Ciudad, territorio y exclusión social

Las políticas de recualificación urbana en la ciudad de Buenos Aires

Abstract

The analysis of social exclusion in cities often leads in the direction of highly delimited areas
where the most extreme situations of urban unrest are concentrated. In fact, when these are present,
it is in those areas where the main intervention plans and programmes set in motion by the
Administration come together. However, exclusion does not always present such a clear territorial
expression. So then, the worsening of social fragmentation processes does not necessarily result in
the formation of heavily segregated spaces. Analysed in this article is the recent evolution of the city
of Buenos Aires and, more specifically, of two districts in its southern area, San Telmo and La Boca.
In both cases, there are various projects for urban reassessment, which are linked to the
development of cultural economy. However, the experiences studied, despite occurring
simultaneously and within a context of structural crisis of the Argentinian economy, show up very
important peluciarities. What we are talking about are two different socio-spacial formations, with
different degrees of social articulation and, therefore, the construction of specific social responses to
urban reassessment processes.