Garden suburbs and weekend housing developments in an expanding Metropolitan Area, Buenos Aires, 1910-1950

Abstract

Between 1910 and 1950, the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area experienced a particular type of urban sprawl based on the growth in the construction of garden suburbs and weekend housing developments. Initially associated with the upper and middle classes, these type of suburbs would become available to other social groups throughout the same period. In this context, it is sought to identify the role played by these suburban nuclei in the construction of the metropolitan area. More specifically, this work seeks to shed light on how such areas contributed to the creation of the new structure of Greater Buenos Aires. Beyond the differential and current role such areas have played in material terms, their importance lays in their power to consolidate axes of growth, and to configure particular forms of urban sprawl in their surrounding areas.