Kenan Besirevic Urban Sociology Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina is not just a South American city located

in the seventh biggest country in the world. It is a city much referred to Paris, France for its beautifully constructed theaters, opera houses, museums, libraries, and much more (Buenos Aires Turismo 2011). Buenos Aires Turismo, a government tourist site emphasizes how a visitor to Buenos Aires can visit the worlds famous zoo and botanical gardens. One can also attend the Buenos Aires International Book Fair, one of the top five book fairs in the world. There is also Night of Museums, and at this event the museums stay open throughout the night (Buenos Aires Turismo 2011). Buenos Aires is also a very artistic city presenting various forms of art all over the city. Tango music also originated in Buenos Aires, along with the early cinema which appeared in 1896 (Lewis 2002). Lewis (2002), writes that 2000 films have been directed and produced in the city since 1896. Fashion also plays big role in the Argentinian culture as a whole. Thus, Buenos Aires is a lively city with entertainment at every corner, a city largely influenced by European culture (Lewis 2002). This paper will discuss the history of Buenos Aires, how it got to be the city it is today. Also, it will include information on the population of Buenos Aires, and statistical data regarding different races, gender, and nationality. Furthermore, the paper will include information on the layout of the city and the living conditions of its inhabitants. Next, the paper will focus on the economy of the city and production. Finally, the paper will include an analysis of the citys development, structure, and function. History of Buenos Aires The city of Buenos Aires was actually found twice explained Stanley and McGann (1982). Pedro de Mendoza was the first founder of Buenos Aires in 1536 however, the city fell

apart due to lack of supplies and Indian attacks (Stanley and McGann 1982). In 1580 the city was found once again by Juan de Garay who led an expedition to the site were Buenos Aires was first formed (Stanley and McGann 1982). Vast amount of land allowed settlers to start harvesting and raising domesticated animals. Buenos Aires continued to grow at a steady pace. However, Stanley and McGann (1982) claim that the citys progress was held back due to Limas authority over their ports. The ports were not completely utilized and set guidelines skyrocketed the amount of time it took to exchange good to a whopping 24 months (Stanley and McGann 1982). The Spanish residing in Buenos Aires were more interested in mining and thus have built colonies along Andean region where mining activities were mostly concentrated. Regardless, the people of Buenos Aires continued their agricultural way of life and the numerous streams and rivers allowed for the rise of many farms. By the end of the seventeenth century Argentina was exporting thousands of pounds of cattle, beef, and cereals to Brazil and the Caribbean. Buenos Aires was beginning to resemble a prosperous city by the mid-18th century with over 20,000 inhabitants (Lewis 2002). North of Riachuelo numerous narrow streets were sprawling with houses and due to great economic success the city of Buenos Aires was named the capital of Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata in 1776 (Lewis 2002). Continuous growth has doubled the citys population in less than thirty years times (Stanley and McGann 1982). British attempted invasions in early 18th century were proven ineffective as Buenos Aires forces easily defended their city (Lewis 2002). Lewis (2002) states that Buenos Aires new found confidence was shown on May 25th 1810, when the city declared their independence from Spanish rule and the citys development continued and in 1880 led to the Buenos Aires official recognition as the federations capital. By the 19th century Buenos Aires, and Argentina as a whole became an agricultural exporter with Britain being the leading receiver of the goods (Lewis 2002).

Therefore, most of the capital circulating in the city came from Britain. Agricultural industry grew tremendously for the most part due to low startup costs. Labor to work the land and capital to deliver the goods to ports are the only expenses of agricultural industries. The first significant change to the city came from immigrants looking for work in the agricultural industry. Mainly immigrant migrated from Spain and Italy, but arrivals from Eastern Europe and Germany were also common (Moya 1998). The newcomers regardless where they came from were all looking for agricultural work in the country side, and after realizing that buying land is rather a heroic task, many of the immigrants left the country side and moved to the city (Moya 1998). The city provided many jobs in slaughterhouses and at the ports to cope with enormous exports. Thus, Moya (1998) concludes that the city experienced greatest population increases due to immigration from early 1900s to mid-1940. The second change signified the wealth of Buenos Aires and Argentina in general. Sargent (1974) states that formerly built great mansions were now inhabited by government administrations and they were an international symbol for wealth. The layout of the city was inspired by Napolion III of France (Sargent 1974). Thus, in 1910 Buenos Aires planned for the construction of broad avenues going east and west every four blocks and north and south every ten blocks, regardless of the narrow layout this infrastructure has served its purpose and supports heavy traffic (Sargent 1974)

