Design and execution of the Arboretum of the Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, National Northeast University, Corrientes, Argentina

Abstract

The arboretum concept is used to define a specific type of botanical garden, which focuses on the study and exhibition of trees and shrubs, constituting a living collection of trees; intended in part for scientific and/or educational studies. This work intends to present the planning, design and execution of the activities carried out by the Project “Creation of an Arboretum” for the Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, National Northeast University, located in Campus Deodoro Roca, in Corrientes city, Argentina, with the purpose of generating a space under the concept of “green classroom”; constituting also, a reserve of native and introduced species arranged in a landscape in harmony with the environment. In order to achieve this objective, a series of stages were carried out: i) firstly the survey of the site to be intervened; that allowed its edaphic, topographic, floristic and faunistic characterization, generating new information about the site, quantifying and qualifying the resources; ii) the second stage made it possible to develop a landscape design for a better use of the spaces; iii) finally, the execution of the project achieved the revalue and revitalization of an underutilized area of 20,500 m2. Although the creation of the Arboretum is being carried out gradually, the bases are available to propose new forms of learning, a new culture of integration of the conceptual with the practical knowledge and the most important issue: to create a sense of identity in the educational community.