in the area of Regional and Local Development in Israel and the Developing Countries. After that exchange, the architect Fernando Romero was called to head a new center dedicated to sustainable development in Argentina. The WCI Foundation in Argentina is currently the only worldwide headquarter of the Weitz Center for Development Studies – CERUR from Israel.

After three years of corporate work between both institutions, the WCI Foundation obtained, in 2010, the legal status and began its formal activity in Argentina. Since then, the WCI Foundation is characterized for "DO THINGS", and it is dedicated to promote patterns of development through sustainable practices designed to improve the living conditions of the population as well as economic competitiveness. In this framework, the Foundation includes between its members the professionals of the technical teams that have successfully implemented and managed numerous projects for integrated urban development, social housing, health infrastructure, services, roads and transport, and public space.

To carry out its actions, the WCI Foundation`s team manage and articulate the various levels of governments (local, national, regional and international) in the development of their projects, strengthening institutional capacities and training of professionals for productive development looking for innovation in management systems. Furthermore, specific models have been developed to train government leaders on management tools applied to the layout and planning of construction projects.