Demography of Buenos Aires Argentinian government census worker Julio Rocas survey indicated that Buenos Aires population consisted of 2,891,082 people in the 2001 census compared to the population of Greater Buenos Aires which stands at 12,046,799 inhabitants (Roca 2001). A small increase considering the 1990 population of 11,182,000 (Roca 2011). Rocas findings indicate that white race dominates the city at a percentage of 88.9, followed by Mestizo at 7 percent. Asians only

make up 2 percent of Buenos Aires population, and blacks only account for 1 percent. However, the Asian population is increasing and now stands at 1800,000 residents from China, Japan, Korea, and Lao (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001). Close to 250,000 Jewish inhabitants live in Argentina, most of them residing in Buenos Aires(Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001). Buenos Aires population is highly urbanized. In the Buenos Aires proper the population stands at 13, 680 per square kilometer compared to only 2,400 residents per square kilometer in the suburbs (Roca 2011). According to Roca (2011), Buenos Aires ranks 1st in the country population wise. Buenos Aires population has remained close to three million since the late 1940s mainly due to slow migration to the suburbs and low birth rates (Buneos Aires Ciudad 2001). Declining fertility is the main ingredient of a stand still population, of the women who had children, 30% only had one (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001) However, according to the Buenos Aires Census an increase of close to ten million was experienced by the surrounding cities since the late 40s. Also, the dominance of females is shown, for every 100 females there are 85 males (Buneos Aires Ciudad 2001). Buenos Aires Ciudad (2001) showed average household size in the city is 2.5 people. The south has a slightly larger size of 3.1 persons per household. Close to 40 percent of households are headed by women (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001). Almost 10 percent of households are living in overcrowded conditions. 61.7% of households own the housing and land, renters or tenants make up 27.5 percent and the remaining 10.9% irregularly occupied their homes (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001). The census showed that Buenos Aries population is noticeably older than Argentines as a whole. In Buenos Aires the population of inhabitants under the age of fifteen is at low 17 percent and 22 percent for the inhabitants above sixty (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001). Whereas, the census indicated that in Argentina as a country 28 percent make up the population under fifteen and only 14 percent are over the age of sixty. Structural poverty has affected 17.7%

of Argentinas population according to the 2001 census. The city of Buenos Aires proper has a lower poverty rate of 7% however, it can reach up to 14% depending how it is measured in the respect of what defines poverty (Roca 2011). Ecology of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is located north of the Pampas, a flat plain agricultural area of Argentina. Rio de la Plata and Parana River conveniently flow through Buenos Aires defining the citys metropolitan area limits. Buenos Aires is well known for the many small rivers that flow through the outer edges of the city limits. Built on the original colonial foundations, the center of the city has extremely narrow streets which from grid pattern due to their layout consisting of right angels (Scobie 1974). However, Scobie implies that due to poor expansion planning the pattern of the streets becomes less regular as one move away from the center. The outer part of the city is situated on the flood plains of rivers remaining flat without much elevation. Established in 1880, the metropolitan area is divided into Federal Districts (Foster 1998). Buenos Aires has the density of 13, 679 inhabitants per square kilometer (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001). Thus, its an extremely dense city center considering the fact that the surrounding cities have the density of only double digits per square kilometer. Many major business districts are located just north of Greater Buenos Aires; these factories include food processing, textiles, automotive, and printing(Foster 1998). Foster describes that on the outskirts of districts there is significant growth of shopping centers, country clubs, and gated communities, all conveniently located near public transportation routes. Regardless of the locations of many financial institutions and corporate headquarters in the center of the city the population is slowly migrating to outer regions of the city. The attraction of industries in the suburbs is the main reason for the decrease in the population of the metropolitan area districts (Scobie 1974). However, the suburbs lack the

infrastructure and the energy as that of the city center. Thus, suburban residents do not experience the quality of life that urban inhabitants do. Access to economic opportunity and essential services is a heroic task for those living in the suburbs, and accessing them gets harder the further one moves from the city center. (Lloyd-Sherlock 1997) classifies the city in to four residential styles, first style being single-family homes which shelter the middle class families. The second style is two or three story houses, an improved version of a single-family home explains Lloyd-Sherlock. The third style which is inhabited by the cities elites are high rise apartment buildings, many of them located on the outskirts of the city center near the city of Palermo (Lloyd-Sherlock 1997). These buildings are built as large as city blocks, most containing their own garden. The fourth style of homes are shantytowns, most of them are located in the outlying suburbs. Lloyd-Sherlock explains that the city poor lives in the so called shantytowns also called neighborhoods of misery which lack basic needs of people. Many of these homes are abandoned buildings inhabited by immigrants who have no other residential opportunities.

