“We Just Want to Breathe”: Environmental Conflicts and Inequality in the Matanza Riachuelo River Basin in Buenos Aires

Abstract

In this article, we aim to analyze two urban-environmental conflicts occurring in two neighborhoods of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA), the largest and most densely populated urban center in Argentina. We will investigate what is understood as an environmental demand, the formation of collective actors, care practices developed by households, and the actions carried out by state and private agents within this framework. Both territories are located in the Matanza Riachuelo basin, whose environmental cleanup has been under judicial review for more than fifteen years. We developed a qualitative methodology that combined secondary source analysis, ethnographic work, and semi-structured interviews. The results allow us to nuance the academic dichotomies of ‘agency’ and ‘passivity’, as well as to analyze the limitations and potential of interjurisdictional bodies for environmental and territorial planning of urban watersheds.