Ruby Jenkins

Geography 328
March 9, 2015
Hot Topic Paper #2
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The capital of Argentina is a large city originally known as Nuestra Senora Santa Maria
Del Bueno Aire, or Our Lady Saint Mary of Good Air. Today, the city is known as Buenos Aires.
The province of Buenos Aires is comprised of the city and twenty four municipalities. It is
located at the geographical coordinates of 34.6033 degrees south and 58.3817 degrees west
at the northeastern edge of the Pampas, a flat plain where agriculture thrives, creating a
profitable site for the city . Numerous rivers flow through the periphery while the center of the
city sits on a bluff overlooking the Rio de la Plata. One unique aspect of the physical geography
of Buenos Aires is the drastically varying elevations within the region. (Keeling, 2015)

http://www.mapsofworld.com/argentina/buenos-aires-citymap.html

The situation of Buenos Aires reflects the site. The main city contains about one fourth
of the approximately thirteen million people who reside in Beunos Aires, Argentina. The
population levels in the cities have been declining in recent years due to the suburbs attracting
industry and residential communities. Many refer to Buenos Aires as the Paris of the South.
There is a combination of wealthy sophistication reflecting the culture of cities like Manhattan,
political intensity much like Washington D.C., and the history of the Latin American Region.
(Berhardson, 2010)
The first settlement established in the area was a Spanish colony given the original
name, Nuestra Senora Santa Maria Del Bueno Aire. The settlement was founded by Pedro de
Mendoza. At this time, the settlers hoped to find wealth in the mining of silver. The people
eventually realized the great profit from grazing cattle on the Pampas, and the industry began
to dominate the region. (Keeling, 2015)
Because of the Rio de la Plata, Buenos Aires is an important port in Latin America. The
local residents are known as Portenos, or people of the port. These people originated from
Italy and Spain. Portenos enjoy politics, soccer, and cultural experiences. Most the people live
in distinctive neighborhoods with meeting places like coffee shops or cafes. This is a reflection
of colonial tradition in the area. In colonial times, these meeting places were combined general
stores and bars known as pulperias. Neighborhoods like this provide a sense of community in
such a rapidly growing city, growing twice as fast as the rest of the country. (Bernhardson,
2010)

This rapid growth leads to several issues in the city. One issue facing Buenos Aires is
guiding this rapid growth and urban development. A lack of affordable housing and public
services forces many citizens into poverty. This is rooted from the responsibility local,
municipal governments have to individually decide how to fix problems without a metropolitan
planning strategy. The local governments do not have a plan let alone adequate financial
resources to support growth. Poverty in Argentina has been skyrocketing since 2001, and
municipal governments cannot keep up financially with the hyper urbanization of Buenos Aires.
(Ipez, 2014)
Another issue that arises from such rapid growth in an area relates to the water supply.
Water pollution levels in the peripheral river systems are so high the rivers are considered open
sewers. The main affected rivers, Riachulo and La Plata, run through poverty stricken areas
bringing disease to the people here. The water pollution issue is the greatest environmental
risk for the metropolitan area of Beunos Aires. This pollution and rapid rise in urbanization
causes the over abstraction of ground water, another water issue of the area. (Engel, 2011)
In order to fix the problems of poor public services and water issues is to reevaluate the
infrastructure of Buenos Aires. The country of Argentina has a national government that
divides the nation into twenty four provinces, each with provincial governments. Within these
provinces are several municipalities. Each province is responsible for its own planning and
development. In Buenos Aires in particular, each municipality is responsible for planning and
development with the only provincial support of basic zoning. Coordinating between different

levels of government to create a better support system for local governments will increase the
rate of development in Buenos Aires.
Improving the infrastructure and public services in Buenos Aires can happen with
coordination of different levels of government. Currently, financial resources for public services
are provided by the national and provincial governments. The municipal governments are then
responsible for the planning without knowledge of the economics of the region and are unable
to stimulate growth.
As far as improving housing for all groups of income, similar changes must be made.
The national government supports programs constructing social housing for low income
sectors, providing the resources to the municipal governments for the construction, but the
local governments must buy and provide the land for the social housing. Because of this, the
low income housing is located in areas with poor infrastructure and public transportation that
do not have access to business, resources, and services of the city. Loan programs have been
created to stimulate the building of new homes by first time home owners in order to target
issues of affordable housing and support the development of infrastructure in the city.
Infrastructure along with better coordination between national and municipal governments on
housing issues would help resolve low income housing issues.
With the improvement of infrastructure and public works, programs can be created to
fix other issues in the Buenos Aires, like the water problems. In order for resources to be
funneled into sanitation projects, these projects need political backing in the local
governments. The sanitation issue has gained international funding, however many of these

funds were allocated elsewhere. With a solid infrastructure, the distribution of the water
supply will also be fixed.
Buenos Aires is a rapidly growing and urbanizing region with poor infrastructure and
government coordination leading to issues in public works and the water supply. By creating
stronger local governments and resolving infrastructure, Buenos Aires can thrive.

References
Bernhardson, Wayne. "Buenos Aires - A city of style and sizzle." National Geographic . (2010).
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/buenos-aires-traveler/ (accessed March 9,
2015).
Engel, Katalina, Dorothee Jokiel, and Andrea Kraljevic. World Wildlife Fund, "Water in an Urbanizing
World." Last modified 2011. Accessed March 9, 2015. http://www.wwf.se/source.php/1390895/Big
Cities_Big Water_Big Challenges_2011.pdf.
Ipez , Carolina. "Planning and Urban Management Challenges Facing Buenos Aires ." Planning. (2014).
www.planning.org.au/documents/item/5980 (accessed March 9, 2015).
Keeling, David J, ed. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2015. s.v. "Buenos Aires National Capital, Argentina."
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/83533/Buenos-Aires