The "peripherization" of the centre: outcomes of the emergence of new typologies in central Buenos Aires

KOZAK, DANIEL

Bangkok, Tailandia

Congreso; UPE7-The 7th International Conference on Urban Planning and Environment; 2007

Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Tailandia

Over the last three decades, and particularly since the 1990s, numerous cities in the world have been the object of studies that report somewhat similar processes of transformations within their urban fabrics. These processes seem to mark an ongoing trend common to most contemporary large cities and mega-cities in the world. Although there is a significant level of coincidence amongst the descriptions of these transformations, the causes and outcomes of these changes remain contentious. While some authors explain them as a direct consequence of the impact of globalisation others are more inclined to look at the local explanations. The virtually ubiquitous nature of these processes, in any case, appears to be generally acknowledged. One of the communalities found throughout these studies is the recognition of the emergence of new typologies that challenges traditional understandings of centre and periphery. Concepts such as ?grid erosion? and ?rebundled city? are used to grasp these urban transformations and, at this point, are already part of a new theoretical framework that seems to be rapidly developing centred around the concept of "urban fragmentation". Not surprisingly "fragmentation" is both one of the most quoted terms in current urban texts and also one of the most polysemous. The question of the meanings, roots and consequences of urban fragmentation in the current period seems to be a very compelling subject in urban debates at the moment.This paper critically examines existing concepts associated with urban fragmentation and attempts to further develop the theoretical framework for understanding the phenomenon through empirical research in Buenos Aires. In particular, the case of Abasto, an area of 125ha with a population of 43000 inhabitants in the centre of Buenos Aires that has been recently transformed with the conversion of a fruit and vegetable central market into a mall and the development of a gated tower complex and a hypermarket in its centre, is analysed in detail.