The neighbourhood and urban governance in Buenos Aires from 1880 to today

MATÍAS LANDAU

Londres

Workshop; Workshop The Politics of the Neighbourhood: perspectives from Latin America and beyond; 2018

Queen Mary University of London

Although in recent years the categories of neighbourhood (barrio) and neighbour (vecino) have gained ground in the political, technical and media vocabulary of the city of Buenos Aires, their use has a long history. At different times, they have designated specific forms of conceiving of the collective bond that unites the inhabitants of the city, delimiting political, governmental and moral forms of inequalities and hierarchies (ˈhaɪərɑːkiz). In this presentation I propose a socio-historical analysis of its main transformations, from the Nineteenth century to the present day. In order to explain this process, there are three related dimensions to take into account, especially for those not so familiar with the history of Buenos Aires: 1. Demographic transformations, 2. Urban growth, 3. Political-institutional changes.