Picture Source (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001) Economy of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires main source of revenue is the production and export of agricultural commodities. Buenos Aires is conveniently located by Rio de la Plata and corresponding rivers which provide the conditions necessary for Buenos Aires port to thrive as a distribution center between Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay (Schapira 2000). Thus, Buenos Aires port is the largest in South America and the countrys greatest asset of revenue. Schapira (2000) argues that the countrys economy is somewhat unstable and often faces inflation but the Buenos Aires port lessens the impact of such hardship being shipping and processing giant for much of South American countries. However, the port also delays economic growth for Buenos Aires.

Regardless of the received shipping from all over the world, the port is still not adequate to deal with heavy traffic of shippers due to its old facilities (Schapira 2000). Many distributors will find themselves in long line as well as poor commute due to the inadequate roads from the port to other major distribution center. Proposals to improve or even move the port to a more desirable location have not resulted in any action. Production and exporting being the citys major mode of income, the residents thus have taken up professions that go interlink with the exporting business. These professions include; food processing, automobile assembly, oil refining, manufacture of textiles, beverages, paper, chemicals, metalworking, and printing and publishing (Pirez 2002). All of the above mentioned industries ship to buyers all over the world. Pedro explains that close to one fifths of Buenos Aires metropolitan area works in manufacturing industries and half of all manufacturing jobs are located in Buenos Aires. Due to the adaption of professions that deal with exports and privatization policies in 1992 much of the other job sectors have been ignored or off sourced (Pirez 2002). Pedro goes on to say that many of the public services such as collection and disposal of trash have been turned over to private companies. Limited government checks on performance by such companies have led to inefficiencies. However, according to Pirez (2002) return to state ownership of many municipal services in 2006 has solved many of the problems. The financial system in Buenos Aires is the largest in the country holding nearly half of the countrys bank deposits from residents and foreign investors (Pirez 2002). The Buenos Aires stock and commodities exchange may be one of the most dominant revenue accumulating activities. Meat, cattle, grain and other agricultural commodity markets are blooming and expanding slowly but at a steady pace. Service industry is another major player and probably the second most dominant mode of income ( Pirez 2002). Since 2001, the tourism in Buenos Aires has increased dramatically, making it one of the most visited cities

in South America (Buenos Aires Turismo 2011). Regardless of the favorable conditions, the unemployment rate in Buenos Aires still reached 62.7 percent in 2009. The employment of men was 71.6 percent compared to womens only 55.2 percent (Buenos Aires Ciudad 2001). Thus, the males hold the majority of jobs. In 2009 the average monthly income from the main occupation of the inhabitants of the city was $2,671. The difficulty of finding jobs is why many of Argentinas sectors have been going into the informal economy. Esquivel(2010)reports that informal sectors are appealing to the unemployed due to the ease of entry. Many corporations instead of hiring regular full time workers would rather hire unregistered workers to favor higher revenues claims Esquivel (2010). Formal enterprises hire a third of informal workers with women being more likely to fall into this group. Informal workers are unprotected by the Labor Law and 44 percent of informal workers are not registered for taxation or social security(Esquivel 2010). The same source advocates that forty-five percent of 5.3 million Greater Buenos Aires workers are informal. Half of women workers are informal workers and theyre more likely to be informal than men. In the most vulnerable position are the informal employees, mostly men working in construction and trade (Esquivel 2010). They tend to be unskilled workers, and their monthly earnings are about half the mean of registered workers. Informal female workers employed in households are usually discriminated against due to their lack of education (Esquivel 2010). Theoretical Analysis Buenos Aires development, structure and function is dominantly shaped by the constantly rising urban area population. Molotch (1976) discusses in his article The City as a Growth Machine: Political Economy of Space, that rising urban area population leads to success of growth for the city. He continues to explain that with rising population a city experiences

