The Studio

Sprawl

Buenos Aires Retiro and Villa 31
http://www.jauregui.arq.br/villa31.html

A city of more than thirteen million inhabitants, often described as a 'Grimey Paris' (a distinctly European feel in the heart of South America), Buenos Aires exhibits sprawl conditions that are unparalleled in other cities.

Buenos Aires is also a city of sharp social and economic contrast. The gridiron pattern of blocks and streets holds "formal" residential, commercial and in some cases small industrial uses. This pattern is interrupted by big urban pieces, which in most cases are public property, holding big transport infrastructure or public facilities and parks. Very vacant land in the margins of these big urban pieces is the result of long-term incomplete processes of use change or obsolescence.

These marginal pieces of land, most often undefined in terms of property or administrative status have been subject to 'spontaneous' settlements. Impoverished population migrating from less developed regions and more recently, from neighboring countries have found their way to enter the urban realm by claiming these lands for dwelling. The acquisition of land and permanence in these settlements is, in most cases, outside a formal market economy but become a fixed feature in the urban and social structure of the city.