expansion of industries, expanded labor force, intensive land development, higher population density and increased levels of financial activity. This theory can be seen first-hand in Buenos Aires development. The city started off at a slow pace depending upon Spanish and British capital to function. However, as more and more immigrants migrated to the city and the population doubled in less than three decades, the rest of the economy began to grow in response. Land developed intensively due to the bloom of agricultural industry as many immigrants took up farming since it brought in the most revenue and was profitable. Industries also needed to expand to support the high traffic of agricultural exports that were leaving the country. Many jobs were created at Buenos Aires ports to make them more suitable to the heavy traffic of exports. Farming also gave rise to many meet factories which exported thousands of pounds of meet all over South America. Due to the success of the agricultural sector, the retail market experienced expansion as more capital was brought in. Britain, realizing the potential of Buenos Aires agricultural economy also invested a great deal of capital in the country. Burgess (1925) talked about distribution in his article The Growth of a City: Introduction to a Research Project, a distribution of groups by occupation. This distribution can be witnessed in Buenos Aires. Most of the factory and corporate workers live in the city center while the agricultural workers live on the outskirts. Burgess (1925) also talked about concentric circles or a loop to explain structure and expansion of the city, and his theory is illustrated by Buenos Aires. Most of the industries and manufacturing businesses are in downtown area of Buenos Aires which is Burgess first loop. The second and third loop illustrates that factory workers and those who escaped area of deterioration live in close proximities of their work. After that zone is the residential area, mainly reserved for single families and outside of city limits is the poor residential area. Buenos Aires structure perfectly resembles that of Burgess theory. The workers

are concentrated in or close to the city center while single families are on the outskirts and the poor are beyond city limits. However Buenos Aires physical structure can be better explained by population growth. Many Italians and other Europeans migrated to the city in the early 19th century. Buenos Aires referrals to Paris is not just a coincidence, many of its buildings feature the style of Italian architecture. European immigrants greatly influenced the culture of Buenos Aires, and in part shaped the way the city looks today. The city mainly functions as an exporter of agricultural commodities including; cattle, meat, wheat, grains, and other goods. The citys wealth was built on its location, being situated by the Rio de la Plata River whose port connects most of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. However, population growth is also responsible for the function of the city as an exporter. If many immigrants did not migrate to Buenos Aires and thus provided the labor to harvest agricultural commodities then the city would not have anything valuable to export, and it would not be the city it is today.

List Of References Esquivel, Valeria. 2010. The Informal Economy in Greater Buenos Aires: A Statistical Profile. Urban Policies Research Report9:1-1-44 Roca, Julio. A. Censo 2001.<www.indec.gov.ar> (September 17, 2011). Government of the city of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires Ciudad. 2011 <http://buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/hacienda/sis_estadistico/ buscador.php?tipopubli=4&subtipopubli=&titulo=&anio=2008&mes=> (September 17, 2011).

Pirez, Pedro. 2002. Buenos Aires: Fragmentation and Privatization of the Metropolitan City. Environment & Urbanization 14(1):145-145-158. Schapira, Marie-France P. 2000. Segregation, Fragmentation, Secession. Toward a New Social Geography for the Buenos Aires Metropolis. Economia, Sociedad y Territorio 2(7):405405-431. Stanley R. and McGann, Thomas F. 1982. Buenos Aires, 400 Years. Austin, TX, University of Texas Press. Molotch, Harvey. 1976.The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economy of Place The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 82, No. 2: pp. 309-332. Burgess, Earnest W. 1925. Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project. Pp. 117-185 in The City Reader, edited by Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout. New York: Routledge. Lewis, Collin. 2002. Argentina: A Short History. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. Scobie, James R. 1992. Buenos Aires: Plaza to Suburb 18701910. Oxford University Press. Moya, Jose C. 1998. Cousins and Strangers: Spanish Immigrants in Buenos Aires, 1850 1930. Berkeley: University of California Press. Lloyd-Sherlock, Peter. 1997. Old Age and Urban Poverty in the Developing World . St. Martin's Press.

Foster, William D. 1998. Buenos Aires: Perspectives on the City and Cultural Production. University Press of Florida.

Buenos Aires Turismo.<http://www.bue.gov.ar/?ncMenu=49> September 18, 2011. Sargent, Charles S. 1974. The Spatial Evolution of Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18701930. Arizona State University.